Cooking For Two
Cooking For Two
So you find yourself having to cook just for two now that your children have gone off to college, gotten married, or you are just starting out with a new relationship.
You want to cook something delicious and exciting with out a huge amount of left over food. Cooking shows can give you great ideas. So do really great cook books. So here we go into the exciting world of cooking for two people.
When you decide to cook a recipe please realize that nine times out of ten the recipe will be made for four people. So you will have to do a conversion to get a correct quantity for two people. Divide your recipes to fit your needs. If the recipe says four servings make sure you are diving it in half. This is of course if you do not want left over food. Should you decide to go ahead with the original recipe make sure you store the left over food properly and safely. Cooking for two is easier then most people think it is. Take a simple chicken dinner with the trimmings. You can always use a small roaster chicken add the stuffing, carrots, potatoes, celery, and onions right to the same pan as the chicken. This will ensure tastier vegetables and starches being they are cooked in the juices of the meat. Just flavor your chicken with a little butter, salt, and pepper, or use the low fat alternative extra virgin olive oil, which has extremely great flavor to make a heart healthy chicken dinner.
You can always use a crock-pot. If you find yourself short on time but you want a nice hearty beef stew for dinner just a little planning ahead of time helps you to accomplish such a dish and have your dinner partner praising you to the end of the week. When you hit the super market buy the already cubed up beef stew meat, you will find it in the meat section of your local super market. Then swing through the produce aisle and get baby carrots, pre cut celery and onions, yes these do exist in most modern day super markets. When the day comes throw everything into your crock-pot set to low and off to work with you. When you get home just make the rue with flour and water to thicken and presto you have a hearty beef stew for two. Easy to make and easy to store for you can keep it right in the same pot you cooked it in.
Making dessert for two is simple depending on the kind of desert you choose. Brownies al a mode is an excellent quick dessert and they store superbly at the end of the day. Another nice quick easy dessert is instant mousse. For those who are on the run this instant mousse is just the ticket for a light flavorful dessert. Start yourself off with instant pudding of your choice; you can have chocolate, vanilla, lemon, and so on. Add some whipped topping, or if you feel creative enough whip up some heavy cream. Gently fold into the pudding. Refrigerate for at least one hour. You can buy the pre made chocolate or puff pastry shells and serve your mousse in them.
Storing your left over food should be high priority on your list when you find that you have made too much of it. When storing any protein based dish make sure you seal it tightly and you should label and date the product. You should never eat a dish that is protein based, which is more then four days old in your refrigerator and more then a week old in your freezer. When you learn the basic simple steps of cooking for two you will soon realize that it is much easier to cook for two then it is to cook for six or eight! There are those who would disagree that it is easier to cook for more but think of all the extra creative dishes you can have cooking for just two people versus cooking for six people. Just make sure you take the time to touch your inner creativity!