More Meals for One

Some time ago I posted a series of posts on making meals to serve one person and the huge mileage I got from one little $5.00 rotisserie chicken. Those posts are right here:

http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2012/06/meals-for-one.html

http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2012/06/act-ii-of-rotisserie-chicken.html

http://sammysgrammysneedlin.blogspot.com/2012/07/act-iii-of-rotisserie-chicken-chicken.html

These recipes are economical and tasty even if you're preparing meals for more than one. You'll just get less mileage from your ingredients.

I find myself in this position of preparing meals for just one person and it's a challenging change of pace from cooking for a family of five. Thank God, it was gradual so that I could get used to it a step at a time. If you have had kids leave the nest, you know how difficult it seems at the time to make that adjustment of not setting their place at the table and making a little less dinner to accommodate one less person.

With just me to cook for, I am always looking for tasty meals for one and the other day while watching the Food Network I ran across Marcella Valladolid of Mexican Made Easy. On this program she prepared empanadas. I am a big fan of anything Mexican. I downloaded her recipe and made it the very next day. So delicioso ! I flash froze each empanada in it's own little plastic bag so that anytime I feel like having one for lunch or dinner, I just leave it on the counter for a bit then put it in my toaster oven for a quick warm up (in the toaster oven the beautiful crust stays nice and crispy).

Here's Marcella's recipe for ground beef empanadas:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/marcela-valladolid/ground-beef-empanadas-picadillo-recipe.html

I tweaked Marcella's recipe a bit. I added cumin and coriander ground spices to the meat mixture. And instead of using the puff pastry sheets like she did, I found that by using puff pastry shells, you save some steps. The shells are already cut in round shapes, perfect for empanadas. I left the centers intact (which you would remove if you actually wanted them to become a shell). I put each pastry shell on a floured counter and rolled it out to about a 7-8 inch circle, then spooned the filling toward one edge of the circle, then brushed the edges with beaten egg and folded the other half circle over the filling, sealing it by pressing edges with a fork.  Otherwise, I did exactly as the recipe suggests.

       I am going to have one for lunch today along with a small caprese salad and iced tea.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Christmas is all about gifts. Who doesn't love gifts and Christmas? No matter how you say it - Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Seasons Greetings - there wouldn't be any of it without the perfect King leaving His heavenly kingdom and experiencing a human birth so He, as one of us (human) for a time, could carry out the divine plan of redeeming us from the curse. The Father's Gift to us. This scripture says it best:  2Cor. 9:15 "Now thanks be to God for His Gift (precious) beyond telling (His indescribable, inexpressible, free Gift)" Amplified Bible.

 

It's reason to celebrate



 

This old tale by Clement Moore sits on my piano

 

I made this little grapevine tree by wrapping grapevine around and around a tomato cage. I made most of the snow people too. The snow lady with hat and fur, you can find in my etsy shop.

I made this angel on a long ago Christmas. It never gets put away. I want to see it all the time.

These 3 little trees are all made from vintage bedspreads and have old wooden spools for trunks. You can find these in my etsy shop as well

I like to put Christmas time on  the mantelpiece

Close up of the Nativity scene on the mantelpiece

                     How do you celebrate and give thanks for this awesome gift?