My household just shrunk and most of my recipes can feed an army. What are your recommendations for cookbooks featuring healthy meals for two? Not overly picky but not interested in overly complicated and trendy recipes.
I’m hoping this is because your kids went off to school. In that situation first thing I had to do was learn to stop shopping for an army.
Well, as far as books go… I’ve got to recommend How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Not necessarily a book for cooking healthy for two, but a great springboard to modify to your needs.
Probably more accurate to your question though is I would recommend a subscription to a magazine like Cooking Light (I’m sure there are many others). They tend to have seasonal recipes and usually are surprisingly good. Also it keeps variety on the plate. When I find one I really like I tear out the page and put it in a binder.
We’re in the same boat… went from having four of us including two teen aged boys with huge appetites to two of us middle agers with much smaller appetites. I still catch myself thinking we’ll make burgers for dinner and I start by thinking “I need to get 1.5 lbs of ground beef.” It takes some time to adjust and realize that a half pound will be plenty.
Joy of Cooking (1973) - The more recent editions suck, so find this edition at a used book store.
Actually, just subscribe to Cook’s Illustrated and Cook’s Country. Both feature good recipes every issue that aren’t huge and also have a section on “Cooking for 2.”
I do most of our meals out of Cooking Light magazine. Most recipes are for four servings, so half is for dinner, and half is left over for lunch the next day. Some of their stuff is a little too simple, but you can always gussy things up a bit if they look a bit on the bland side. I like that all the nutritional data is right there.