For the past year and a half, I have been adjusting to cooking for one after decades of sharing the kitchen with my spouse, a wonderful cook and enthusiastic eater. It has been a challenge.
Sometimes I have too much food, sometimes I eat chips and salsa for dinner at the kitchen sink while watching the evening news, and sometimes I have leftover soup, freeze the rest, and follow it with a big bowl of ice cream.
It turns out, there are many people adjusting to being single and cooking for one, especially as we age, and we are all so different. One friend makes a big soup or stew on Sunday and eats it all week until she can’t stand it anymore. Another calls DoorDash every night.
Still another friend eats simply — a salad or a sandwich will suffice, yet she, like me, loves to cook and still occasionally makes a new recipe or an old favorite, ending up with even more leftovers. The challenge is also to eat healthy during this new single lifestyle.
I am now my only caregiver, so if I don’t make good choices, who will? My hubby loved to cook and was always veggie-heavy and healthy in his concoctions. Our son, Blake (who illustrated my weekly wildlife Record-Courier column, View from Jacks Valley as a tween) is a single dad who inherited good taste for food and a love of cooking.
The other day, he sent me this photo of a “bowl” he made from mostly what he had in his fridge and pantry, and he inspired me to do the same. He used quinoa, pork sausage, garlic, canned beans, fresh mozzarella, feta, pimento olives, canned beets, cilantro, lemon and rosemary.
His exact words were, “Holy crap, so good!” If you haven’t tried a Buddha bowl or a burrito bowl, this is a perfect idea for cooking for one. Bowls are a one dish meal and can be made from your favorite foods… Buddha bowls have more of an Asian flair and burrito bowls have a Mexican influence.
Linda Hiller There are five main ingredient categories in making a bowl:
1. Whole grains (rice, farro, quinoa, noodles)
2. Protein (any meat, fish, seafood, tofu or beans)
3. Veggies (go for color: purple cabbage, red peppers, carrots, pea pods, avocado, etc.)
4. A sauce or dressing that you like (tahini sauce, peanut sauce, salad dressing, oil and vinegar)
5. Toppings like herbs (cilantro, mint, parsley, pickled onions or jalapenos), and nuts or crunchy stuff (peanuts, almonds, pistachios, pepitas, crunchy French-fried onions or jalapenos, etc.).
Here’s a suggestion for a simple burrito bowl: open a can of beans (black, pinto, kidney, navy, your choice) and put some in the bottom of the bowl.
Fry up some onions, peppers and protein (chicken, beef, pork, seafood, tuna, tofu, etc.), and add some salsa to moisten it a bit, salt and pepper too. Put that in the bowl.
Top with sour cream, shredded cheese, chopped scallions or chives, chopped tomatoes, sliced radishes, avocado, lots of cilantro (or parsley or lettuce if cilantro tastes like soap to you), and any green you like (if you use kale, massage it with oil first to soften it).
Pour over your favorite dressing (Catalina dressing would actually be great here because it’s slightly sweet!), not too much, and top with some crushed tortilla chips for a texture contrast, and jalapenos if you like heat.
Heat it up to melt the cheese or eat it room temp. Bada-boom, bada-bing, dinner’s ready. Cooking for one is a challenge and I would love to hear about any of your successes, suggestions or questions. Google the two bowl types and try new recipes or make up your own.
Bowls can be a great way to entertain, too, with all the ingredients already prepared so your guests can make their own bowl right at the table.
Catalina salad dressing
Ingredients
• ½ cup each – ketchup, sugar, vinegar, chopped onion
• ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup oil … in a food processor or blender, put in everything but the oil and mix well, making sure to get the onion pieces incorporated. Add the oil slowly to emulsify and adjust for taste with salt and pepper. Refrigerate. Enjoy.
Since I was known as “the birdlady” in The R-C, I want to remind all you bird lovers to keep your birdbaths clean, your hummingbird feeders full and don’t forget grape jelly for the Bullock’s Orioles right now. It’s hot out there for those little guys. Good birding and happy eating, all.
Linda Hiller was a staff writer starting in 1994 for The Record-Courier while also writing View from Jacks Valley, an award-winning weekly neighborhood humor column specializing in critters, especially feathered ones.