On May 4, 4:59*pm, "Julie Bove" > wrote:
> "sf" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > On Tue, 3 May 2011 21:58:24 -0700, "Julie Bove"
> > > wrote:
>
> >> *So what's the
> >> trick for doing that if you are cooking for just two or three people?
>
> > For your pasta salad? *It sounds like you need practice with
> > eyeballing volume and then you need to learn to limit it. *Estimate
> > how much food (in volume) that you and your DD eat in one meal and try
> > to duplicate that when you make your pasta salad. *It's not brain
> > surgery.
>
> I guess I just have a problem with restraint. *I do the same thing when
> making soup. *I just want so many different things in there.

It's all a matter of taste, of course, but more is not always better.
I often prefer to let the flavors of just a few ingredients shine
through,
rather than always having a mishmash of "everything but the kitchen
sink".

One of my favorite quick soups is:

Bring to a boil half a 16-ounce box of chicken broth with
a slice of fresh ginger and a little salt.

Remove the ginger and add three or four frozen gyoza
dumplings.

While they're cooking, thinly slice a the green part of
a scallion and a few shreds of iceberg lettuce (a couple
of tablespoons or so) and put them in a bowl.

When the dumplings are cooked through, add them
and the broth to the bowl with the scallion and lettuce.

My husband is a heartier trencherman, so he gets the
entire box of broth and twice as man dumplings.

Is this grand cuisine? No. Is it a satisfying lunch? Yes.

Cindy Hamilton