Cooking for One

In general, when I think of cooking, I associate it with a gathering of family, or friends, or both. But, in reality, often times I am cooking just for me. Over the years (since college, really), I’ve learned to cook small amounts, at most 2 servings (leftovers for the next day). So, while I am very comfortable cooking for my whole family, I’m just as comfy whipping something up just for me.

During the work week, I cook in the late-morning, and package my food up in Tupperware containers for dinner at work. Today, I decided to make chicken stir-fry with Thai inspired “satay” sauce. I originally got the recipe from the Food Network Web site- you can find the original recipe here.

QUICK CHICKEN SATAY STIR FRY

• 1 cup cooked stir fry noodles

• 3/4 cup frozen stir fry vegetables

• 2 chicken breast tenders, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 of a small onion, chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

• 1 heaping tablespoon chunky peanut butter
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• sliced green onions, for garnish
• chopped peanuts, for garnish

Boil the water for the noodles, and cook until tender. While they are boiling, chop the onion, garlic, and chicken. Cook in a preheated pan drizzled with olive oil. Once the chicken is cooked through, add the frozen vegetables. While they cook, mix together the peanut butter, orange juice, lime juice, tamari, honey, ginger and garlic powder, and microwave for one minute, stopping halfway to stir. Add noodles and sauce to the pan of chicken and vegetables, and stir together. Serve garnished with chopped green onions and peanuts.

The original recipe uses fresh vegetables and is paired with orange scented rice. It very good, but takes a little more time to make since you are chopping several different veggies and making a pot of rice. What I did was use the basic recipe for the satay sauce, but paired it with noodles that only take about 5 minutes to cook, and used frozen mixed stir fry vegetables instead of the fresh ones. It took about 20 minutes to cook and package up, and it’s waiting in the fridge in our offices cafeteria for later.