Dinner for One

There is a challenge in cooking for two, or four or even four hundred. There's a bigger challenge in cooking for one. I've never been good at it; I often make too much and then I don't eat the leftovers. A challenge I've put upon myself is to cook dinner for me and my parents once a week. And I've been experimenting...that's the most fun part! Yes, while I'm cooking for three, I'm trying to find ways that I can incorporate this while I'm living on my own again. Currently, I'm not seeing anyone and I have found that I need to be able to support myself alone again. Working on it...

So! Want to know what I made and how I made it? Yum...Let's go!

Late last night I was thinking about what I hoped to make tonight and I asked Mom to pick up some tortilla chips, taco sauce and ground beef. I planned to do a mac and cheese bake with the taco meat on a layer of crumbled tortilla chips with more crumbled chips on top. When I got home from work, she was at her Sorority meeting and my dad was no where to be found. I called my dad to find out if he was coming home and got his voicemail. Would it be dinner for one again? I found the groceries on the table, only I couldn't find the taco sauce. Would it matter if my dad came home? A thousand thoughts flooded my mind as to whether I should give up (I was exhausted, I could have gone to bed right when I got home) or whether I should check what was in the pantries and cupboards to make a new recipe on the fly.

I looked through about seven cabinets, plus the fridge and finally decided on a couple of things. I still wasn't sure if he was coming home, and I didn't have the white rice I wanted to make, so I called my sister (I wanted Sweet & Sour sauce too because I wanted to make a variation on Chinese Sweet & Sour Chicken) and stopped at her place to get some rice. Sadly, she didn't have any Sweet & Sour sauce, but I found Wildtree's Wicked Slow Cooker sauce in the cabinet earlier and was going to give that a shot.

I had two breasts of chicken in the fridge, a can of green beans, the white rice from my sister, a bag of Shake & Bake and that Slow Cooker sauce. I made the green beans and the rice while I poked holes in my chicken and dipped it in the sauce before breading it in the Shake & Bake.

Bake, boil and butter later, I had this:

I didn't bother to take a photo of my dad's plate after I plated the meals because he eats such small portions, so this is mine. I was in a food coma after this. Dad even loved it. Which I was impressed with - finally something good about me coming out of his mouth...

I thought I overdid the green beans and the rice. But that's ok, there's always next time. Although the sauce was recommended for pork in the slow cooker, this as a quick marinade turned out great. The chicken was so juicy and tender that I about died. So good...

Check back later for my other recipes. I have to pick up last week's and then there are two more I made too. I might even add a page for it.

Loves,
Cooking Bird