Location: Home » Wine Glasses » General » Serves One: Simple Meals to Savor When You're on Your Own

The Oenophile Network Blog & Forum Links

Wine Blog
Wine Forum

Serves One: Simple Meals to Savor When You're on Your Own

enlarge

Author: Toni Lydecker
Publisher: Lake Isle Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$16.95~~
Buy New: $9.98
You Save: $6.97 (41%)

New (27) Used (13) from $6.88

Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

8 reviews
Sales Rank: 11934

Media: Paperback
Edition: 2 Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 224
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.6 x 0.8

ISBN: 1891105140
Dewey Decimal Number: 641.5611
EAN: 9781891105142
ASIN: 1891105140

Publication Date: December 25, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: This book is brand new. We ship daily.

Similar Items:

•	Going Solo in the Kitchen
•	Healthy Cooking for Two (or Just You): Low-Fat Recipes with Half the Fuss and Double the Taste
•	Cooking for One (Quick & Easy (Silverback))
•	Solo Suppers: Simple Delicious Meals to Cook for Yourself
•	Small-Batch Baking

Editorial Reviews:

Amazon.com Review
Anyone facing an occasional dinner for one, making solo brown-bag lunches, or living alone will find Toni Lydecker's Serves One invaluable. She shows you how to make tabbouleh and ratatouille in modest amounts so you don't have to eat them for days. She even gives a recipe for pizza dough you can turn into perfect, single-size pies. Who needs soggy take-out when you can make your own potato and pesto pizza, or luxuriate on Sunday with a creamy Smoked Salmon Pizza? (You bake the dough, then add the topping; it's much better than a bagel!)

Lydecker tells how to make Mini Meatloaf and Oven-Barbecued Pork Ribs, just the right amount of Chicken Fingers, even your very own Shellfish Steamer, a kind of clambake. Many recipes cook in 5 to 20 minutes. When stews and soups take longer, they don't need tending. If any cookbook will ever wean you off frozen entrees and instant mixes so you eat as well on your own as with family or friends, Serves One can do it. --Dana Jacobi

Product Description
This new, completely revised edition retains the spirit of the original, a deft mix of the practical and sophisticated, presented with an engaging simplicity that will fill the beginner with confidence and warm the heart of a frazzled gourmet.

Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...

4 out of 5 stars

Eats Alone May 9, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful

The book is put together well with servings for one. What I would have liked is a few more simple meals. Even though the recipes are sized for one I still find it difficult to find and cook just one piece of meat to make the dishes in the book.

5 out of 5 stars

Buy This Book! February 5, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

Are you on your own and tired of eating cereal and calling it dinner? Can't afford another night of fast food or ordering in? Well then buy this book!! The meals in here are quick and easy to make. I have made Soothing Tortellini-Broccolini Soup, Sizzling Shrimp With Garlic and Salmon Packet With Sicilian Flavors from the book and they are all fantastic!! Also, Toni put in some suggestions you can substitute other things for in case you don't have a particular ingredient. The directions are easy to follow, which is a plus, and you don't end up with a million things to wash after :).

3 out of 5 stars

Hate to cook November 5, 2006
10 out of 16 found this review helpful

I got some ideas from this book, but a lot of the recipes required exotic items that take time to find and add to cost.

4 out of 5 stars

Serves One: Simple Meals to Savor When You're on Your Own September 2, 2006
13 out of 16 found this review helpful

A pretty complete cook book. The beginning is really good for beginning cooks. The recipes are basic and substitues are provided in some cases. The only thing missing is the nutrional values which could be helpful for people with special needs.

4 out of 5 stars

Worthwhile and accessible "middlebrow" book for the novice and intermediate solo cook July 2, 2006
35 out of 40 found this review helpful

Even with my limited experience, (but I've dated and lived with some very good, experienced cooks), I can tell that about half the recipes in this book are uninspired, workaday fare. They are there to fill out the pages and create a thicker book that the average cookbook shopper will think gives more "bang" for the buck.

But even with that caveat, I feel that this book deserves an extra star for its attempt to focus on the needs of an underserved American market : beginning and intermediate cooks who need (or want) to start cooking for themselves. For this audience, "Serves One" is a great choice, especially if they need to get started right away and can't wait to score a copy of "Going Solo In the Kitchen".

I am OK with the "averageness" of many of these recipes. I don't need gourmet cooking, I don't need bistro fare, I don't need Mario Batali cuisine. I can go to my local bistros for that. At this stage in my cooking career, I need simple, foolproof recipes that deliver decent results with a minimum of fancy ingredients, and I need them scaled for 1 or 2 servings so I don't waste time doing algebra in my head while I'm trying to master the basics of braising or sauteing...or else stuffing my refrigerator with more wasted leftovers than I'll ever be able to finish. I also want some variety, so I don't get bored with making the same 5 or 6 dishes again and again. It's OK if some of the food I produce is unexciting - whatever I cook and make for myself with 'Serves One" is bound to be cheaper, fresher, tastier and better for me than any pizza, takeout or drive through food around.

And in fact, some of the recipes do sound promising ( I'm looking forward to making the "Pickled,Spiced Grapes"), and a couple have rewarded my inexpert efforts with pleasant, satisfying dishes that gave me confidence in my abilities to cook proper, worthwhile meals.

So in that spirit, I would recommend this as a worthwhile addition to the beginning/intermediate cooks' library. My ex-girlfriends might turn their noses up at it, but this has been a very useful book for me, well worth the purchase price and the time spent going through it.

Powered by Associate-O-Matic

Customer Service

Contact Customer Service
Ordering
Tracking Your Package
Shipping Information
Domestic Shipping Rates
International Shipping Rates
Returns
Gifts & Gift Certificates
Privacy & Security

Subcategories

•	Mass Market
•	Trade

Untitled Document Disclaimer: This is an Amazon storefront - the products referenced on this site are manufactured and sold by parties other than the Oenophile Network. The Oenophile Network makes no representations regarding either the products or any information vendors offer about their products. Any questions, complaints, or claims regarding the products must be directed to the appropriate manufacturer or vendor, or to Amazon.com.