Soup for one

My sexy husband is at band practice again tonight, and I'm making dinner for one. For me dinner for one needs to fulfil two requirements: it needs to be easy to make in small quantities (no leftovers) and it needs to allow room for creativity (being creative cheers me up). I suppose it's easy enough to make dinner for one in normal quantities and eat it for a few days or freeze the leftovers for later (sure beats TV dinners), but I don't like to eat leftovers. They just aren't nearly as exciting the next day. Besides I love cute little things...so small quantities are fun.

My all-time favorite dinner for one is soup...which is to be expected because my all-time favorite type of food is soup. I could almost eat soup every day, and I can't say that about anything else. Part of the reason I love soup so much is because it's incredibly versatile. Hardy. Brothy. Creamy. Italian. Japanese. Cajun. Indian. Soup can be everything.

Here's the concept. Soup almost always starts with broth (unless it starts with stewed tomatoes). Then you add a few veggies (and cooked meat if you want). One or more starch (potatoes, noodles, rice, barley, beans). And some spices. If it's a creamy soup, you throw the whole thing into the blender and add a splash of milk or cream. If it's chunky, you just leave it. Done. Simple.



Minestrone-style soup: canned diced tomatoes, other diced veggies (including potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery), garlic, beans (kidney or white), small pasta shapes, and Italian herbs. (you'll probably want to saute the veggies first, then add broth and beans. Then add pasta at the end.)



Totally workable vegetarian chili: The same as above minus the noodles and potatoes...heavy on the beans (multiple kinds is nice...and peppers are nice too)...and with chili powder, cumin, garlic, cayenne pepper (or hot sauce)...



Cream of potato soup: broth, diced potatoes (probably just one or two if you are making soup for one), herbs. Puree. Splash of milk and cheddar cheese (bacon is nice too).



Cream of anything else soup: Whatever veggie you want (broccoli, cauliflower, mixed veggies...) with onions and garlic (and whatever spices you want). Saute. Cook in broth. Puree. Add splash of milk and cheese if appropriate. (If you want your "cream of" soup to be thick without using a lot of dairy, you can add a potato or some rice to the veggies. Once pureed, the starch will make the soup seem thick and creamy).



Lentil soups: I am willing to add lentils to almost any veggie soup. But you can also make an Indian-style lentil soup by using red lentils (which break down themselves like split peas), curry powder, and coconut milk.



You get my point?...I didn't even get to bean soups....black bean (sort of Mexican)...white bean (definitely Italian)....the possibilities are endless. Soup is fun to play with because it's almost fool proof. It makes me feel like a real cook...you know, the kind that doesn't need to bother with recipes.


Last night I made an impromptu veggie noodle soup.


I chopped up 1 carrot, 1 celery spear, 1/5 of a large onion, and a clove of garlic (food is kinda scarce at my house right now. That's all I had). I sauteed these in olive oil until the onions were soft. Then I dumped them into what was probably 2 or 2 1/2 cups chicken stock (I use "better than bullion organic" which is very salty so I never add salt). To this I added a handful of a Trader Joe's mixture that had rice, orzo, mini garbanzo beans and some other stuff. I topped it off with a bit of fresh Italian herbs. Nice.




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Note: When my sexy husband got home from band practice I had to make another dinner for one. I forgot that he'd be hungry. He had a BT (we didn't have any Lettuce) cause he's a B kind of guy. And he was very happy.