Dinner For One

With Mike working in the restaurant business and all sorts of long hours, I am on my own for dinner a few nights a week.  It is super easy and delicious to eat pizza on the couch in my pajamas, but it can’t be good to do that all the time.  Just ask the 10 stubborn lbs that are hanging onto my butt cheeks for dear life.  It is not good to do that all the time.

However, it is hard to get into the mood to prepare and cook and entire meal for just one person.  It seems like a lot of work when you can just throw something in the microwave or eat chips and salsa for dinner.

I decided it was time to get more prepared for cooking for one.  If I streamline it and make it easy…maybe it won’t be such a chore.

I went to Costco and bought the big slab of salmon.  You know the one I’m talking about.  The 2.5 pounder.  We ate it for dinner one night and then I cut the rest into 6-8oz pieces to be frozen individually.  I wrapped each piece in saran wrap and then placed all the wrapped salmon fillets into a large freezer bag.   Then when I was thinking about what to make for dinner, I took out 1 piece of salmon to defrost.  Easy peasy.

Once the salmon was defrosted I seasoned it a little bit.  I like it pretty plain, so salt, pepper and garlic powder did it for me.  I seasoned both sides and put it on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam.

In the meantime, I got started on the zucchini.  I sliced 2 zucchini’s about a 1/4 inch thick.  Placed them in a bowl with salt, pepper and garlic powder (now you know my favorite seasonings..) and sprayed them with olive oil.  Yes, sprayed.  Because to pour the olive oil will make them so damn greasy and it really isn’t necessary.  I keep a spray bottle full of olive oil with my spices.

With a trick I learned from a severely smart vegetable chef, I tossed all the zucchini’s with the olive oil and spices.  Then they all got spread out on the baking sheet.

I did this all while pretending I was cooking in front of a live audience.

Oh wait.  I was.

Now everything was prepared to go into the oven.  The prep took a total of 6 minutes.  Just the amount of time it took my audience to eat her popsicle.

It was time for Miss Mini to take a bath, so I tossed the zucchini in the oven set to 250 degrees.  The zucchini takes about 45 minutes to roast, so I had plenty time to go upstairs and do the bath, books, bed routine.

My audience member decided to go over to the over door, scream HOT, and blow on the door to cool off my roasting zucchini.  Apparently I go near the oven and yell HOT all the time, so she doesn’t go near it.

Once she was all bathed and tucked away I took the zucchini out and flipped them and put the salmon in.

I upped the temp to 325 degrees.  After the salmon cooked for 15-18 minutes I took it out of the oven.  Then I did something truly fantastic.  I sprinkled panko and parmesan cheese on top of the zucchini and broiled them until crispy.  Oh my god.  Delicious.

My dinner for one was served.  And I ate it on the couch.

{ I also do this by freezing chicken breasts individually and by stocking up on steam fresh vegetables.  It only takes 15 minutes to bake a piece of chicken and nuke some veggies.   I should have no excuses }

But the pizza is so good.