quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Chicken Crock Pot

This easy but it’s not quick. It’s good for starting in the morning and having it ready when you get back home. Gotta have a crock pot. If you don’t,,now might be a good time to get one. They are great. We’re going to be posting some crock pot recipes from now on. Gammy is a whiz at them.

4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons paprika

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon thyme

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

½ cup white wine (optional)

1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible if not a meat thermometer will work)

1 cup onion, chopped (optional) or substitute a small lemon cut in ¼ s and or a few cloves of garlic smashed and put in the body cavity or do both! What the hell!!

In a small bowl, combine the spices.

Remove any giblets from chicken and clean chicken.

Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.

When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.

Add chicken. No liquid is needed, (but white wine is a nice touch) the chicken will make it's own juices.

Note: We highly recommend a pop-up timer in the chicken or test it with a meat thermometer when you think it’s done, because some crock pots cook slower than other. It's great with sauteed veggiesand the carb of your choice. And the rest of that wine!!!

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Shrimp and garlic fettuccine alfredo

Serves 2 but it will freeze real good in zip locks for a quick no-brainer some other day

1/3 to ½ lb fettuccine pasta
olive oil
1/2 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 can (12-ounce size) evaporated milk
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
12-16 medium shrimp, peeled, deveined
1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
1 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or ½ tbsp. dried

Cook pasta until just short of al dente. It’s going to cook some more with the milk and cheese so leave it with a little bite. Drain and set aside. Drizzle with a little olive oil and stir it so it is all coated so it won’t stick together

In a nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook red bell pepper, shrimp and garlic for about 2 min. turn the shrimp once with a fork or grabber..

Add to pasta along with evaporated milk and Parmesan cheese. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring gently, for 3 to 4 minutes or until sauce is heated thoroughly and thickened slightly.

Add peas; stir gently until heated thoroughly. Remove from heat; let stand for 2 to 3 minutes or until thickened.

Garnish each serving with parsley and Parmesan cheese, if desired. Season with salt and pepper according to taste.

SERVE IT UP!!! With a little salad and some good crusty bread and some wine!!

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Poached salmon

This is from the archives. We do this a few different ways. Sorta what we have on hand and the mood we're in.

Serves 2- I don’t like to keep fish leftovers so I just make what I’m going to use.

2 bout 1/2 lb salmon fillets I like to go to the fish person and ask that they cut about a 2 1/2 inch from the middle of a big fillet and skin them. It'll cook more evenly than a piece cut off the end

½ cup white wine

½ cup water

A few thin slices of onion and/or 1 shallot, sliced thin

1 ½ tsp. dried dill

A sprig of fresh parsley or 2 tsp. dried

Freshly ground black pepper

1 lemon

Put wine, water, dill, parsley, onions, squeeze ½ of the lemon in and then put in the skin in a sauté pan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Place salmon fillets, in the pan. Cover. Cook 5-6 minutes or to desired almost flakeyness. Do not overcook.

SERVE IT UP!!! Sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper. , also, your favorite form of carbs, bread, a salad and the rest of the lemon cut into wedges. Oh yea, and the rest of the white wine

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2


Pop Pop’s bread recipe

I have made bread in a bread machine for ages. But it’ was enough of a chore that I didn’t do it as often as I would have liked to have homemade “good crusty Italian bread”. And, I could just make enough for one night and I had to wait about 2 hours while the machine did its thing. So I started to mix the dough up in a bowl and letting it rise then forming the loaves or rolls, letting them rise for about 20 min or “ until doubled in size” then baking. Then I read somewhere that you could save bread dough in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and use it when you wanted. So this is my bread routine now.

In a med. sized bowl put 1 and a half cups of warm water, ¾ tbsp. of dry yeast and ¾ tbsp. of salt. I like to add pinch of sugar and a squirt of olive oil, but they’re optional. Whisk it up until the yeast has dissolved and add 3 and a half cups of flour. Stir it up until it’s all mixed up and there are no dry spots. (you’ll get a little exercise doing this) Some times I need to add a little more flour cause it looks too wet but not always. Don’t ask me why. Leave the bowl on the kitchen counter somewhere out of the way with a towel over it for about 2 hours. Drop some flour around the edges and on top. Then punch it down and pull it away from the bowl into a ball shape, kinda. Tear off some and shake some flour on it and shape it into whatever kind of bread you want that day. Now comes the good part. Put the rest of the dough in a container that will have a plastic top that seals down on it. And put it in the fridge. Dust the container with flour and the top of the dough also. Then when you come in from work , school whatever all you have to do is light the oven, tear off some dough and your fresh homemade bread will be ready while you multi-task the supper. I just make 2 small loaves for Gammy and I. Then spread a little corn meal or flour on a baking sheet or anything flat and metal. Even a cast iron skillet will work. Put the oven on 450 and let the bread rest a little. It doesn't have to "double in size". When the oven has heated up put the bread in. It’s done when you tap the bottom and get a hollow sound. About 8-10 min. I’ve found that some times the bottom of the loaves start to get dark before the top is done. I just turn them over and let them finish upside down. Some times they want to stick then I just get a spatula or turner thingy and scoot them of the pan. We like to make a dip out of extremely virtuous olive oil, some crushed black pepper, dried basil and a little garlic powder. We enjoy fresh homemade bread every night.

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Mexican Chicken

This from the archives,,updated a little. It's a quick, Mexican, version of parmigiana.

Serves 2



4-6 chicken tenders (depends on how hungry you are)
3/4 cup salsa we like Hardez, cesear red salsa for this
3/4 cup or a little more shredded Cheddar and/ or mozzarella cheese
1 clove garlic, minced or just sprinkle garlic powder
1 pinch salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 small pinch ground cumin
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Heat a oiled skillet to medium. Rub chicken pieces with garlic, salt, pepper and cumin to taste and add to hot skillet. Cook until brown on both sides and no longer pink (8-12 minutes).
Transfer meat to baking dish or casserole dish(s), top with salsa and cheese and bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 10-15 minutes (until cheese starts to bubble and brown.)

SERVE IT UP!!!! Maybe Over rice or buttered noodles. some tacos or crusty bread and maybe with some corona!!!

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Sautéed shrimp, red and green

This is a good, fast meal and you can do it as good as the best restaurants,,,it’s easy!!!

Shrimp about 6-8 large per person. Peeled and deveined.

Pasta about ¼ lb per person

Roma (plum) tomatoes 1 per serving seeded and diced

Onion about a Tbsp. chopped per serving

Garlic 1 small clove per serving

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Red pepper flakes

Arugula fresh,, a small handful per serving if you can’t get arugula spinach will work but arugula has a a little extra flavor to it. Another option is some frozen peas that have been defrosted a little.

A small pinch of dried basil per serving

The shrimp,, if you keep some in the freezer you may want to put as many as you are going to use in the fridge section before you leave the house in the morning. If you forgot just put them in some water with a dash or 2 of salt.

While they are thawing put a pot of salted water on the stove for the pasta.

Put a frying pan bigger than big enough to handle the shrimp. If you like to finish the pasta in the pan with the shrimp etc. remember to use a pan that is big enough.

Heat up the pan med heat. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottem about 1/8 inch deep. Put the shrimp, garlic, salt pepper, red pepper flakes and onion in the pan. Cook and toss until the shrimp has turned pink. Add the tomatoes and the basil. Cook just a minute. We don’t want the tomatoes to get mushy. If you are using peas add them now.

You should have been cooking the pasta while all this was going on. When it is just short of al dente drain it and add it to the frying pan. Toss for a couple of minutes and

and the basil. Cook just a minute. We don’t want the tomatoes to get mushy. If you are using peas add them now.

You should have been cooking the pasta while all this was going on. When it is just short of al dente drain it and add it to the frying pan. If you opted for the arugula (or Spinach) add it now. Toss for a couple of minutes and

You are good!! SERVE IT UP!!! With some good crusty bread and some wine de jour!!!

quick and easy meals for 1 or 2

Beer battered tilapia fillets

We hade Butch and Janie over for dinner tonight and this is what we did.

Before I did anything else I started some risotto. I made it with red wine this time as a little bit of a change, also because that’s the only color wine we had (are you surprised?) put about a tbsp. of olive oil and the same of butter in a sauce pan (pot with a handle). Add a half of small onion chopped up. And a little salt and pepper. When the onions are translucent (not brown) add a cup of rice. Stir it up ‘til the rice is covered with the oil, etc. then add about ¾ cup of wine. Cook and stir ‘til the wine is mostly absorbed. Have about 3 cups of chicken broth heating up in another pot and add it as the rice continues to absorb it. You are going to have to stir it pretty often, no, very often, to keep it from sticking. You can start and finish this as early before everything else and heat it up when the other main course stuff is started. I like to double boil this when I heat it up.

We found a place down here that has calamari cleaned and cut into rings then frozen and ready to go. We all like calamari so I bought some and fried them up for an antipasti. We served them with a little marinara sauce that I had in the freezer (are you surprised?). I jazzed up the sauce with a little bit of red pepper flakes while I was heating it up. Thawed out the calamari, dipped in whipped up eggs with a little milk, then combo of flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Then into hot fat in a skillet. (for this I like canola)

I had cut up onion, garlic, string beans, red bell pepper, zucchini and broccoli. Then started them in a hot skillet when I started the fish. By the way I did the fish in the oil that was left from the calamari. For the beer batter I started with the egg wash that was left over from the calamari, added about a tbsp. of baking powder about a cup of flour and about a half a can of bear. Whupped it all up and there is the beer batter. Rinse off the tilapia fillets (about one and a half per person). Dip them in the batter and put them in the hot fat. About 1 ½ minutes per side or until golden brown, remove them to a paper towel lined dish. Of course we had some homemade bread shaped into bastone loaves with some olive oil for dipping.

Need I say that we had the rest of the red wine with the meal??