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.

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.

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.

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!)