While I love the holiday season – looking at the lights, visiting with friends, eating all the yummy, indulgent food – I am secretly happy when they are over. Once my last guest left on New Year’s Day, I felt like I could sleep for the week.
Since my hubby and I are on a house guest break for a while, I’m scaling back on the quantities of food I make. With only the two of us, I’ve been looking for recipes that don’t serve a small army.
“[After] years of dabbling with recipes and having TONS of leftovers that ended up going to waste, I finally had a moment of clarity – cook what you need!” says Barbara Oseland. Her Hearty Lasagna for Two is a very filling recipe, just made into a smaller size. And with the leftover sauce, you can use it to make a pizza or put it on some pasta. Gotta love a two-for-one recipe!
Sue Lally’s Baked Mac & Cheese for One is a perfect dinner when I have a night to myself. But, it can also be doubled if I need it to be. “[This] is so much better than the boxed stuff,” says Sue. This mac & cheese is a wonderful way to indulge yourself in comfort food … while still maintaining portion control.
Meatloaf and Mashed Potato Cupcakes? Now that’s definitely portion controlled comfort food. While not necessarily for two people, Cara Roe’s recipe would freeze well. Or, you can turn the leftover cupcakes into a nice meatloaf sandwich the next day. “My sons love to eat these ‘cupcakes’ for dinner,” says Cara. I think my husband will enjoy these too. They are just cute as a button … and very tasty.
“This is a meal,” says Ellen Bales about her Fried Egg Sandwich with Style, Part 2. I love doing breakfast for dinner occasionally. This sandwich has so many different flavors and textures it makes one really good egg sandwich (and dinner in my mind!).
Soups are wonderful to make when cooking for two. Typically, they make more than you need, but freeze wonderfully. I love making a batch of Jessica Mills’ Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup. It’s perfectly salty, satisfying and just like grandma used to make! “You can’t just eat one bowl full,” says Jessica. “It always has you coming back for seconds.” On a cold winter night, this is the perfect recipe to warm you up.
Leftovers are great – don’t get me wrong. But, after eating something for five days in a row I’m a little tired of it (and I’m sure you all feel the same way too). I love that these recipes are easy to make, and can be portion controlled. Cooking for two can be a hard thing. Do you have any recipes you turn to when not cookin’ for a crowd? I’d love to know!