Tortilla chips

If you are hungry for a salty snack and too lazy to go to the store, this might happen.

And they might be so good that you swear never to buy a bag from the store again. Bliss!

To make, cut corn tortillas into 6 wedges each. Heat an inch or so of canola oil in a smallish saucepan. Carefully drop wedges into the oil without crowding. I did 4 wedges at a time. Use tongs to flip the wedges as they brown, and cook until crisp and well browned on both sides. Remove wedges from oil to a paper towel lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt immediately. Serve with salsa.

Eggcelent

When you forget you're making hard boiled eggs and leave them boiling on the stove for some indeterminate period of time, and they somehow turn out to be perfectly cooked. That's luck, baby!

Perfect iced tea

More proof that Northern Virginia is not a part of the South: most restaurants here default to unsweet tea and can only offer sugar packets. Sorry, it's just not the same! I need my sweet tea, or as we always called it when I was growing up, tea. Sweet was just assumed. This is my favorite and foolproof way to make it.

Heat a full tea kettle of water on the stove until boiling (or nuke 1 quart in a big measuring cup or bowl for 4-5 minutes). Pour the hot water over 2 family size tea bags (or 6 regular size) set in a pretty teapot.

Put the lid on the teapot and let the tea steep for 15 minutes. Put between 1/2 and 2/3 cup sugar (I use two of the scoops I keep in my sugar canister and I measured it this morning; it's less than 2/3 but more than 1/2 cup) into a 2 quart glass pitcher. You're using a glass pitcher, not a plastic one, because you're going to make this tea all the time and you don't want to stain your plastic pitcher. Pour the hot tea over the sugar, then stir until the sugar dissolves. Remember high school chemistry? I try not to, but this one thing turned out to actually be relevant to my life. The sugar dissolves better when the liquid is still hot, which is why you're adding it and stirring it at this stage. Then fill the pitcher the rest of the way with cold water and give it another stir. You can enjoy it immediately over some ice, or let it sit in the fridge for a spell to cool down more.

Oh, look - I'm reflected in the pitcher. It's a sign! I think I'll go pour myself a glass right now!

My favorite pesto pizza

So, the recipe for the ham and fontina sandwiches called for a mayo-pesto mixture, which means I had more than half of a container of pesto leftover. What to do, what to do...make pizza!

One of my favorite homemade pizza options is a simple combination of pesto, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. When I lived in South Carolina, I routinely grabbed a bag of pizza dough from a refrigerated case in the bakery at Publix. Strangely, now that I'm closer to the pizza mecca of New Jersey, I find it harder to get good pizza dough from the grocery stores. So I decided to try Pioneer Woman's recipe this time. I was so prepared to love this dough because it came together into such a nice ball that was sticky but still easy to handle. Here it is, ready to be covered with a towel to proof.

And here is the other half of it (the recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas), ready to pop in the freezer for a later meal. When I used that yummy Publix dough, I usually divided the dough in thirds with a sharp, serrated knife (that should have been my first clue, as I was able to twist this dough in half with my hands) and froze the other two balls. The Publix dough was supposed to make just one pizza, so dividing it into thirds made for 3 small pizzas right-sized for a solo diner. At least, for a solo diner with a feminine appetite. The whole thing would be right-sized for one meal for my youngest brother.

Pioneer Woman's recipe makes a good, quick dough with about the same consistency as the box version my mom used to buy and make. It doesn't have the same great stretchy, gluteny, crusty, pizza doughy texture that I prefer. But it's a good enough option if I happen to be in a hurry since it only needs an hour to proof. (My usual recipe calls for 1 1/2 hours, and I often make it ahead and let it proof overnight in the fridge.) And since it isn't so stretchy, it actually pushes out nicely to fill an entire half sheet pan (i.e., the biggest size sheet pan that fits in a normal oven. It gets called a "half sheet" because commercial kitchens actually use even bigger ones that don't fit in home ovens.)

To make this pizza, make the dough (or use your favorite store bought) and stretch it out on a sheet pan smeared with olive oil or a pizza stone. Top with a thin layer of pesto. It's perfectly fine to have spots that look a little bare. A little pesto goes a long way. Half a container of Butoni will cover a whole pizza. Top with very thin slices of tomato. Cover generously with shredded mozzarella. (You can also toss on some chopped up cooked chicken - yum!)

Bake until the cheese is starting to brown and bubble and the crust is slightly browned in spots. Pioneer Woman had me baking her recipe at 500 for 10 minutes; I usually do 400 for 15-20 minutes. Basically, you want a hot oven and not a lot of time.

Steak Salad

Why, yes, that leftover steak was delicious on a salad.

Fill a plate with whatever lettuce you have on hand. I had iceberg, romaine, and red leaf.* Add chopped red bell pepper, thin slices of red onion, chopped tomatoes, and shredded Parmesan cheese. Top with bite-size pieces of steak. Drizzle with bottled balsamic vinaigrette.

*Don't forget to wash your greens. But who wants a soggy salad? Shake off excess water in the sink, then lay the leaves on a kitchen towel and roll them up tight, pressing down. This works great for fresh herbs as well.

Grilled Steak and Onion Sandwich

This was dinner tonight and it's a keeper.

Skirt steak is already a small piece of meat because it's so thin, so cutting it down to a single serving size before cooking doesn't work well as the meat will overcook. And overcooked skirt steak = tough = blech. So even if you're making this for one, just cook the whole pound of skirt steak.

I like to marinade in a plastic bag. So easy to dump all the ingredients in the bag, smush them around with your hand, then drop in the meat and smush it around; seal and let sit. And then just toss the bag. ("Smush" is a very technical cooking term...)

Sigh. The gas grill wouldn't light. So, I just popped this under the broiler on a sheet pan with a rack set on it for the same amount of time. Perfectly cooked.

No food processor, no problem! It's not as if finely diced only became a thing when food processors were invented. You're not chopping that much, so just start chopping with a good chef's knife, first in one direction and then the other, until you get the consistency/size you want.

I tasted the skirt steak when it came out of the broiler and, wow, that's a lot of vinegar. And then there is more vinegar in the onion mixture. But surprise! When all that vinegar gets together inside a sandwich, it's actually perfect.

I didn't have arugula on hand, so I just used another lettuce - red leaf, I think - that I did have in the fridge. I used sourdough bread, and instead of Parm shavings, I had some "fancy" shredded Parm (thanks, Aunt Cindy, for your beach leftovers) that I just sprinkled over the sliced steak.

I think the rest of the steak is going to be delicious over some salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

Kitchen help

It's always a good idea to keep a clean up crew on stand by, just in case.

Protect your hands!

Those recipes that start off on the stovetop in a skillet and then move to the oven to finish cooking are great...right up until the moment you forget that the skillet was in the oven and, without thinking, reach over and grab the handle. Yikes! Been there, burnt that. Here's my simple solution: instead of grabbing a hot pad to take the skillet out of the oven, slip an oven mitt over the handle, then leave it there. It will remind you that the pan was in the oven and it will protect you from the blazing hot metal if you do reach over and grab it.

Grilled Corn with Onion & Chile Butter

From this month's issue of Bon Appetit, there's a recipe for Grilled Corn on the Cob with a Spring Onion and Sesame-Chile Butter. I was too lazy to walk out to the grill and stand there for 30 minutes, so I cooked mine on a grill pan on the stove. It got a little smoky inside, but this would be something I'd do again if I were grilling other things (outside) and wanted to add corn to the mix. (My other favorite way to cook corn on the grill is to shuck the corn, and wrap it in foil with a pat or two of butter and some sprigs of dill.) I charred the outside pretty good, but unlike the picture in the link the kernels inside weren't charred at all, just perfectly tender. I can't tell if the grilling made the corn sweeter or if this was just a good, sweet batch of corn. I mixed up some of the butter, but skipped the fancy ingredient and just went with all red pepper flakes. The spice of the pepper with the sweet corn was a yummy combo. I mashed together with a fork:

About 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter
About 1/3 of a green onion, grilled next to the corn for a few minutes until soft and then sliced thin
Half a dozen shakes of the red pepper flakes spice container
A generous sprinkling of salt and pepper

Phase 2 of dinner is still a couple of hours away, the result of poor planning and failure to check my recipe ahead and notice that I needed to marinate for a couple of hours before tossing in the oven for an hour. So it's a good thing I had a delicious ear of corn to eat to tide me over!

Packing a sandwich

Taking a lunch to the office is far more economical than going out to eat. But a freshly made sandwich can't be beat. Soggy bread and limp veggies are just icky. So when I pack a sandwich for the office, here's what it looks like (before the lids are closed):

• Bread in a baggie or Tupperware sandwich keeper. When I pop my lunch bag into the fridge at work, I first pull out the container with the bread. That way, I have nice soft, room temperature bread at lunchtime.
• Condiments in tiny Tupperware midgets or smidgets containers.
• Lunch meat and cheeses can live together until lunchtime.
• Fresh veggies stay in their own world until lunchtime so they keep their crispness and don't sop up moisture from other sandwich participants.

At lunchtime, it takes about 30 seconds to pull everything out and make a fresh sandwich, with all of the ingredients the right temperature and everything as soft or crispy as it should be.

Better yet, because everything stays separate until I'm ready to actually make and eat the sandwich, I can prep a whole week's worth of sandwich ingredients on Sunday and save time and energy during the week.

Tom Collins

Nothing says summertime like lemonade! And to make it extra special, extra refreshing, and extra grown-up, nothing says summertime lemonade like a Tom Collins. Ahh...

Here's my recipe for 1 tall, refreshing glass of summer.

Dump a tablespoonful of sugar into a tall tumbler.
Squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, using a strainer so you don't get any seeds.
Stir or swirl until the sugar dissolves.
Pour in 1 or 2 tablespoons of London Dry gin.
Fill the glass 2/3 full with ice.
Top off the glass with club soda. Those little cans are perfect!
Give it all a little stir with the handle of an iced tea spoon.
Sit on your porch or patio and enjoy!

Kitchen tips

Here are some of my favorite tips, especially when cooking for one person.

Cutting down recipes is easy. Anyone can take a recipe that “serves 2” and cut the ingredients in half. Recipes that make four servings are just as easy to cut down. Anything more than that becomes more challenging and may not turn out as well. Cooking times usually stay the same, unless the recipe is, say, a quiche or casserole that needs to cook until the center is set or heated. Smaller portions of these recipes take less time than their full-size counterparts; but one chicken breast will take just as long to cook through as four chicken breasts placed side by side.

Recipes that freeze well are great for solo diners. Simply make the recipe, divide into individual servings, and freeze. Quart size freezer bags are perfect for this. Most soups and casseroles freeze well.

Shopping for one can seem daunting, especially when it comes to buying meat. Most butcher counters in grocery stores will gladly make a smaller package if you ask. For everything but roasts, I generally prefer to buy the family packs, though. They’re usually cheaper, and I can stock my freezer well by dividing individual chicken breasts or pork chops in quart size freezer bags as soon as I get home.

Splurge! You’re cooking for one, so an occasional good steak or expensive seafood is more affordable than if you wanted to make the same thing for a family.

Using the right size cookware is important. Most things will cook best if they are not crowded in the pan and, conversely, don’t have excessive space around them. Over the years, I have collected smaller sizes of cookware – a wok for one, a one-cup saucepan, a 1.5 liter stock pot, 6” pie plates.  Items like these can be easily found in the kitchen section of discount stores like Marshall’s and TJ Maxx and they are in frequent use in my kitchen.

Another workhorse in my kitchen is a metal pie tin. This holds far more entrees than desserts in my house. When I need to bake a piece of chicken or fish and the recipe calls for placing the protein on a baking sheet, I use a pie tin perfectly sized for one serving.

Speaking of pie, recipes for baked goods can be tricky to cut in half or fourths. I’ve had very mixed results. Baking is much more precise than cooking, so small differences in the proportions can throw everything off. The solution? Make the whole recipe and share with friends!

When a recipe calls for one egg and you want to cut the recipe in half or in fourths, simply break the egg into a small custard bowl, then whisk it with a fork until the yolk and white are well mixed; then, either scoop or pour out roughly the fraction you need. Since the actual size of individual eggs varies, if you’re a little off on your fraction, it should not make much of a difference in the recipe.

If you like to cook with fresh herbs, the easiest thing is to simply grow some in your garden or in pots. Then you can easily snip the small amount you need. Another option is to buy a small bunch at the grocery store, use what you need for the recipe, and then hang the rest of the herb sprigs, tied with some twine, from a knob or hook in your kitchen until the leaves are totally dry. Pull the dried leaves off and store in an airtight container until you need them for another recipe. If you grow herbs outside, this is a good way to get the most out of those herbs that will not winter over.

Years ago, I sold Tupperware and I bought a set of their Fridge Mates containers. They really work to extend the life of fruits and vegetables, which is very helpful when you’re a solo diner. A Tupperware Salad Keeper makes lettuces last far longer than any other method I’ve found. (Don’t get me started on a pantry full of clear storage containers and a label maker!)

Ham & Fontina Sourdough Sandwich

I made this for dinner last night and it was oh-so-good. Here is the Original recipe from Southern Living, which makes 4 sandwiches.

I eyeballed the ingredients for the mayo mixture to cut it down to a more reasonable amount for 1 sandwich and still have plenty leftover for a few sandwiches today and during the week. Measurements below are for 1 sandwich.

2 good teaspoonfuls mayonnaise
1 small teaspoonful pesto sauce (I use Butoni, found in the refrigerated section)
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 slices sourdough bread
1 slice Fontina cheese
4 thin strips of red bell pepper
3 thin slices of deli ham
3 or 4 basil leaves
1 leaf of romaine lettuce

Stir mayo, pesto, and lemon juice together in a small bowl. Spread on both slices of bread. Layer remaining ingredients on bread to make sandwich. Cut in half and enjoy!