Nancy, I am glad you are enjoying it too! :-)

Betty wrote: "You might take a look at "The Pleasures of Cooking For One" by Judith Jones. She is the editor that "discovered" Julia Child and many other fine cooks, so she is rich is food knowledge. Her little ..."

Got this book and it's wonderful. Just as you said, beautifully laid out, great photos and recipes with that touch of French that I love. My brother got it too and has made two of the recipes which he said were delicious.

Betty wrote: "You might take a look at "The Pleasures of Cooking For One" by Judith Jones. She is the editor that "discovered" Julia Child and many other fine cooks, so she is rich is food knowledge. Her little ..."
Her book was reviewed in the Washington Post today. I ordered it from Amazon. Thanks for the tip.

Great idea, Betty. I'll look it up. Sounds like a real find.

You might take a look at "The Pleasures of Cooking For One" by Judith Jones. She is the editor that "discovered" Julia Child and many other fine cooks, so she is rich is food knowledge. Her little book is as much about the philosophy of feeding oneself lovingly as it is a collection of small portion recipes. I don't often cook in single portions, so this book makes me look forward to those times when mine is the only mouth that wants feeding and I feel like being NICE to myself. :-)

As an added plus for those of us who like to look at other peoples' kitchens, the book has wonderful photos of hers..... not at all slick and glossy, but tiny and full of well used gear.

Thanks everyone. Good ideas.

I will be giving this a try. I think I'll try it with stuffed shells too.

Thanks for the comment; it is one dish I have been asked to make on many occasions. I even made this for 200 people when catering for a Music Circle concert in Kuwait! Living in the Gulf/Middle East, of course the aubergine is popular. The land of Imam Bayildi (The priest faints). Pretty much the same ingredients are used only the aubergines are halved and grilled, hollowed out and the flesh combined with the tomato, meat, pine nut mixture and scooped back in the shells before a final cook.

Sounds delicious! I've never been an egg plant fan until I ate a dish someone had given to my daughter while she was still living in NJ. It sounds a lot like this with the exception that the egg plant was wrapped around the ingredients instead of layered. I'll give this one a try.
Thanks

Just in case anyone is interested in the tomato & aubergine pie recipe plus variants here goes;
2 cans of tinned Italian plum tomatoes
Tomato purée
2 Aubergines (egg plant)
Mozzarella cheese
parmesan or romano cheese grated
Ground beef
pine nuts
garlic
oregano
salt
pepper

Fry slices of aubergine after coating in flour (after salting and draining)
Boil the tomatoes, add tomato paste and garlic, salt and pepper
Add ground beef... (as much or as little depending on taste)
Add oregano and pine nuts

Prepare casserole dish and layer the Aubergine, then the salsa topping each layer with the mozzarella.
Repeat layering till all ingredients are used.
Final topping of Mozzarella with a dusting of parmesan or romano cheese

Cover casserole and bake in oven

This dish is enhanced by reheating as the garlic, pine nut, oregano flavours develop

Enjoy!

One variant, instead of the mozzarella use feta cheese and one has something more akin to a Greek moussaka.

Cooking for one or two is really difficult, especially if you've always cooked for more. Something I do is share with friends and neighbors. When I started writing my cookbook I acquired what I call my "Food Testers." Whenever I made a new recipe I would distribute it to them for testing. I found out later that new recipe or not, these people will gladly accept my leftovers. So sharing might be your answer. You can also cut the recipe in half. If the recipe calls for a full can of, say tomatoes, use half the can and either freeze the unused portion or plan on a dish within the next 2 days that calls for tomatoes. You can also consider freezing what you don't eat for another meal. Hope this helps.

Eat with a friend! ..... but honestly I find it difficult to cook in small portions too! I always seem to end up cooking for an army rather than for one or two. One possible solution is that (one of my favourites) a dish like Aubergine and Tomato Pie is even better after reheating the next day. A friend of mine seems to do monster cooks, divides up the result and freezes the portions for future heating/consumption.
Good Luck!!

I'd like some ideas on cooking for one. It's so easy just to make a sandwich or do some frozen thing for one. I love to eat and to cook, but recipes portions, store purchases, etc. seem all geared for more than one person. Any ideas?