A Comforting, Cheesy Meal Perfect for One

While cooking for a crowd can be exhausting, it can be equally difficult to muster the motivation to whip up a meal for one. Instead of preparing multi-step pastas or even roasting roots and vegetables, on Monday evenings I’m tempted to pour a bowl of cereal and call it a night.

But our own Merrill Stubbs has a compromise. It's a meal that doesn’t require tons of time or stick you with days of leftovers, but is still comforting after a long day: goat cheese grits.

"It's rare that I get too fired up about concocting something elaborate just for me," Merrill says. "More often, I see it as a nice excuse to whip up something easy and comforting—like these goat cheese grits I first threw together one night years ago when I was actually living alone. I still make them whenever I'm in need of a soul-satisfying one-dish dinner."

Goat cheese not only makes the dish creamy and soft, it also adds a bright, tangy flavor. Merrill seasons her grits with some heat from coarsely ground black pepper, but feel free to experiment by adding fresh herbs, or top your grits with leftover roasted broccoli, tomatoes, or fresh spinach. If you want breakfast for dinner, just add an egg and chives for a savory dish, or raisins, walnuts, and a pinch of cinnamon to make it sweet.

I don't know about you, but sounds like the kind of meal I can handle—even if it's just for me.