apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

For me it's a bowl of cereal. Wow, right?

Or if I have good cheese, toast and cheese. It's a nice combination of lazy and quality. But it's definitely not well-balanced!

My husband's the cook in the house, but if he's alone, he always goes for Subway. I think that's because I hate it, so we don't have it when we're both around.

Last night I was alone and had blanched broccoli spears and baby carrots with a side of A1. I washed down this decadent repast with a beer. Best meal I had all week.

I either make things that my boyfriend doesn't like so I don't usually have (like mushrooms in garlic butter, or tuna in various guises). Or, being the more adventurous cook, I'll road-test something before suggesting we both have it. I might make something quicker because it's only me eating it (tonight I'm making Tuscan bean and pasta soup), but I don't lose all interest in cooking all of a sudden-that seems strange to me, but I do enjoy cooking.

I do however, always eat meals in front of the television when I'm alone!

Stuff my husband isn't wild about, like daal. But often it's something quick, so I have yet to make a full liver-and-onions meal.

Right now I'm craving eggs, though, so I'm thinking I'd want a scrambled egg sandwich with a thin slice of sweet onion and a little ketchup. Gee, I can't even remember the last time I ate ketchup.

Occasionally I'll deep fry a pork chop...I tend to eat something cereal-esque or something with so much fat I couldn't possibly allow anyone else to see me eat it! Or sometimes it's just pasta...usually with sausage and arugula and wine.

I eat butter and jelly on Ritz crackers!

I will also order way too much Chinese food and stuff myself silly.

Something with a runny fried egg... either leftover grain (couscous, maybe even rice, or my current favorite, Trader Joe's harvest grains mix with the baby chickpeas in it) or spinach. Last resort would be to put the fried egg over toast and canned tomatoes.

sriracha chili sauce on ANYTHING. soy chips? eggs? various leftovers fried up in a pan? pretzels? leftover deli-meat? YES.

with sriracha.

my version of white wine and cheerios is kraft macaroni and cheese. don't judge.

A fried egg sandwich, with a slice of American cheese, on buttered white bread.

A micro-waved baked potato, with butter.

A bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios with whole milk (no blue milk, ever).

A tall glass of chocolate milk (see above) made with a handsome helping of Hershey's Chocolate syrup---which is also my favorite mid-afternoon snack.

A whole avocado, sliced in half with the seed removed, eaten straight out of the skin with a small spoon---and just a little salt. I had this last night for supper.

I scrounge for whatever might otherwise be considered a guilty pleasure...usually looking for instant gratification type snacks that when eaten in greater quantities become a meal (albeit VERY unbalanced). Think cheese. Lots of cheese. Mmmmmmmmm....

When I'm on my own for dinner, which is only usually one day a week I tend to eat something simple, usually avocado and scallion nori rolls, pasta with kale, lemon and some pecorino or a huge batch of guacamole and chips washed down with plenty of mojitos. I also love to grab a crusty loaf of bread, good cheese and some olives or fruit and a bottle of wine when I'm feeling particularly lazy.

You all should check out the book Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone. It's a collection of essays from foodies and writers about this very subject. I read it last year and loved it. Writers include Nora Ephron, Haruki Murakami, Paula Wolfert, Laurie Colwin.

http://www.aloneinthekitchen.com/

And confession time: when I'm on my own, I'm prone to eat things like a single tomato with pepper sprinkled on top, Doritos topped (low-fat) cream cheese, and bowls and bowls of spinach, mushrooms, and onions cooked in every possible way.

Two thumbs up for the movie!

Either cereal or Virginia peanuts for me.

seeing as i am single and i live alone, if i didn't cook for just myself regularly i wouldn't cook, period. i love cooking to unwind, and i love eating quality, nutritious food so i put effort into it frequently. the meals i have made for myself the past two days are polenta with kale, mushrooms, goat cheese and a poached egg and curried lentils with spinach over saffron brown rice. i keep lunches simple, and breakfast is always oatmeal with plain yogurt and fruit.

This is going to sound weird, but I also eat huge salads for dinner when my husband is away. He would NEVER be happy with a salad as dinner. I load them up with hard boiled eggs, smoked salmon, cheese, avocado. Yum.

My partner leaves for a month every summer--and it's tough to cook for just me! I cook things that will last for days--I don't mind eating the same thing for a while, usually involving beans or grains.

Avocados with whatever citrus juice I have on hand, chili powder, and cilantro if I have it seems to be a default for me. I'm pretty skinny so I defend the high fat in avocados by saying my body needs it! Sometimes I have this daily!

Otherwise... Toast if I have bread, and maybe some juice.

Occasionally if I bought groceries I will make a little stir fry of random things that looked bizarre at the grocery store (yes... this is how i decide what to buy, probably why I don't have much to eat!)

I think the real question for me is "what do you buy at the grocery store when you are alone?" Those answers... Spinach, any vegetable Ive never seen before, carrot juice, avocados, tea, cilantro, some beer and chocolate on the way out!

Now its time to figure out a lunch! I ate my last avocado for breakfast yesterday.

I call it a snacky plate (dumb name, I know). It's basically a platter of appetizers or small sampling of different things. Some sort of dip and something to dip into it like pita chips and hummus or pretzels and mustard, salami, always olives, fruit, chunks of cheese, and something sweet and dessert-ish. Everything in the same portion size. Everyone I've ever made these for like them!

popcorn and carrots. together.

My favorite is "lazy sushi": hand rolls with avocado and (if I'm lucky) tofu, with some cucumber salad.

Sliced tomato in balsamic vinegar with pepper - especially when the tomato is homegrown!

Usually a glass of wine that I keep topping off.

Then I make "college casserole" so named because it's a bunch of stuff thrown together that you can make in a microwave and toaster oven. It is composed of Annie's mac and cheese (purple box) with a few dashes (okay, like 2 pounds) of Cabot Cheddar Shake, honey battered chicken nuggets and peas, both from the freeze isle. Eat all 3,000 of it straight from the pot.

I swear to god. Wine, college casserole and a few DVRed episodes of Project Runway or Real Housewives (any city) and I go into a catatonic state of bliss...catatonic except for when I get up to pour myself more wine. Then I usually take a hot shower and do my beauty treatments (deep condition, facial mask, etc). I mean. If we're being really honest here about what we do when we get a nice night at home alone...