Cooking for One Person

Most single people in developed countries view meat as pink or red slabs of protein tightly wrapped in plastic on foam trays. The meat appears antiseptic and almost alien from the organism from where it originates. 

Baking breads, cakes, and other pastries present a challenge of consuming quantities too large for the person cooking for one. Debby Maugans Nakos easily shows you how to have your cake and eat it too (the whole thing). Everything is scaled down to personal portions instead of ingesting towering cakes and dozens of cookies.

I love this book, and I find myself pulling it off my bookshelf again and again. Her recipes are sprinkled with personal stories and Southern charm. You can almost feel her talking to you as she introduces the recipe and coaches you through the baking. Cakes, pies, tarts, biscuits, muffins, and other pastries are all offered up to you.

Debby devised innovative ways to have your baked goods on a smaller scale. She has a clever solution for single-sized baking pans without going out and buying pans. Because baking usually requires more precise measurement, you may want to purchase an extra set of measuring spoons because you'll feel the urge and success of baking with this cook book. This is a must-have on your cookbook shelf!

If you were the curious kid who always asked "why?", this book is for those singles who want to understand the magic of food chemistry without absorbing deep knowledge of organic chemistry. The book is arranged in an encyclopedia-style format for easy referencing.

Contrary to its title, the only religious connotation of this book is understanding one of the greatest attributes of food: flavor. The book assists the person cooking for one in harmonizing the flavors of food, spices, and herbs.

Would your great-grandmother recognize the food you eat today? Nina Planck promotes recalibrating our taste buds back to real, authentic food untampered by pasteurization, food engineering, or fear of natural fats. 

This is not an scolding rule book of do's and don't's like many fad-diets out there.  This quick-reading book encourages a reacquaintance between your mouth and the real, natural foods from a long-term separation by overly processed food. A great book for introducing the single person to appreciate nature's own grocery store.

Debby Maugans' new baking book showcasing the single-sized baked goods for the chocolate-addict. As with Debby's first book, you will not be disappointed!

America's Test Kitchen presents excellent recipes reduced for two people with precise, tested instructions. America's Test Kitchen, living up to its name, ranks brands of ingredients used in its recipes. This cook book remedies one of my gripes with other cookbooks for cooking for one person. It provides suggestions on how to use up the rest of an ingredient when only a small portion of it is called for in the recipe. "Notes from the Test Kitchen" offer clever tips and techniques to assist you through the recipes.

Are you a person who likes to tinker with things? Do you like to magically fabricate something out of the commonly mundane? This book will be just pure fun for you!

Karen Solomon demystifies the belief that common condiments and other foods are easier to buy than make yourself. The author, in her comical way, resurrects recipes of many things that were once made in the home that are now made in a factory. Homemade crackers, pickles, butter, mayonnaise, toaster tarts, and flavored liquors are some of the kitchen projects that you can create.

Because of the inherent simplicity of many of the foods, most of the recipes require very few ingredients. The recipes do generate some quantity of food, but these types of foods keep for some time and are easily shared with others. And really, what friend wouldn't some homemade marshmallows or a bottle of liquor? Some of the recipes can't be rushed and need time but not your presence.