Later On

First, The Eldest just called to remind me that we tried Glorious One-Pot Meals in the past but found that they didn’t quite work. I have absolutely zero memory of this, but I went to my cookbook bookshelf and lo! there is a copy of Glorious One-Pot Meals in a spiral-bound edition (lies flat).

Still, I’m going to give it a go again, and adapt it as needed to my taste and methods. I do not have a 2-quart cast-iron Dutch oven, but I do have a sturdy 2-quart pan—stainless-clad aluminum. I would think that would work for the experiments.

In my own meal evolution, I realized last night that I have gradually drifted into cooking exactly a “serves 1″ meal: each portion (protein, starch, and veg) is a single serving, so I eat everything I just cooked because I cook exactly one (1) meal—and the benefit for me: no leftovers. At all.

Strictly speaking, of course, I frequently cook food in bulk: I generally cook two bunches of greens at a time (typical: kale and red chard) and I hard-boil a dozen eggs at a time and I poach two chicken breasts at a time. But those are cooked specifically for later use. In the evening, I take out my little 2-quart sauté pan and cook/heat up just the amounts I will eat for dinner: 4 oz protein, 1/4 cup starch, and a cup or so of veg.

Generally speaking, a starch serving is 1/2 cup. I take half that because I’m on a weight-loss diet. Once I reach goal, you can be sure that the starch serving will resume normal size.