Cooking for One

I am really discovering myself as a cook.

It began with the Roasted Carrot Soup, and continued over the holidays when I cooked a great lunch for my mom and then entered (for the first time) and won (yay!) the Family Cook-off. (I think my brother is still irritated about that.)

During the years (and years and years) the ex and I were together, I got out of the habit of cooking. I prepared food for myself regularly (quick stir-fries, pan-seared salmon or scallops), but I wasn’t really cooking or thinking of new, exciting things to make.

Most of it was that the ex was (and is) a vegetarian. The idea of cooking a fabulous meal just for myself seemed ridiculous. Plus, I preferred not to cook meat or fish when he was home, just out of respect. He’d never said anything about it . . . in fact, he’d been a cook in a steakhouse while he was in college. Still, I just didn’t cook much when he was home. He is a great cook, and we’d adapted many of my recipes to vegetarian. I would prepare them the first time, and then each subsequent iteration and tweak would be all him.

Now, I love cooking just for myself.

These days, I rarely make dishes to eat and reheat during the week, though I am pondering a crustless quiche and I have loved having a soup on hand. Because of my schedule, I have the luxury of cooking every night without other home tasks to manage. Cooking is something I really enjoy to decompress and relax.

I have a few quick dishes I prepare: a variety of quick burgers, steaks, turkey breasts, or fish fillets I toss over spinach or other greens. None of them take more than 30-45 minutes, and I am definitely looking for some additional recipes I can add to my repertoire.

For reasons I cannot fathom (but may have something to do with having clients in town all last week and weekend), I have not been grocery shopping since I started my diet 14 days ago. I stocked up then and I have been able to eat well every day without a return to the market, which is a good thing since I have been ill.

I have been writing up my shopping list and thinking of all the meals I plan to prepare next week, including:

• daily broccoli or spinach frittata with a variety of colby jack, swiss lorraine, emmental, french feta, or whatever else I pick up.
• Cauliflower Soup with Tumeric and Hazelnut
• a crustless quiche (perhaps poblano cheddar or spinach feta or emmental mushroom or something that will strike me tomorrow)

I am definitely enjoying cooking for one.

Here are some of the recipes I am preparing for just me: Recipe File.