Serves One Cookbook Give Away!

One of the first recipes on this blog was for Somen Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce.



This came from one of my favorite Cookbooks, Serves One. To celebrate the one year anniversary of the blog, I am giving away a copy of this cookbook to a lucky reader!



All you have to do to enter is leave a comment with your favorite thing to eat when you are eating alone. I will pick a winner at random on Friday January 2nd. Good Luck!!

One Year of Dining Alone

I have had this food blog for one year now, it is so hard to believe it has been that long! I want to thank you all for reading and commenting and making me feel so excited to be cooking. I am humbled by the amount of visits I have had to the site in the last year and the amount of emails and comments you have all sent. I can't thank you enough for dining with me and I hope I can continue to share with you guys for another year.

I am just going to post some of my favorite meals from the early days to celebrate the one year anniversary of the blog. I hope you enjoy!!




Spinach with Fried Egg and Bacon




Grilled Tuna with Cucumber Salad




Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus




Mini Meat Loaf with Roasted Potatoes and Spinach Salad




Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken Breast with Green Beans




Steak Salad with Grapes and Blue Cheese




Chickpea Tuna Salad

I hope you enjoyed the glimpse back to the some of the old recipes and I look forward to a year full of new ones!! Thank you guys for making sure I don't have to Dine Alone!

Baked Sweet Potato with Maple Sour Cream

This recipe is a great side idea for a holiday meal. It is different and may cause some people to say 'ew' but it is truly delicious and will surprise people!




Simple recipe. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.




Wash up some sweet potatoes.




Line a baking sheet with foil.




Take a fork and fork the potatoes all over and then place them on the foil. Put them in the oven for about 45 minutes. When there is about 5 minutes left its time to mix up the tasty topping.




I used yogurt instead of sour cream but you have to use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup.




Get them together in a bowl to form a delicious alliance.




Try not to sit down and eat this delicious treat, save it for on your sweet potato.




Cut the potato in half and give it a squeeze. Spoon the sauce over and enjoy! I had this with just a simple side salad.




I loved the yogurt topping so much I made this again the very next day with the other potato.

Mexican Leftover Soup

This is a great soup if you have some random leftovers hanging out in your fridge.




I made turkey stock out of my turkey carcass at Thanksgiving and froze it. I had some of that and some leftover salsa.




If you've never made stock from a chicken or turkey carcass, it is so easy and inexpensive. It is definitely worth trying.




I am seasoning with some garlic powder, ancho chili pepper and cumin.




This is perfect if you have some extra rotisserie chicken or any cooked poultry. I have some in a can, I don't even remember buying it, but thats ok its going in the soup! I am also adding some green onion and lime at the end.




Get your broth or stock going with the seasonings and bring it to a boil.




Add in the chicken and some of the salsa and drop it down to a simmer. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes to heat the chicken and further incorporate the flavors. It is that simple!




I am going to sprinkle some tortilla chips on mine too, but you can leave these out to keep it low fat.




When you are ready, turn off the heat and lets serve it up.




I sprinkled the green onion on the top and garnished with some lime. You could vary this a million different ways based on your palate and what you've got on hand.

Rice and Tuna Bell Peppers

I have been on a tuna kick lately and this healthy meal really hit the spot. You could vary this a bunch of ways to kick it up a bit.








Preheat your broiler and prepare your rice. I cheated on the rice and used precooked. Lets gather some ingredients.




Tuna fish and breadcrumbs.




Precooked rice, cheese and fresh basil from my Aerogarden.




Red pepper and cheese.




Cut your pepper in half and put it cut side down on a foil lined tray and pop it under the broiler for 5 minutes, then give it a flip and let it cook for 5 minutes more.




Meanwhile get your corn defrosted, I like to just run cool water over it to defrost. You can also used canned, but I prefer frozen.




Get your cooked rice.




Get it all in a bowl with the cheese, tuna and basil. Add some salt and pepper also. A little lemon juice would also add some good flavor to this.




I am adding a little bit of ancho chili to the breadcrumbs because I love the flavor. It is a sweet and mild chili, not hot at all.




Mix your breadcrumbs and the cheese.




Grab your stuffing mixture.




Pile it into the broiled peppers and top it with the breadcrumb mix. Broil it for 4-5 minutes and you are ready to eat!




This was filling, low fat and delicious! You could vary this a million different ways and if you are dining alone, you can add whatever you like!

Awesome Baked Scallops

This scallop recipe is called Awesome Baked Scallops. It is awesome on so many levels. First of all it is SO easy. Second of all it is so delicious. I love scallops and you can find them frozen in most grocery stores these days. This recipe is from allrecipes.com and the amounts below serve 4.

INGREDIENTS
* 16 sea scallops, rinsed and drained
* 5 tablespoons butter, melted
* 5 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 shallots, chopped
* 3 pinches ground nutmeg
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 cup bread crumbs
* 4 tablespoons olive oil
* 1/4 cup chopped parsley
* lemon wedges for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Place scallops, melted butter, garlic, and shallots in a bowl. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir gently to combine. Transfer to a casserole dish.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bread crumbs and olive oil. Sprinkle on top of scallops.
4. Bake in preheated oven until crumbs are brown and scallops are done, about 11 to 14 minutes. Top with parsley, and serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Preheat your oven (or toaster oven) to 425 degrees and lets get started.




I thaw my shallots by giving them a quick rinse with cold water. Then I assemble the other ingredients.




Olive oil, Parsley, garlic, shallots, nutmeg, butter and bread crumbs.




Chop the shallot and garlic pretty fine.




put your scallops in a bowl and pat them dry with a towel.




Add in the shallots, garlic and butter. This combo is pretty close to being one of the best things on earth. Comine them all together.




Pour them into a casserole dish and season with the nutmeg and some salt and pepper.




Put the bread crumbs in a separate dish with the olive oil. Use a fork to combine them.




Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the scallops and pop them in the oven for 11-14 minutes, keep an eye on it!




I made an easy side dish to go with the scallops, some Caribbean Rice.




I wanted to just eat them right out of the casserole dish when they came out of the oven, but I figured I had better plate them up.




The scallops were so buttery and delicious. I used some fresh lemon juice at the end and it helped to really bring out all the great flavors.