Bonus Post: 2 Meals for 1 (Person)!

On Wednesdays, David has class-meetings-meetings-class-officehours-tutoring-moreclass from about 9:00 in the morning till about 9:00 at night. Which means Abby is feeding herself and only herself all day. I tried preparing foods and sending them with that boy for lunch and dinner, but God bless him, he just can't manage to keep up with it all day, much less remember to eat it at a reasonable time. If he didn't leave it in a library somewhere, he came home with it at 9pm and proceeded to eat it then. Missing the point.

Thus, I have given up on trying to feed him while he's out and instead am just focusing on ME. Sigh. It feels good.

Since many of you probably have occasions (perhaps most occasions) in which you are just cooking for one, I thought I'd throw some shots of my lunch and dinner on the Downslizzle to give you some ideas. Both are salads, though maybe not in the way you're thinking. No lettuce involved. They're grain salads, built around precooked whole grains that I had in my fridge. If you cook a big pot of grains at once, they'll feed you for days.

Lunch: Fiesta Chickpea Salad

(because anything with salsa is a fiesta)

1 cup cooked chickpeas (any bean will do, even canned)

1/2 cup cooked grain (pearled barley here, but also spelt, kamut, wheat berries, quinoa, wild rice blend, etc. etc.)

1 small carrot, sliced thin

2 radishes, sliced thin (halved, if they're big)

thin, thin slices of red onion

2ish Tbsp grated cheddar cheese

salsa to toss it all in -- maybe about 1/4 cup? i didn't measure....

So with precooked chickpeas and grains, this is a 5 minute meal. With canned chickpeas and uncooked grains, it will take about 30 minutes to boil and drain the grains (just do it like you would pasta, and taste to see if they're chewable). Toss it all together and you've got a fiesta lunch!

Dinner: Beet Bowl

1 large or 2 medium beets

1/2 cup cooked grains (same as above; I used wild rice)

1 Tbsp chopped parsley

1-2 Tbsp finely diced red onions or thin-sliced scallions

2-3 Tbsp goat cheese, crumbled (beets loooove goat cheese)

apple cider vinegar

salt and pepper

1. First, you must roast the beet(s). Preheat your oven to 375º, rinse your beet and wrap it in foil. Roast in the oven 25-40 minutes, depending on how large your vegetable is. Check for doneness by sticking a sharp knife into the foil-wrapped beet. You want very little resistance--if it's done, you can stick right through. Immediately remove and unwrap the beet so it can cool a bit and you can handle it.
2. Meanwhile, cook your grains if need be. For grains like barley, spelt, rice, kamut, and wheat berries, I just cook like I would pasta--bring a pot with plenty of water to boil and let them roll around for at least 30 minutes. Then I taste and see if it's still too chewy or can be drained. Quinoa takes MUCH less time, like 10-15 minutes.
3. Once your beet(s) is/are cool enough to handle, the outer skin should slip right off. If you have kitchen gloves, now is the time to wear them. Beets will stain like nobody's business. Skin the beet then grate it over the large holes of a box grater. Toss with 2-3 tsp apple cider vinegar and plenty of salt and pepper.
4. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and toss. If your bowl is too savory for your taste, add a little vinegar. If it's too sweet, beef up the S+P.