Skillet Taco Spaghetti And A Review

I am always looking for resources for 1 or 2 to share with you. It’s hard to find cookbooks and blogs for 1 or 2 and much harder to find ones that are worth recommending. It seems that most cookbooks and blogs for one or two think of small batch recipes in terms of special occasions like Valentines day. They forget we need to eat the other 364 days of the year.

Other small batch cookbooks fill their recipes with partially used packets of processed ingredients like we don’t deserve anything better just because we are single. I am rather picky about my small batch cookbooks and blogs. If I wouldn’t personally use them, I am not going to recommend them. So today, I am excited to be able to recommend to you Betty Crocker Right Size Recipes Delicious Recipes For 1 or 2.

Things I like about Right Sized Recipes:

1. While a few of the recipes use processed ingredients, most don’t.

2. The ingredients are easily found at most grocery stores.

3. The recipes are for food I would actually like to eat.

4. The recipes don’t have an excessive amount of ingredients or take an excessive amount of time to make.

5. They include some recipes for a small slow cooker.

6. There is an extensive chart showing what other recipes use your leftover ingredients.

What I don’t like:

1. The portions are very small

So does the cookbook meet the criteria I have for including the book in my library? Does the food taste good? Yes, every recipe I tried tasted good. Will I cook out of this book on a regular basis? Yes, the cinnamon frosted molasses cookies and no knead Parmesan Rosemary bread are already on my list to make again. I also have a list of more recipes I want to try.

The recipes are easily doubled or fleshed out with a salad or other vegetable sides.

Skillet Taco Spaghetti

• Difficulty: Easy
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From The Right Sized Recipes Cookbook

2 tsp olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 lb ground beef

2 tsp finely chopped garlic

1 cup water

1 cup chunky style salsa

2 oz raw spaghetti, broken in half

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 cup shredded Mexican blend cheese

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. Add ground beef and garlic. Cook 5 -7 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink. Stir the remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling and reduce the heat. Cover and simmer for 10 – 12 minutes until the pasta is tender and most of the liquid is absorbed.

Bacon Ranch Breakfast Hash (Whole 30)

This week I did something I haven’t done in almost 13 years and something I never thought I would do again. I gave my employer my notice. Friday, March 29th will be my last day with my old employer and Monday, April 1st will be my first day with my new employer.

Although I am beyond ecstatic to be to be leaving my current place of employment, I am really having a hard time leaving the people. I mean, I knew it would be hard. These people have been with me through some of the best and worst times of my life. I just didn’t expect it to be this hard. So many tears and so many hugs and I still have 4 more shifts before I am done. You would think I was moving 6000 miles away instead of 6 blocks away.

I am also very touched by the reactions of some of my regular customers that I told that I was leaving. My goal has always been to make sure everyone who comes through my line leaves feeling a little better then when they got there. I never knew how much I succeeded at this until I decided to leave.

If you are wondering what the picture has to do with Bacon Ranch breakfast hash, the answer is nothing. My friend, Ess, bought this little Angel for me to celebrate my new job. She spent a lot of time picking just the right stone for me.

I don’t know if I believe in the power of crystals and all that but I gotta say, this one is perfect for me. I need help attracting new opportunities because I sure don’t going looking for them. New opportunity means changing things and I don’t handle change of any kind well. Even though I know that there is no future for me where I work now, those voices in my head fill me up with self doubt, that I will fail at my new job. I am too old, too dumb, just too much of everything to suceed. If this can help me move past that I’ll be grateful. Those negative inner voices can really beat you up if you let them.

Bacon Ranch Breakfast Hash

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The Defined Dish

1/2 lb baby yellow potatoes, cut into fourths

2 strips compliant bacon

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 lb ground chicken

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 cup baby spinach

2 TBS compliant ranch dressing

Place the potatoes in a saucepan and add enough water to cover. Place sauce pan over high heat and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling cook for 5 minutes or until slightly tender. Drain.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Fry the bacon until crispy, about 4 minutes per side. Break the bacon into little pieces. Remove to a plate. Set aside.

Drain all the bacon grease except for 1 tablespoon. Once the potatoes are done, add the potatoes to the skillet with the bacon grease. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook 6-8 minutes, until golden and tender. Add the spinach and cook until wilted about 2 minutes. Remove the potatoes and spinach to the plate with the bacon.

Add the ground chicken to the pan. Brown the chicken, breaking it up with a fork. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing. Continue cooking and breaking up the meat until no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Once cooked, drain the fat, add the potatoes and spinach back to the pan with another tablespoon of ranch dressing. Mix well and heat through.

Crispy Eggs And Cabbage (Whole 30)

I usually don’t post two recipes from the same source in a row. I like a little variety. Although in this case, the recipe is too good not to. It’s simple. It’s quick, delicious and indefinitely adaptable. You could add any left over vegetables you have in the fridge. You could use any seasonings you like. I used a little Everything Bagel spice in the one in the picture.

Crispy Eggs And Cabbage

• Difficulty: Easy
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From The Made Whole Cookbook

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 medium head cabbage, sliced (about 2 cups)

2 slices bacon, proscuitto, or ham

2 large eggs

Salt, to taste

Heat an 8 inch skillet over medium heat. When hot, add oil.

Spread the cabbage evenly over the pan. Cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes, until the bottom of the cabbage begins to brown. Move the cabbage to one side in a little mound.

Add the protein of your choice to the other side of the skillet. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, flipping once. Push the protein up against the cabbage.

Crack the eggs into the remaining space in the pan. Sprinkle salt over everything. Let the eggs cook 2-3 minutes, until the whites are cooked.

Brussels And Bacon Frittata (Whole 30) And A Review

The older I get the more picky I am about the cookbooks I buy. I used to buy whatever cookbooks caught my eye with the glossy covers and had one recipe I wanted to cook. Now, I am all about quality over quanity. In order to make it to my cookbook collection the cookbook has to answer two questions, will I cook from it on a regular basis and does the food taste good.

Cristina Curp’s Made Whole Cookbook answered both of those questions with a resounding yes!! Let’s explore the positives. The cookbook is beautifully photographed. Each photograph makes you want to take a bite of the page. While beautiful food photos aren’t necessary for a good cookbook, they cetainly don’t hurt.

Will I cook out of Made Whole On a regular basis? Yeah, I can see this cookbook being on regular rotation in my kitchen. Every time I look through the book I see more recipes I want to try. The recipes have a reasonable number of ingredients. The ingredients are easily found in most grocery stores. The author stays away from the odd, hard to find ingredients that plague most whole food and “diet” cookbooks.

Except for a couple of recipes that contain sauces, the recipes are self contained, you don’t need to make a bunch of other recipes in order to start making the recipe you want to make.

The book has a keto-paleo focus but many of the recipes are naturally Whole 30 compliant or can easily made compliant.

The only negative, and it’s a minor one, is the book is over sized so it doesn’t for easily onto my kitchen book shelf.

So, how does the food taste? Well, I made the frittata for Satuday morning breakfast. I had 2 pieces for breakfast and the other 2 pieces for lunch. I wished that I had some leftover for dinner. It was that good. I am looking forward to exploring the cookbook further.

Brussels And Bacon Frittata

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From The Made Whole Cookbook

2 1/2 slices bacon

6 large eggs

2 TBS coconut milk

3/4 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp dried dill

1/4 onion, sliced

1 cup shredded Brussels sprouts

1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat an 8 inch skillet, add bacon and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until the bacon is crispy. In medium bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, 1/2 teaspoon salt, pepper and dill, until light yellow, smooth and frothy.

When bacon is almost done, a the onions and sprouts to the skillet. Combine well. Cover the skillet and cook for 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard and oil. Mix well.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet, cook undisturbed for 5 minutes, until the edges look cooked and pull away from the side of the skillet.

Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and bake 15 minutes. The frittata is done when the center doesn’t jiggle when shaken.

Remove the pan from the oven and run a spatula around edge of the frittata to make sure it isn’t stuck. Flip it out of the skillet onto a plate or cutting board and cut into equal pieces.

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Pumpkin Pie Granola With Pecans

On March 6th, 2014,  I published my first post on A Solitary Feast.  It was a recipe for pancakes for 2.  I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.  I had no idea if anyone would be interested in my small batch recipes.  I certainly had no idea I would still be going strong with recipes 5 years and 500 recipes later.  Thank you so much, for all your support and the time you take to read my posts and make my recipes.  I appreciate each and every one of you.  I have several new things coming over the next year and can’t wait to share them with you.

• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

Adapted From the Purely Pumpkin Cookbook

2 1/2 TBS oil

2 1/2 TBS honey or maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats or any rolled, flaked grain, I used rolled rye flakes

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 TBS brown sugar

2 TBS pumpkin spice

1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine coconut oil, honey and vanilla. Mix in the oats, brown sugar, pumpkin pie spice and salt. Mix well. Spread evenly onto the prepared half sheet pan. Bake 1 hour, until evenly brown. Cool completely on the half sheet pan. Store in an air tight container in the pantry.