Weekend Reading
December 8, 2024

People often ask me how I remain motivated to cook, since I live alone.

Friends have told me that they love cooking for their families, but that cooking just for themselves feels “sad.”

Clients tell me that cooking feels like too much work if only one person benefits, and they complain about having too many leftovers.

For the record, I respectfully disagree. I’ve written about the joys of solo cooking and dining many times in the past, and I believe that making oneself a tasty dinner is a profound act of self-care.

Regardless, I’ve recently had an easier time relating to my friends’ sentiments, because I’ve been sharing more of my food.

A few weeks ago, I brought my mom half of what I’d made for my weekly meal prep.

The reason I did this was because I knew I was eating out a bunch in the week ahead, and I feared that some of my leftovers would go to waste.

I also realized that I don’t need to freeze as much food as I do; my mom lives in the same city as I do, and I see her weekly for dinner. Why not share?

Since then, I’ve made it a ritual to split, or at least, share, my meal prep with her. It’s becoming a nice routine, and everyone benefits.

I get to feel as though I’m doing something helpful for my mother. She gives me recipe feedback, which is useful for me. We get to enjoy homemade food together and compare notes on what we try.

Because I’m sharing more food, I’m storing a little less, which ultimately encourages me toward more weekly variety. And in taking another person’s preferences into account, I put aside some of my own repetitive recipe habits.

For example, I could eat some sort of saucy tomato pasta every night, but my mom finds such dishes too acidic. She prefers a puréed soup, whereas I like a thick and chunky stew. I love thyme, but my mother does not; she likes tarragon, which is an herb I’d almost never reach for on my own.

It’s all a reminder that food is not only fun to experience together, but also to talk about, whether opinions align or diverge.

This week, I offer you the invitation to share a meal or a recipe or some sort of food experience.

Solo cooking is a meaningful form of self-care, yes. But if you spend a lot of time on your own, as I do, you might sometimes forget what a powerful form of connection it is to cook for someone else.

Happy Sunday, friends. Here are some recipes and reads.

Recipes

1. I love a great whole grain side dish, and I’m eager to try this carrot rice using vegan butter in place of dairy.

2. Speaking of carrots, this carrot salad!

3. A sheet pan full of fennel and potatoes is so perfect for winter.

4. Also via the sheet pan and oven, Deb’s crispy cabbage and cauliflower salad has been on my radar for white a while. I love a warm salad.

5. The most festive vegan trifle for the holiday season.

Reads

1. A recent deep dive into the intricacies of balsamic vinegar has made me appreciate the complexity that can exist within a category of condiment. I loved this tale of two tamaris.

2. During Covid lockdown, a lot of  clients would ask me about whether they should be taking supplements for immunity. It’s still a question that comes up during cold and flu season, which has arrived for 2024-2025.

This article gives a good, evidence-based nutrition tips for immune support. I appreciate that it emphasizes balanced, adequate, varied plates of food as a first line of defense. I also like that it cautions against long-term supplemental zinc, which can interfere with absorption of other minerals.

3. I love winter, which is something that I learned about myself as recently as last year. But if you’re one of the great many folks who feels more melancholy at this time of year, you might find this article on embracing winter to be heartening.

4. “Our foods are our stories”: a lyrical and lovely reflection on mulukhiyah, a plant food that I was unfamiliar with before reading, and how it embeds into the author’s experience of family, hunger, and belonging.

5. Women in mid-life are being surrounded by misinformation about menopause these days. This article, written by a researcher who’s also in clinical practice, is a good primer on how to recognize sensationalized and inaccurate claims. I look forward to sharing it with some of my clients.

When it comes to solo cooking meals, I found myself staring into the fridge unenthusiastically on Friday night, after a long-ish work day. I’d eaten all of my meal prep and, uncharacteristically, didn’t have any frozen leftover portions of dishes.

I did, however, have a bag of frozen peas and carrots, a bag of frozen broccoli florets, a block of tofu, and some brown rice in my pantry. So I went ahead and made the fried rice from The Vegan Week.

It was more effort than I’d planned on—mostly waiting for the rice to boil—but it also reminded me of how simple and good that dish is. I enjoyed the leftovers for lunch today.

On that note, it’s time to bring my mom her portion of what I’ve made for the week ahead! Wishing you a pleasant, cozy evening.

xo

 

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    6 Comments
  1. When I hear friends’ horror stories about partners or kids who won’t/can’t eat XYZ, I’m glad to be cooking for myself. I also have a couple of friends who don’t enjoy cooking and will frequently share stuff with them, especially if it’s a big batch of something like soup or lasagna. Learning to cook for myself is one of the best changes I’ve made in my life.

  2. I think the issue for me with solo (or for myself and my daughter) cooking is the clean up! If that wasn’t a part of it I’d be totally fine with it!

    • I’m with you on the cleanup, Cari! Comes with the territory, but it can feel like such a deterrent to cooking sometimes.

  3. I keep hoping someone(maybe you!) will write a book on solo cooking for vegans. While some recipes allow for cutting portions, they usually end up with weird measurements that are impossible to follow ( 5/16th of a teaspoon or other equally ridiculous amounts) As the only vegan in my household, I find myself throwing away so much food at the end of the well and I don’t have a mom or anyone else to share it with.

    • I can understand this dilemma, Chana, especially if freezing is not an option!

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