Tuna and Mushroom Ragout

I got another great cookbook geared toward meals that serve only 2. It is Cooking for Two (More Recipes) This quick and inexpensive meal can be whipped up in no time with so many different variations. If you don't like mushrooms, substitute in zucchini or green beans. The recipe is just your guide!






You will need some Worcestershire sauce, tuna, flour, tomatoes, mushrooms, rice, onion, basil, garlic and some parmesan cheese. The recipe also called for parsley, but I forgot to grab it and everything was still a-ok.

Put your water on to boil for the rice. If you are making real rice, just follow the instructions on your rice package. I am making short cut boil in bag rice.


Chop your onion.


Chop your garlic.

That is all the prep you need to do besides opening up your cans or tuna pouch and making sure you have a tablespoon handy for your flour.


Get the oil in the pan and then drop in the onions. Let these cook for just a couple of minutes.


Add in the onions and garlic and let those cook for about 3 minutes.


Stir in the flour and stir it around for a minute.


Add the tomatoes and give it a stir. Look at that steam and imagine how good it is smelling!


Add in the tuna and the Worcestershire and give it another stir. Let it simmer for about 3 more minutes and then season it with salt and pepper.

Get your rice on a plate and simply spoon some of the ragout over the top. Add some parmesan cheese if you would like and you are ready to eat.


Tasty, quick and inexpensive!

I am hoping all of you on the east coast are safe this weekend!!

Mexican Shrimp Bisque

I love soup. Soup is STILL a four letter word to my husband, so this recipe serves 2, which is me and me!




This recipe comes from the now defunct magazine Cooking for 2 from Taste of Home publishers. I loved this magazine, but as is the case with a lot of great publications, they were stopped due to lack of subscribers. Darn you internets!


For this recipe you will need some shrimp, flour, sour cream, whipping cream, chicken bouillon or broth, garlic, onion, paprika (I didn't have coriander), cumin and chili powder. Sounds delicious already. If you have some avocado or guacamole handy you can add some at the end as well.

So lets start to prep because this soup will come together in no time.


Measure out your spices.


Chop your garlic and onion.


Measure out your water.


Measure your cream.


Measure the sour cream. I sure used a lot of Pyrex this recipe!


I used frozen shrimp and just defrosted them under cold water. Don't call the food police on me. Take the tails off and cut them into bite sized pieces if you want.

Ok I think we are ready to start cooking!


Cook the onion and garlic until tender, which should only be a couple of minutes.


Stir in the flour.


Stir in the water, cream, chili powder, bouillon, cumin and paprika. Bring it to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and let it simmer for 5 minutes. This is where I get mad at my new stove because reduce the heat means, take the pan off the burner, wait about 30 minutes for the heat to actually reduce. Ok so its not THAT bad, but it is annoying.


Put the shrimp in. Clearly a shrimp is bite sized to me. Let it cook for five more minutes.


Grab some of the hot soup and stir it into the sour cream. This will bring the sour cream to a warmer temperature otherwise if you just dumped it in cold you might get some gross curdling action and nobody wants that.


Stir that warm and cozy cream right back into the soup. Lots of cream in this recipe, luckily this is not a diet food blog!


You are ready to serve this great soup. I crumbled a few tortilla chips on top and added a spoonful of guacamole. This is the perfect soup for the upcoming fall weather most of you will be enjoying.

Sausage Spinach Pasta Dinner

I have updated the links, thank you so much for your comments and suggestions. I look forward to checking out the blogs.

I do have a recipe to share today, I actually made it one year ago today, and never posted it here. I have made it again since then and it is easy and delicious.


The recipe comes from Taste of Home Magazine


You need spinach, pasta, onion or shallot, flour, pepper, cream, broth, garlic and some sausage.


Chop up your sausage.


Measure your flour and pepper, use a cute pyrex bowl if you've got one!


Chop your onion or shallot.


Chop your garlic.


I confess I almost always break my pasta in half, I think that might be blasphemous to some people.

Ok so now we have almost everything prepped, so we can start cooking!


Get the sausage in the pan with the onions and garlic and let it cook until the sausage is browned, should only take a couple of minutes. Drain out any excess fat.


Add in the broth and bring to a boil then add the noodles. Let those guys cook for 3 minutes.


Drop in the spinach, and don't freak out if it looks like a lot, it will disappear soon. Let this cook for another 3 minutes or so, until the pasta is to your liking.

While this cooks we can do the last step of this easy meal.


Add the cream to your flour and pepper that you measured before.


Stir it in and let it thicken and let the cream mixture cook for a minute or two. You want the raw flour taste to cook out.


Plate it up and you are ready to eat. This is a simple dish that is perfect for a weeknight after work or school.

Calling All Bloggers...

As part of the resurrection of the blog I have had to do some cleanup of my links that show up down below to the right (go ahead and click on a few, I will wait).

Ok back? If you have a food related blog or know of some I should check out, please leave a comment with the link and I will check them out and maybe add them to my link list. I plan to further update this blog this weekend and add a bunch of blogs to my google reader that I want to keep up with.

I am also on twitter, so add me there if you'd like, @diningalone

Since this is all about food, I will share my most recent go-to meal...


Scrambled eggs with arugula and some green onion or tomato, depending on what I have around. I am also collecting Corelle plates now, because I pretty much ran out of easily obtainable Pyrex.

Please remember to leave me some links in the comments!

Excuses are cheap...

I realize it has been almost a year since I updated this blog, is anybody still out there? I could give you a lot of excuses as to why I haven't updated but the truth is I have just been in a funk, and lazy. I am not going to go through all the things that have happened in the last year, but I will go over some things that have kept me away from the blog, and the things that have brought me back.

1. We lost our dog Joey in June after watching him slowly waste away from a non operable adrenal tumor. It was painful and seemed to consume me in ways I only now recognize.

2. I was not inspired to create, partly due to what was going on with Joey and partly because after the move I did not like cooking in my kitchen.

Those are really the two main things that were keeping me away from the blog. So now on to the inspiration to bring me back.

1. I have been getting emails from some wonderfully kind people inquiring about the blog and encouraging me to come back. I have also recently become better friends with some women who inspire me and who I know will encourage me to keep the blog going.

2. My family has welcomed a new dog, Steve. We rescued him through the Arizona Boston Terrier Rescue and he is making us all smile and laugh again. Things are also going well for my sister and her kids, so this makes my life a lot less stressful as I worry about them daily.

3. I have been cooking more, and the hubby is actually eating more. It is quite wonderful actually. I think he finally just got so bored with his diet that he had to make a change.

So I don't know exactly what format this blog will take in the coming weeks and months, but I am making a promise to myself to make time for it. I missed all of the wonderful emails and comments and I look forward to visiting some new blogs and making new friends.

I will leave you with a picture of our newest family member, Steve :)