Dinner for One - Day 12.

A rarest of rare occurrences happened on Saturday, I had nobody to cook dinner for.  Dad Eater was working late.  Uncle Eater had dinner plans with friends.  And, I decided to treat Little Eater to one of his favorite meals, spinach pizza from the pizzeria at the end of the block.  So, with no menfolk to feed, I did as I often do when I'm on my own and unleashed my inner vegetarian.  She's a rarely spotted creature these days, that sprout-eating, thanks-I'll-just-have-salad, turn-up-at-your-house-for-dinner-carrying-her-own-box-of-black-bean-burgers girl.  In fact, she's kind of obnoxious, so it's just as well I usually have at least one ravenous carnivore to feed most nights. 
I had on hand a sweet potato, a head of red bore kale, and garlic, so I needed only ricotta cheese to make this Sweet Potato with Kale and Ricotta recipe which is a standby favorite of mine (and of my inner vegetarian).  I don't follow this recipe exactly these days, but it is a great place to start.  I like lots of vinegar in my greens, I fry up extra slices of garlic, and generally use whole milk ricotta.  A note on ricotta cheese - if you can find it freshly made, it is well worth it.  It is incomparable to the supermarket stuff, sorry Polly-O.  I got mine from the Italian specialty market; it was glorious.  I did feel a bit like a cheating lover though as the butcher stared at me from across the market with a mixture of shock and confusion and finally what I am sure was genuine sadness as I meatlessly checked out and headed for home.

World of awesome.

And then, nothing happened - Day 8.

After our deliciously decadent weekend, I decided to make rice, lentils, and swiss chard for dinner.  A little less excess and a lot more simplicity.  It was a necessary decision both for the wallet and the waistline.  The Eaters peeped meekly about the lack of land-roving protein presented but, in the end, I think we were all glad for a vegetarian meal.  I lacked only the lentils and, as such, made a quick trip to the grocerette on Main Street and $0.89 later, I had all the fixings I needed for dinner.  I was also grateful for the ease of going downtown to buy the one item on my grocery list.  Had I packed up Little Eater and gone to Whole Foods, I almost certainly would have ended up buying food that we didn't need, if only to justify the trip.  Another win for shopping downtown.