Weekend Cooking 12/8

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

I was still quite sick this week, plus very busy trying to get all my online shopping done before the cyber specials expired! But, with my husband's help (with both shopping and cooking), we were able to enjoy some very tasty meals this week. It goes without saying these were all super-easy, quick weeknight meals but packed with flavor. I enjoyed every one of these both for dinner and again with leftovers for lunch the next day:

We started the week off with an old favorite, Crispy Fish with Lemon-Dill Sauce and Sautéed Zucchini (when the recipe originally appeared in Cooking Light, it included a side dish of Sautéed Zucchini - just simple sliced zucchini sautéed in a bit of olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper). This is just a basic oven-baked cod, but the sauce - which is like a homemade tartar sauce - adds great flavor.

On Tuesday, we had a vegetarian dinner that I'd made once before, with Lentils with Carrots and Curried Cauliflower with Capers. My son complained about the lack of meat, but I noticed he ate every bite! The Lentils with Carrots goes together super fast, with about 5 minutes of prep time, and is ready in under 30 minutes. It's a deceptively simple recipe because the flavors of the finished dish are delicious. The Curried Cauliflower has become one of my all-time favorite dishes - ever! We love the roasted cauliflower as something different than our usual steamed version, and the lemon, caper, curry powder, and parsley combination that it is tossed with is full of flavor. My son complained that he doesn't like parsley, so I may add that at the table next time.

Wednesday's dinner went through several iterations before it made it to the table, but it turned out well in the end! I had thin-sliced chicken breasts in the freezer, so I planned to make Chicken Français. I started to make dinner and realized we had no eggs in the house! So, I switched my plan to Cider Glazed Chicken with Browned Butter-Pecan Rice (even though the recipe calls for regular chicken breasts, not the thin ones). I got halfway through the preparation, with the chicken already in the pan, and opened the fridge to find we were out of cider! Fortunately, my husband had bought extra and put it in our basement fridge, so he saved the day (and the dinner!). We all love this dinner. The chicken with the cider glaze is delicious, and the rice with the browned butter sounds simple but it is full of flavor. I'm not a big fan of rice as a side these days, but this combination is delicious together. And, this is another super-fast dinner; I served it with steamed broccoli on the side.


I have no idea what we'll be eating this week, so I need to take some time to plan today or tomorrow. I hope all of you have enjoyed some good food and cooking this week, too!