Update

Posted by The Single Gal on April 7, 2012 No comment

Recipes ARE coming. I’ve just been super busy as of late with a temp job that turned into a full fledged part-time job. I’m really happy about that since it’s been a REALLY long time since I’ve had any incoming money and it looks like things are finally starting to turn around in my favor. It still may be a week or two before I get a chance to post any recipes but I haven’t forgotten about the blog or my mission of providing us singletons with some smaller portioned recipes. (If you’re not a singleton and still need smaller portioned meals, you are certainly welcome as well!)

Also, the future recipes will probably be a bit more on the healthy side as I just discovered I have an allergy to wheat (not gluten, wheat), sugar cane and cow’s milk. I’m also allergic to broccoli and cashews, so you’re probably not going to find those in my recipe blog. Honestly, finding that out that has sort of eliminated any appetite I may have had prior to the testing. I’m not going to be giving up on this blog, however!

If anyone has suggestions or ideas for foods I could eat that won’t bother my allergies, I’d love to know what they are!

Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese

Posted by The Single Gal on March 11, 2012 2 comments

Well, I’ve been busy these past two weeks! I started a new temp job which has greatly cut into my writing time by making it virtually non-existant. I mean, the time is still there but then it becomes a matter of do I want to write, or do I want to sleep? And if I don’t sleep I know I won’t be focused for work the next day which wouldn’t be good. One week left to go, unless it ends up being permanent. If that happens, I’ll have to figure out some ways to manage my time better so I can write up some recipes/reviews for ya’ll! Another thing I’ve been busy doing is clearing out my closet full of things that either don’t fit or just don’t get worn for one reason or another. I think I’ve decided I’m going to set up shop on Storenvy, and once items have been on there for a set time frame unsold they’ll be donated to Goodwill or some other charity. Maybe Dress for Success. I really like their initiative.

Okay. You’re here for the recipe, right? Guess I should get on with it then. Here’s where I stumbled on this little goody: http://www.closetcooking.com/2011/08/buffalo-chicken-grilled-cheese-sandwich.html. I’ll be honest, I’m a picky eater. There was a time in my life I didn’t like chicken. Shocker, I know! So I was a little scared when I read in the recipe that he was mixing a bunch of ingredients I don’t like together into on concoction. BUT, it did inspire me to create my own version by simply altering the recipe and leaving out the ingredients I may not like. If you enjoy onions and carrots, go ahead and include them in your sandwich like the original recipe calls for. I won’t be putting it on mine though! I suppose I’ve written enough and should go ahead and give you my recipe now, huh?

Ingredients:
-2 Slices of Bread
-Cheese (I only like 1 slice on mine, most everyone else around here seems to like two.)
-Buffalo Chicken – I cheated a bit on this and just used Tyson’s boneless appetizer wings because I really didn’t feel like making my own wings although that would probably be healthier. I would probably also suggest maybe making the wings maybe the night before and making sure you have some leftover for the sandwich.
-Blue Cheese or Ranch Dressing – I prefer Blue Cheese, strangely enough, but I know a lot of people don’t like it. I use the dressing for dipping in place of tomato soup since I’m not a fan of tomato soup.

Directions:
1. Grease your pan and while it’s warming up, spread butter on the outsides of the slices of bread.
2. Once the pan has heated up, start cooking/assembling your sandwich!
3. Let cool for a 30 secs. to a minute, then dig in and enjoy!

Other things I feel I should note here: I cooked the Tyson wings in the microwave according to the instructions on the package before cooking them into my sandwich and I would strongly suggest cooking any chicken thoroughly before just throwing into your sandwich. I doubt it’s going to be fully cooked in a minute or two in a grilled cheese unless it’s pre-cooked!

I absolutely loved this sandwich and will be making it again soon. I just wish I could figure out how to pack a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch that I could heat up in a microwave and not have it get soggy. :/ Any ideas? I’m not a fan of room temp. grilled cheese sandwiches, either so that options out. Darn.

Ten Upcoming Recipes

Posted by The Single Gal on March 1, 2012 43 comments

I know, I know. The recipes haven’t been coming as quickly as I or you had hoped. I’m hoping to remedy that in the very near future and thought that perhaps I should post a list of a few recipes heading your way in the upcoming month of March.

1. Buffalo Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2. Spinach Calzone

3. White Chocolate Crunch Snack Mix

4. Cinnamon Rolls from the Freezer

5. Chicken Pot Pie

6. Breakfast Burrito

7. Mac & Cheese

8. Mini Frittatas

9. Potato Chips from the Microwave

10. Green Mocha Smoothie

So which one are most intrigued by based on the title? Do you have any suggestions for future recipes? I could definitely use suggestions for recipes that single gals or guys out there may be looking for!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Mug Cake

Posted by The Single Gal on January 19, 2012 1 comment

With my birthday coming up, I thought’d it be a good idea to share a recipe for a sweet treat with you all. Most of us single gals living on our own don’t need the temptation of a whole cake sitting on the counter for days at a time. Well, fret now because there is now a recipe for a single serve cake you can enjoy when the sweet tooth cravings hit ya! The original recipe comes from http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/09/20/chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-mug-cake/?pid=3475#slideshow

Ingredients
-1 Egg
-3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
-⅓ Cup Flour
-1 Tablespoon Softened Butter
-3-4 Tablespoons Mini Chocolate Chips

The Recipe
1. Crack and egg into your mug.
2. Add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar.
3. Toss in ⅓ cup of flour and a tablespoon of softened butter.
4. Add 3-4 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips to top it all off.
5. Mix cake together with a spoon.
6. Microwave for 1 ½ – 2 minutes, or just until the top center of the cake has set.

I haven’t actually had a chance to try this recipe out yet, so you’ll have to let me know if the cake tastes as good as the pictures make it look on the original site!

Quick & Easy Homemade Hot Chocolate

Posted by The Single Gal on January 11, 2012 5 comments

I don’t drink hot chocolate often, mainly because I live in Florida. It rarely gets cold enough to warrant a cup of hot chocolate but when it does, I want it quick and fast. We don’t have central heat in our home, but we do have heaters in each room so I like not having to leave the warmth of my heater for very long. It also amazes me that there a number of hot chocolate recipes out there which seem to want to make this a lot harder and more complicated than it really needs to be. You know what I do? I get a cup of milk, mix in some chocolate and heat it up in the microwave for a few minutes, until it’s nice and hot. Simple, right?

Single Serve Baked Ziti Pasta

Posted by The Single Gal on January 5, 2012 2 comments

I absolutely love baked ziti. Unfortunately, the only chance I ever really get to enjoy this delicious pasta is on my birthday, or once in a blue moon when someone in my family decides to make a pan. (That may be for the best, though, considering how much of it I can eat in one sitting!) A few weeks ago, I had a huge craving for it, and tried looking online for any single serve recipes of baked ziti. All I found were a few others searching and asking for the same thing, with tons of links to recipes for a full pan. While I could probably eat a whole pan myself in only a few days, I thought it’d be nice to have a single serve baked ziti recipe, so I did some experimenting and I think this came out pretty well. I actually managed to create a single serve portion of baked ziti! The recipe is below, try it out and let me know what you think!

Ingredients:
-3/4 Cup Ziti Pasta (I use Penne, but you can use whichever you prefer.)
-1/2 Cup Pasta Sauce (I usually just buy a can of pre-made pizza or spaghetti sauce.)
-1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
-Parmesan Cheese to sprinkle on top.

The Recipe
1. Boil the pasta until it’s al dente, or almost done.
2. Once the pasta is done, put a layer of pasta on the bottom of a microwave safe bowl. Follow with a layer of sauce, then mozzarella cheese until you reach the top of the bowl. (You may not have room for all of the pasta/sauce/cheese depending on the size of your bowl.) Once you’ve finished layering the noodles, sauce and cheese, sprinkle a little parmesan cheese on the top.
3. Place a paper towel over the top of the bowl and microwave on high for 5 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes and enjoy!

*Note: I didn’t actually remember to measure everything so these are just estimates and yours may differ depending on the size of the bowl you use. I tend to use a larger size bowl since I love the dish so much and usually want a pretty good amount of baked ziti.

Italian Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Posted by The Single Gal on December 20, 2011 2 comments

I think grilled sandwiches are probably a staple for single woman who cook for themselves. Grilled cheese sandwiches don’t take a whole lot of prep or clean-up time and are ready to eat in only a matter of minutes. So when I came across a variation on the grilled cheese sandwich, I knew I had to give it a try. The original recipe comes from pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-twist-on-old-classic.html.

Ingredients
-Italian Dressing
-Italian Bread, Sliced
-1 Tomato Slice
-3 Basil Leaves
-1 Slice of Provolone Cheese, cut into 4ths

The Recipe
1. Instead of buttering bread like a traditional grilled cheese sandwich, you’ll evenly spread Italian dressing on one side of each slice of bread.
2. Place your Italian dressed slice of bread face down on your griddle or skillet & start assembling your sandwich. (3 Basil Leaves, provolone cheese, slice of tomato.)
3. Cover with the other Italian dressed slice of bread and grill.
*Make sure your skillet/griddle is sprayed with non-stick cooking spray before cooking. The Italian dressing tends to ‘stick’ just a little.*

I’m a huge fan of Italian dishes so I knew I had to make this, especially after looking at the ingredients and realizing I already had most of them on hand. I did this from memory the first time through, and made a few substitutions without realizing I had done so until after I’d finished eating a very yummy sandwich. Turns out, we didn’t have as many of the ingredients on hand as I originally thought. I used white bread instead of Italian, spinach instead of basil, and pizza sauce in place of the tomato slice. I also used a ton of shredded mozzarella cheese in place of the Provolone. I’m going to try again soon with the actual ingredients, but I didn’t think my alternates tasted to bad. They tasted pretty good, actually!

Welcome!

Posted by The Single Gal on December 5, 2011 No comment

Hi! I’m singlegal, and I love to cook. I’ve found that while there are many recipes out there, most websites are full of recipes that cater to a family of four. When I cook a meal I don’t need endless servings of the dish, just one or two. Those single serve recipes are certainly out there to be found. But you’re going to have to do a lot of searching around to find them, and that includes visiting a number of different websites. Wouldn’t it be nice to only have to visit one source for those recipes? That’s the aim of this blog: to provide readers with single serving recipes in one place. I’ll do most of the searching myself, although you’re certainly welcome to email your suggestions to me at singlegal AT singlegalscookbook.com