Affiliate Disclaimer: We work to provide microwave cooking information and locate merchants who sell the products you are looking for. If you make a purchase from any of the merchants we endorse, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Shopping for Cookbooks

Cooking for One or Two

Have you ever taken a recipe for four, divided it by four, and made it? The results were probably not very tasty. We are becoming a society of single- and two-family households. Baby-boomers are retiring, and their children have grown up and moved out of the house. Learning to cook for one or two people is no longer a novelty, it is a necessity. Fortunately, there are those who have realized the need for recipes for one and two, and written cookbooks to help you cook in smaller portions. Also check out the Microwave Cooking in a Mug page for more solo cookbooks.

Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook by Joe Yonan — Whether you’re a single vegetarian, an omnivore who’s looking to incorporate more vegetables in your life, or a lone vegetarian in a meat-eating household, you know the frustrations of trying to shop, plan, and cook for one. How to scale back recipes? What to do with the leftovers from jumbo-sized packs of ingredients? How to use up all the produce from your farmer’s market binge before it rots?

The perfect book for anyone looking to expand their vegetarian and produce-based repertoire, Yonan’s charming, personable voice and unfussy cooking style encourage home cooks — both new and experienced — to take control in the kitchen and craft delicious veggie-centric meals for one.

One Pan, Two Plates: More Than 70 Complete Weeknight Meals for Two by Carla Snyder — One pan + fresh ingredients = dinner for two! With an emphasis on reducing prep time and the usual sinkful of dishes, cooking instructor Carla Snyder serves up the ideal couple's guide to simple, complete, and truly delicious meals—imagine Balsamic Braised Chicken Thighs with Figs and Creamy Polenta or Thyme-Rubbed Salmon with Shallots and Caramelized Cauliflower "Risotto"—that can be made in one skillet, in less than 60 minutes. With recipes for home-cooked pasta, grains, sandwiches, beef, pork, chicken, and seafood, plus wine or beer pairings for each dish, One Pan, Two Plates will nourish couples, from newlyweds to empty nesters, every night of the week.

Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself by Joyce Esersky Goldstein — Most recipes serve four to six people, leaving the solo cook in a predicament. Enter acclaimed cookbook author Joyce Goldstein and her stellar repertoire of meals that are fun for one. From hearty recipes like Spicy Tortilla and Lime Soup and Tuscan Style Rib-Eye Steak with Rosemary and Garlic, to dressed-up salads and seasonal fruit gratins, each dish is designed to serve one in style. Essential tips and techniques offer valuable advice on smart shopping for one and stocking the pantry. Numerous recipe variations take advantage of seasonal ingredients, while an array of sauces can turn that salmon fillet or lamb steak into a gourmet feast. When the good company is your own, Solo Suppers is the way to go.

The Couple's Kitchen by Ryland Peters & Small — One of the pleasures of married life is enjoying time together at home, cooking good food for yourselves and for loved ones, whether it's friends or members of your recently extended family. If you are both new to cooking, the idea of eating and entertaining together in your new life can be a little daunting. Here is the ultimate helping hand in the form of a truly comprehensive collection of essential recipes. Early Starts and Lazy Mornings provides breakfast and brunch options, while Light Bites and Appetizers are perfect for snacks or whetting appetites before a meal - try Mini Crab Cakes with Chilli Lime Mayo. Just the Two of Us are meals to enjoy together, many of which are speedy to make and so perfect for weekday suppers, such as Beef Chow Mein. Jamaican Jerk Chicken and Deep-dish Meatball Pizza Pie are perfect for feeding a hungry group when you spend fun Weekends with Friends, while for less casual entertaining try recipes from Food to Impress such as Spiced Red Snapper with Chermoula or Fillet of Beef en Croute. Family Gatherings features more traditional dishes that will be enjoyed by all generations - from classic roasts to bites the kids will love. Happy Endings suggests ideas for perfect desserts - from New York Cheesecake to Rose Jelly with Vanilla Cream - while more delicious sweet and savoury treats can be found in Baking Days. The perfect thirst quenchers can be found in Delicious Drinks, while Recipe Basics provides a reference section of essential recipes, such as simple sauces and pastry. Whatever the occasion, this invaluable book will make cooking a pleasure time and time again and its sumptuous production means it will adorn any coffee table or kitchen countertop for years to come.

Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking for One by Joe Yonan — From the award-winning food editor of The Washington Post comes a cookbook aimed at the food-loving single. Joe Yonan brings together more than 100 inventive, easy-to-make, and globally inspired recipes celebrating solo eating. Dishes like Mushroom and Green Garlic Frittata, Catfish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw, and Smoked Trout, Potato, and Fennel Pizza will add excitement to any repertoire and forever dispel the notion that single life means starving, settling for take-out, or facing a fridge full of monotonous leftovers. Yonan also includes shopping and storage tips for the single-chef household, along with creative ideas for making use of extra ingredients. Serve Yourself makes cooking for one a deeply satisfying, approachable pleasure. And with such delectable meals, your solo status could be threatened if you're forced to share with others!

Vegan Bites: Recipes for Singles Paperback by Beverly Lynn Bennett — Cooking for one or two and being vegan can be a challenge, especially when you first begin. Vegan Bites is geared towards teens and those in there 20's who want to embrace a compassionate, green lifestyle. With these delicious recipes fast food and take-out need no longer be the main source of food. Beverly Lynn Bennett provides over one hundred easy-to-make recipes that encompass a wide variety of foods and cuisines with selections for every skill level and schedule. Prep time and leftovers are kept to a minimum. Local, organic and seasonal ingredients are emphasized whenever possible. From Fabulous Flapjacks, Hacienda Home Fries and Sun-dried Tomato Couscous to Mexican Maize and Quinoa Medley, Vibrant Vegetable Cornucopias and Pad Thai, you'll find all your favorites and more. Includes a week of sample menus to provide ideas for meal planning. With sound advice on how to shop economically, fulfill nutritional needs, and stock the pantry with essentials, the vegan lifestyle will be made easy and your choice validated.

Going Solo in the Kitchen by Jane Doerfer — Just because you are your household, don't assume eating solo limits you to having pizza, pancakes, or meat loaf in restaurants; buying them already prepared; or having to file extra portions in the freezer or the dustbin. As Jane Doerfer proves in Going Solo in the Kitchen, with no more effort than when cooking for two or more, one person can eat well and dine beautifully.

Doerfer's main strategies are to use fresh ingredients and to make friends with supermarket staff who can accommodate her needs in the land of large families. She gives detailed advice on storing foods — cooked chicken, for example, tastes better and has better texture when stored in liquid (like a sauce or broth), while potato salads and other prepared dishes keep better longer when left unsalted until just before serving. Solo cooks do have advantages: you can eat what you want, as often as you want it, and the cost of a steak or lobster dinner is only for one.

One Bowl: Simple Healthy Recipes for One by Stephanie Bostic — Too often, cooking and eating alone translates to cheese on toast eaten over the sink, frozen burritos, or just the same bowl of cereal every Tuesday night. Break out of your habits by learning new skills and trying flavorful fresh recipes like: Creamy Buckwheat with Berries, Warm Lentil Artichoke Salad, Roasted Red Pepper Spread, Plum Duck Breast, Spicy Cabbage and Tofu with Noodles.

Intuitive and straightforward, every section of this book is designed for the single cook with limited time and resources. Tips and general information guide the cook through basics like how to how to boil an egg and make rice, while more substantial nutrition information guides the reader to healthy choices. Stephanie has used her research background to both create great recipes and also present readily understood tips and guidelines for positively changing your diet by eating more fruits and vegetables. Enjoy them knowing that the recipes are full of healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains!.

Healthy Cooking for 2 (Or Just You): Low-Fat Recipes With Half the Fuss and Double the Taste by Frances Price — Celebrated columnist Frances Price serves up Southern wit and delicious recipes for singles and small families, sharing recipes for Glazed Pork Chops and Sweet Potatoes, Strawberry Shortcake, Creamy Chocolate Pudding, and other family favorites. With fresh ideas and practical tips, she lures even the most reluctant of cooks into the kitchen.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One by Judith Jones — Here, in convincing fashion, Judith Jones demonstrates that cooking for yourself presents unparalleled possibilities for both pleasure and experimentation: you can utilize whatever ingredients appeal, using farmers' markets and specialty shops to enrich your palate and improve your health; you can feel free to fail, since a meal for one doesn't have to be perfect; and you can use leftovers to innovate — in the course of a week, the remains of beef bourguignon might be reimagined as a ragù, pork tenderloin may become a stir-fry, a cup or two of wild rice produces both a refreshing pilaf and a rich pancake, and red snapper can be reinvented as a summery salad. It's a fulfilling and immensely economical process, one perfectly suited for our times — although, as Jones points out, cooking for one also means we can occasionally indulge ourselves in a favorite treat.

Throughout, Jones is both our instructor and our mentor, suggesting basic recipes — such as tomato sauce, preserved lemons, pesto, and homemade stock—that all cooks should have on hand; teaching us how to improvise using an ingenious strategy of building meals through the week; and supplying us with a lifetime's worth of tips and shortcuts. From Child's advice for buying fresh meat to Beard's challenge to beginning crêpe-makers and Lidia Bastianich's tips for cooking perfectly sauced pasta, Jones's book presents a wealth of acquired knowledge from our finest cooks.

Table for Two: Meat and Dairy-Free Recipes for Two by Joanne Stepaniak — For many years, vegetarians have been enjoying the delicious, cheesy flavor and exceptional nutritional benefits of Red Star "RM" brand nutritional yeast flakes (they are a great source of B vitamins, especially B12 — essential for vegans). Now you can share tips from vegetarian recipe innovator Joanne Stepaniak on how to make the most of this tasty product in your everyday cooking. The possibilities are endless ... and delicious.

Cooking for One: A Seasonal Guide to the Pleasure of Preparing Delicious Meals for Yourself by Mark Erickson and Lisa Erickson — Chefs Mark and Lisa Erickson utilize their Culinary Institute of America training and life experiences to create delicious and healthy single serving recipes. A variety of flavors, easy to follow preparation instructions, and ingredient substitutions make Cooking for One a valuable resource you'll turn to again and again. Living apart during the weekdays, Mark and Lisa share their menu planning and shopping tips along with more than 125 delicious recipes from main meals to side dishes and even desserts. You'll also find his and hers versions of several recipes.

Quick and Easy Diabetic Meals for One by Kathleen Stanley with Connie Crawley — It's tough for people with diabetes to find healthy, great-tasting recipes for just one person. Quick & Easy Diabetic Recipes for One solves this problem with more than 100 tempting, easy-to-prepare recipes. Quick & Easy also features tips on meal planning, shopping, food preparation, and storage. Dozens of recipes for quick breakfasts, soups & stews, side dishes, desserts, and more are at your fingertips.



SHARE THIS PAGE:


Please Support Heating America



It is a very good cookbook and I have yet to find a recipe that didn't turn out as it was supposed to. —Norm Peterson, Arizona

My hubby keeps looking in the cookbook, and asks "when will you cook this recipe?" —Lori Hamby, Florida



FOLLOW US:

Affiliate Disclaimer: We work to provide microwave cooking information and locate merchants who sell the products you are looking for. If you make a purchase from any of the merchants we endorse, we will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!