Cooking for One

July 7Th The last couple of weeks I have been pretty much taking it easy on the cooking, since I don't want to make something so spectacular, that my wife gets the reheated version. My wife has been taking care of my mom and dad's dog Maxi (and so have I, but not to the extent she has), who is an amazing animal. He is a blind and pretty much deaf 18 year old Yorkie, who is exceptionally happy just wandering around not really going anywhere. It looks like he is stomping around in random circles, yet I believe his imagination has him walking miles and mentally visiting all sorts of interesting doggie sites. Maybe he thinks he is running errands, or he thinks he is a hunter looking for prey smaller than him, i.e grasshoppers. No matter what he is doing, Maxie is a survivor and I hope that when I get as old as he is, I have someone to take me out to the yard once in awhile to wander around and let my imagination fly . . and pick up my poop. He is a wonderful dog, and he always reminds me of his brother (Pee Wee), who was just as amazing and just as loving. Anyhoo, I am taking advantage of modern cooking technology and appreciating what the fine people from Hormel have to offer. Let me make it more special than what it is and call it Italian beef roast with mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach. Now the meat and mashed potatoes are prepackaged "easy meals" something I am a big fan of when I work late. Slap the meat in the micro and boil some water, you're done. The spinach is something I make regularly and I like to have it with some sort of meat. Spinach + meat = love, and I think I just created one weird bumper sticker. Go to produce and get a bag of spinach, grab a red onion and two cloves of garlic, chop them up fine. Place some olive oil in a pan and when hot, add the onions and garlic. Word of warning, if you are not a fan of having your house smell of garlic and onions, then you might want to get frozen spinach and nuke that as well. However, that would be a crime, and you don't want Alton Brown at your door weeping openly. Once the onions turn translucent (big cooking word meaning "sort of clear") and the garlic is starts to brown, add the spinach and watch that mound of green disappear. Make sure you have a pan big enough; you don't want your oven covered in spinach unless you have the Popeye 2000, a fine oven indeed. It will wilt fast, so don't put the heat on high, keep it medium high and adjust as you cook. All ovens are different and if you follow a recipe too literally, you end up at the mercy of your oven with a heaping helping of burnt spinach. So, keep your eye on sautéing, since it can turn on you fast. Once wilted to your desired wiltiness, it’s ready to go. Once it starts to soften, I usually add some kosher salt and pepper. Grated nutmeg goes good with this as well. This meal takes about 30 minutes to make all told, and most of that time is waiting for the nuker to finish. If you need a tutorial on how to make pre-packaged mashed potatoes, then you might just want to head to Subway. Tomorrow I have the day off, and am prepared to make a bunch of food for the weekend. Here is a small preview. Indonesian Chicken with zucchini, glazed orange carrots (both in the slow cooker), cole slaw (never made it) and Black Eyed Peas (tonight's going to be a good night). Should be fun, since I haven't had a full blown culinary day in quite some time. I also plan on playing a little softball in the evening, which I haven't been able to do either. I will tell you how all that goes later. By the way, thanks for the comments posted. If you have any cooking goodies you want to share, please do. I will try it to make it and not burn the house down. Adios Amigos (that's Spanish for goodbye faithful peeps)