There are many things I love about living alone. However, something I’ve learned is that I need to make a little extra effort to spoil myself once in a while since it’s not like there’s anyone else around to do it.

For example: dinner. Yes, eggs & veggies are great, but sometimes I want the kind of presentable meal I would make for another person. So, it was in the spirit of “Treat Yourself Like a New Pet”/”Be Your Own Housewife” that I recently found myself slicing shallots into paper-thin strips to be caramelized (I loosely followed this how-to because it’s been 4 years since I first learned to caramelize onions & things, and I haven’t done it nearly enough since) and cooking up a batch of pulled chicken while I went about my to-do list. Instead of toast or a sweet potato, I decided to make sliced polenta as my grain because how often does that show up on my plate? 

The end result was lovely. I made a salad with grape tomatoes and feta to go with the chicken, and the caramelized shallots were fantastic atop the polenta. Sometimes it’s nice to spoil yourself a little and mix things up.

There are plenty of non-food ways to spoil yourself, of course (DIY pedicure, anyone?), but few things hit the spot like a satisfying, healthy dinner that’s a step above what you’d normally dish out.

How do you spoil yourself?