Seven Fast Dinner Ideas for Singles

One of the reasons I started this blog was when I read an article in the Globe and Mail about a young woman of 20 who was babysitting some children overnight. Their parents had asked her to make them Kraft Dinner for their supper, and she couldn’t even manage it…she didn’t drain the pasta, resulting in a watery pasta soup. Her own parents said they had never taught her to cook. It made me think about the number of young people who do not or cannot cook, and I wanted to help them. So this is 7 simple supper suggestions for young people who are in a hurry and don’t want fast food (or Kraft Dinner).  All should take about 20 minutes or less.

Pita Pizza

pita pizza

  • 8″ pita bread
  • 2-3 tablespoons tomato or pizza sauce
  • whatever you like for topping (I like artichokes, spinach, tomatoes and feta cheese. My daughter likes ham, mozzarella and pineapple)

Bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Check. If cheese has melted, it’s ready. If you want it browned, put it under the broiler for a minute.

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Apple Roses with Puff Pastry

rose apple in puff pastry

I keep seeing lovely apple roses on Pinterest, so today I decided to give them a whirl. I wanted to make something special for my husband, so I decided to make apple roses with puff pastry and make them into individual apple strudels.

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Pumpkin Madness

carved  pumpkin

It’s Hallowe’en. I live on Saanich Peninsula, where the farms grow many pumpkins. Today I set out to buy a pumpkin to carve and as a by-product, eat:)

It was crazy. Everywhere I went, they were sold out of pumpkins. I was beginning to despair when I asked the produce manager at the Co-op if he had any pumpkins. He said he was sold out, but that he had obtained a large pile yesterday from Mars Farms, just down the road. I tootled off, and picked up this fine specimen.

pumpkin

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Crab Linguine

crab linguine

We have been catching a few crab lately, so we have been getting experimental in how we cook with them. Tonight’s experiment was particularly tasty, and took about 20-25 minutes, including prep time.

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Fig and Goat Cheese Pizza

fig and goat cheese pizza

My daughter posted this fig and goat cheese pizza on Facebook the other day. It looked delicious, so I asked her to guest-blog it for me…and she did.

Good evening friends, tonight I’d like to talk to you about this delight for the taste buds. Yes Jack Daniels, I’m talking to you.

Screenshot 2015-10-29 22.34.44

Take some apples and a splash of olive oil and then add some splashes of this bad boy and then then throw them on a pizza with a fig and balsamic glaze. Add actual figs, goat cheese and mozzarella and die in a pretentious coma of DELICIOUS!

fig and goat cheese pizza

Pickled Eggs

pickled eggs

If you know someone who likes pickled eggs, they are very easy to make.

Screenshot 2015-10-30 20.26.50

My husband loves them, so I make them periodically.

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Fig Preserves

bowl of figs

The large amounts of figs I am gathering from our fig tree this year is unprecedented. I have given away dozens of figs, I have added them to my salads, I eat them with my breakfast and lunch, I took in a huge bowl and left them in the lunchroom at work, I mailed some to my daughter, I add them to oatmeal, I have attempted to freeze some (don’t know how that will turn out), and today I made some fig preserves to have with cheese. These were quick and very easy to make.

fig preserves

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Thai Curry Pumpkin Soup

soupThai Curry pumpkin soup

As the weather gets colder, and the pumpkins ripen in the fields, my thoughts turn to soup. Pumpkin soup, to be precise…and in today’s case, pumpkin soup with coconut milk and Thai curry paste.

pumpkin field

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Rice Krispie Squares

rice krispie squares

Every once in a while I get a craving for the classic treats of my childhood: rice krispie squares and puffed wheat squares. They were the kinds of goodies that always showed up at potluck dinners, bake sales and at school parties.

The other day, I was poking about in the cupboard and came across an open bag of marshmallows and some of the Christmas themed rice krispies and decided that I really wanted some rice krispie squares.

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Baked Figs with Goat Cheese


baked figs with goat cheese and honey

I love it when the figs start to ripen. We don’t usually get very many, as they ripen late and it’s a race between them ripening off and the frost putting a stop to it all. When they are available, I love baked figs with goat cheese and honey, topped with candied pecans.

I picked a dozen yesterday from our fig tree. (My husband took a picture of me among the leaves.)

fig tree

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