Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Single eating: the leftovers dilema

As a single girl I often struggle NOT to get bored with my meals.  It becomes routine to make the same salad beast every day and eat the same oatmeal everyday.  So I decided to purchase one of my favorites: spaghetti squash and attempt to create several different meals out of one squash.  I purchased my squash at Whole Foods aka Whole Paycheck and returned to my apartment to analyze my pantry and fridge to create a scrumptious meal.  Of course you probably think I should have gone to Whole Foods with a meal plan but I'm trying to be spontaneous (or just too lazy to figure out some recipes).


I discovered a zucchini, salsa, and leftover black bean dip I had made sometime last week.  So I decided to create a Mexican spaghetti squash extravaganza.  I mixed lots of salsa with the black bean dip (basically I had pureed black beans with cilantro and garlic), shredded the zucchini, and tossed them all on top of some spaghetti squash "noodles".




It was absolutely delicious!  I'm saddened that I don't have any more zucchini, salsa, and black bean dip.  But I have leftover spaghetti squash noodles. So for tomorrow, I'm thinking a Mac and "Cheese" dish ala HEAB...




For lunch the next day,  I whipped out some leftover spaghetti squash and used nutritional yeast for the first time EVER.  And created a wonderful sauce using a 1/4 block lite silken tofu pureed with 1 T nutritional yeast and 4 cups spinach I'd sautéed on the stove with some garlic.  Mix the "cheese" sauce with the spaghetti squash and some broccoli, season with some S&P (I used garlic salt because I'm obsessed with garlic), and try not to devour in three seconds.  It looks slightly disgusting but it's wonderful!!  What will I create with my spaghetti squash tomorrow?




Today I needed a quick lunch since I worked up quite an appetite reading Vogue on the elliptical.  The night before I decided I wanted to make some hummus ala a Hungry Girl that used artichokes and Greek yogurt instead of oil and tahini (which actually defines hummus but I wanted to give it a try from her book 200 under 200-1/4 cup hummus for 50 calories...sign me up).  So for lunch I decided to sauté the rest of my spaghetti squash with 3-4 cups spinach, 1/2 cup mushroom pieces, 1 small tomato, 1/2 mini cucumber in balsamic vinegar on the stove.  I topped my stir fry with a generous 1/4 cup of Hungry Girl hummus (which turned out delicious with my addition of extra garlic, I didn't even miss the tahini).  Mix all together and enjoy :)


With one smallish spaghetti squash I managed to create three different meals (don't worry I had other food as well with these meals lots of fruits and whole wheat carbs).  If you're willing to mix random ingredients or combine different recipes or use blogs for food inspiration you can eat yummy home cooked meals designed for one.


Do you have any suggestions on using leftovers?  Or do you get bored eating the same food?  Obviously I don't!!

1 comment:

  1. Great blog! I love spaghetti squash! It's such a great substitute for pasta!

    ReplyDelete