Cooking for One

So what does it mean to cook for one?  For me, it ironically means a lot more food hanging about!  It feels difficult, and at times wasteful, to cook a meal just for one dinner for one person.  I feel like I need to make the most of this cooking time and extend the meal for at least another day or two (I like energy conservation).

Thus, I made two meals that lasted the ~5 days my partner traveled for a workshop in Michigan.  Albeit a little lonely at the dinner table, this also meant I could add in ingredients that I enjoyed (and he not so much), such as white beans (I can't remember if they were Great Northern or cannellini).  I also tend toward eating less meat/vegetarian-style meals, which was a nice cost-saver that week.  The meals also needed to be somewhat hearty, keep well in the fridge (e.g., anything crunchy or crispy was out), and just generally easy to make as it's so much less motivating to cook for one than for multiple folks!

So I made vegetarian fried rice and a sausage & white bean pasta salad (what's the difference between pasta and pasta salad?  Temperature, ingredients??).

(And I may or may not have reused the same bowl for both meals...don't judge.)