Food on Friday ~ Weeknights
after a long day at work cooking is probably the last thing on your mind
Even though I am a gentleman of leisure there are times when I’m rushed for time and don’t feel like cooking anything complicated nor time-consuming for dinner. And for most people, I know there is much more pressure on your time. So this Friday I’m concentrating on easy recipes that are perfect for weeknights.
Even tough you might be tired and under time pressure after a hard day at work, please take the time to enjoy cooking and eating your meals. Be mindful of your food.
First up, from Tieghan Gerard at Half Baked Harvest we have these weeknight style Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken Taquitos ~ with Street Corn Salas and Lime Crema.

Crockpot BBQ Beer Chicken Taquitos
From Holly at Spend with Pennies, how about this Easy Tuna Casserole?

Easy Tuna Casserole
This is really easy from Ali at Gimmie Some Oven; Brown Butter Lemon Pasta. And, I agree with Ali here, buy the very best ingredients you can afford, especially for simple dishes such as this.

Brown Butter Lemon Pasta
For a side dish, or just something healthy on its own, from Cookie + kate we have this Easy Tomato Salad ~ how wonderful if you have tomatoes growing in your own garden.

Easy Tomato Salad
This is not the first time I’ve blogged about weeknight dinners. Back in May 2018 there was another post entitled Weeknight Dinners. Among the recipes I covered there is this Prosciutto and Balsamic Greens Flatbread. From Averie Cooks. Looks delicious.

Prosciutto and Balsamic Greens Flatbread
Our collection this Friday is from Delish magazine; 80 Easiest Weeknight Meals Ever, and I’ve chosen to feature this fabulous looking Spinach Lasagna.

Spinach Lasagna
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the simplest meal ever
just add cheese
Food on Friday ~ Muffins
I’ve been told some people are obsessed with bran muffins
Now I’m not certain what’s going on, but several of the cooks whose blogs I follow have posts about muffins this week. I looked it up, thinking it was National Muffin Week or something, but no, it’s seems it’s just one of those spooky coincidences that keeps happening for me right now.
National Muffin Day in the USA is actually February 20th.
Two interesting things; #1 here in England we do not eat a lot of English muffins. #2 I didn’t know there was a second meaning for the word muffin, or stud muffin at any rate.
However, be all that as it may, here are some cool muffin recipes, which I may have to reprise on February 20th, or not.
First up this week we have Heather Christo’s delicious looking almond poppyseed muffins, and being from Heather they are allergen free, vegan, and gluten free. All I know is they look very yummy.

Almond Poppyseed Muffins
Andrea at Cooking with a Wallflower has a recipe for ube mochi muffins. I have to admit the only bit of that I understand is muffins, but these little cakes look fantastic and I would be interested to try them.

Ube Mochi Muffins
And I thought I should include a recipe for ‘space muffins’ for those of you who would like to ingest their marijuana. Personally, I cannot see the attraction, but then I have enough of a problem with booze.

Cannabis Muffins
Now for something else completely different we have these pizza muffins from In Dianes Kitchen. Now that is a good idea for a pre-prepared snack or for something to take to work for lunch.

Pizza Muffins
Erin Clarke, at Well Plated by Erin has a cool collection of healthy muffin recipes. I very much like the look of her unique muffin recipes, especially the gingerbread apple muffins. How interesting.

Gingerbread Apple Muffins
Our last collection this week is from delish magazine; 52 muffins to make your morning a little more enjoyable. From this great collection I’ve chosen to feature the chocolate lover’s chocolate chocolate-chip muffins by our friend Averie Sunshine.

Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Food on Friday ~ Healthy Salmon Recipes
if you want something beautiful on the table, pick up some salmon
If you’re trying to eat a very healthy diet, then salmon should be on your shopping list. This attractive fish has a stack of health benefits, not just that it’s rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, eating salmon is supposed to reduce the risk factors for several nasty diseases. Salmon is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet, and fresh line-caught salmon should be clean ~ not full of all the crap that is in some of the food we eat.
Buying the right piece of salmon is important, starting with the basic rule ~ never buy anything that looks manky. Anything that says wild is probably better than farmed, and some farmed salmon is better than others. Usually the rule is the more you pay the better it will be, but not always, but don’t sweat it. Go to a good grocery store or fishmonger, and you’ll be fine.
First this week we have one of my favourite salmon dishes; Thai salmon in foil,from Chungah at Damn Delicious. I think cooking in foil is a brilliant technique, and it reduces the amount of washing-up no end.

Thai Salmon in Foil
Another recipe for cooking in foil, and following on from last week’s post which was all about cilantro; from Averie Sunshine’s archive I have chosen this foil pack lime cilantro salmon. This is so easy to make, and it will be ready to eat in 10 minutes ~ you heard me right, just 10 minutes to produce this wonderful healthy dish.

Foil Pack Lime Cilantro Salmon
Now we have a fabulous 30 minute recipe from Sabrina Modelle; grilled salmon with peach salsa. This dish has so much going for it; you can cook the salmon on the BBQ, which means you can make the whole recipe in your yard. Anything with grilled salmon looks really special, so this is something you can serve to guests. And, best of all, it’s a 30 minute recipe that will make a great lunch, dinner, or something to take to work the following day. (This recipe was found for us by Elise at Simply Recipes).

Grilled Salmon with Peach Salsa
Until I saw this from Tieghan Gerard at Half Baked Harvest I had never heard of cooking on a BBQ grill by placing the food on a cedar plank. But, now I’ve seen this cedar plank salmon with watermelon feta salsa from Teighan this is something I must try the next time I’m somewhere warm and sunny ~ that’s if anyone friend will let me. I’m an Englishman, and as everyone knows we are terrible at cooking on a BBQ.

Cedar Plank Salmon with watermelon Feta Salsa
This brilliant sweet and smokey cedar planked salmon is from Kate Merker at Country Living magazine. Apart from soaking the plank for a couple of hours to stop it from catching fire, this is a very easy BBQ recipe!

Sweet and Smokey Cedar Plank Salmon
With healthy eating in mind I so like the look of this dish of braised salmon from Heather Christo; Paleo red curry braised salmon with sweet potatoes Fabulous!. Paleo is good, I think. This 45 minute recipe not only uses coconut oil and coconut milk, it also has more than enough garlic. Nice.

Paleo Red Curry Braised Salmon with Sweet Potatoes
Our collection this week is from Olive Magazine, their 40 best ever easy salmon recipes. And I’ve chosen to feature the very first recipe from this great collection Thai salmon parcels with jasmine rice.

Thai Salmon Parcels with Jasmine Rice
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
BLT salmon salad with creamy avocado green goddess dressing.
Food on Friday ~ Cilantro
Cilantro ~ the Devil Herb.
In England ‘Cilantro’ is called ‘Coriander’, which is the word Americans use for just the dried seeds of the plant. Funny, in England we say ‘Coriander Seeds’. The difference arises because ‘Cilantro’ is a Spanish word, and there a big Hispanic influence in the USA. Here, just about the only Spanish influences are that we beat the Spanish Armada in May 1588, and some of us go there on vacation.
Coriander is also known as Chinese parsley, and can be used both in salads and as a herb in cooking.
Some really great dishes use this adaptable plant, which goes really well with lime.
First today we have this cilantro lime chicken dish from Chungah at Damn Delicious. The other fabulous seasonings used in this recipe are brown sugar, oregano, and basil.

Cilantro Lime Chicken
A similar dish from Tiffany at Creme de la Crumb. Except now we have a recipe for one pan creamy cilantro lime chicken and rice. I really like one pan dishes, but it’s coriander here, not cilantro. Nice by any name.

One Pan Creamy Cilantro Lime Chicken and Rice
Tiffany at Creme de la Crumb has this super recipe for one pan Spanish chicken and rice, a bold and zesty dish you can make in a half-an-hour. Strangely, Tiffany calls one of her ingredients coriander, which we now know better as cilantro.

One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice
Also from Tiffany at Creme de la Crumb, this is interesting; garlic lime shrimp marinade. And this is a fast marinade that will be ready for the grill in just 15 minutes. Lots of cilantro. Tiffany seems to like Cilantro.

Garlic Lime Shrimp Marinade
From San Diego’s Averie Sunshine archive I have chosen this foil pack lime cilantro salmon. This is so easy to make, and it will be ready to eat in 10 minutes ~ you heard me right, just 10 minutes to produce this wonderful tasty, and very healthy dish.

Foil Pack Lime Cilantro Salmon
Heather Christo has a different kind of cilantro recipe for a warm summer afternoon, this tomato peach and avocado salad with cilantro vinaigrette. Heather says that this is a beautifully simple 30 minute salad that will totally blow your socks off. I tend to agree. Nice to take to work for lunch too.

Tomato Peach and Avocado Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Food on Friday ~ Cooking in Foil
Cooking is fun, eating is fine, clearing up afterwards is a drag.
If, like me, you like cooking but don’t like clearing up afterwards, then cooking in foil packets is one way to cut down on the mess. And, don’t believe the urban myth that aluminium foil is bad for your health ~ you can wrap food in it, and you can cook in it, and it won’t hurt you one little bit.
You can use foil packets to cook on the grill, in a fire-pit, in the oven, (and I’ve even baked potatoes wrapped in foil in the engine bay of a sports car). Using a packet like this helps to seal in the flavours, and keeps your food moist and tender.
Add your herbs, spices, and other seasonings to the foil packet, but it’s also a good idea to use a flavouring that will add moisture to the meat, fish, or vegetables you’re cooking ~ for example; lemon, orange, honey, butter, olive oil…..
Chungah Rhee at Damn Delicious has a fantastic recipe for Asian salmon cooked in foil ~ and trust me, this is a brilliant way to cook salmon. This dish uses fresh ginger and lots or garlic, as well as honey ~ all on the superfoods list.

Asian Salmon Cooked in Foil
Another salmon dish from from Chungah, and we have this seriously easy and seriously good recipe for lemon dill salmon in foil. Really this great looking dish is a 30 minute effort, tops. And, I’m pretty certain anyone can make a great job of cooking this damn delicious dish.

Lemon Dill Salmon in Foil
For a mid-week dinner or a weekend lunch here’s a recipe for a hearty potato dish you can prepare ahead ~ sausage, potato, and green bean foil packets. If you have an oven in the lunch room you could cook these packets at work, or you could cook them ahead and eat them cold, or whatever… And, you could swap bacon for the sausage…

Sausage Potato and Green Bean Foil Packets
From San Diego’s Averie Sunshine archive I have chosen this foil pack lime cilantro salmon. This is so easy to make, and it will be ready to eat in 10 minutes ~ you heard me right, just 10 minutes to produce this wonderful tasty, and very healthy dish.

Foil Pack Lime Cilantro Salmon
I know how much you like recipe collections, so from Wide Open Eats here are 20 foil packet recipes making dinner a breeze ~ how cool is that? Anything that makes mid-week dinners easier is a good idea. Included in this collection is a great recipe for lemon chicken and asparagus from Creme de la Crumb.

Lemon Chicken and Asparagus
From Taste of Home we have a collection of 30 Wrap-and-Cook Foil Packet Recipes, including this delicious-looking crab and shrimp stuffed sole. If you can get a decent Dover Sole this would make a fabulous dish ~ even for your high-end dinner party for two.

Crab and Shrimp Stuffed Sole
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Food on Friday ~ Summery Pink Drinks
Pink isn’t just a colour, it’s an attitude.
I saw a girl driving a shocking pink car today. It could have been worse, it could have been a guy driving a shocking pink car. (It could have been the Pink Panther.) I started to wonder if anything really looked good in pink, and I came up with pink drinks for a summer’s weekend.
Well, actually you could drink these pink drinks at any time of the year, but I think they all look very summery and cooling for a stinking hot and humid day.
And yes, there are cocktails called The Pink Panther, the recipes vary, but girls should beware of all of them.
The ever elegant Heather Christo has some very ‘cool’ drinks recipes, including; spicy watermelon sangria, cherry pomegranate ginger vodka lemonade, and this really pretty in pink watermelon cucumber gin lemonade.

Wetermelon Cucumber Gin Lemonade
Tieghan Gerard from Half Baked Harvest has some really great looking ‘pink drinks’ too; frozen watermelon rosé sangria slushies, raspberry rosé tequila kombucha, and this vicious sounding jalapeno bloody mary.

Jalapeno Bloody Mary
San Diego girl Averie Sunshine has a drink that’s sort of pink in this Malibu sunset, which is made with pineapple and orange juice, coconut rum, grenadine, with some added cherries. Malibu Coconut Rum is a pretty cool spirit with lots of mixers; try it with Coca-Cola for a different tasting Cuba Libre.

Malibu Sunset
At Honestly Yum Todd has this cool and very pink watermelon, fresh herbs and sotol cocktail. Sotol is from Mexico, it’s a bit like tequila, only crazier.

Watermelon, Fresh Herbs and Sotol Cocktail
Seattle girl Heather, the Flourishing Foodie has this recipe for a rhubarb collins, and she also tells us how to make simple syrup ~ an essential ingredient for many, many long cocktails.

Rhubarb Collins
Chungah at Damn Delicious has this dead easy and very refreshing strawberry thyme prosecco ~ I love that Chungah uses limoncello in this recipe. This drink is very pink indeed.

Strawberry Thyme Prosecco
And finally for now, found in Allrecipes magazine, we have this recipe for Jewel’s watermelon margaritas created by Rainbow Jewels. How cute.

Jewel’s Watermelon Margaritas
Please always drink responsibly ~ you know it makes sense. Girls, beware apples laced with anything alcoholic, narcotic, or soporific.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
guys need a cocktail recipe book
Easy Weeknight Dinners
Nothing is better than going home to good food.
For some of us, midweek dinners can be a real chore, so we resort to take-out or pre-prepared meals bought from our local supermarket. Yet we can do better than that. These recipes are all delicious, easy, quick and healthy. So why not try spending a half-hour cooking something, rather than buying an
The last thing you want to do after a long day at work is spend ages standing at the stove making dinner. So, from Averie Cooks we have this baked ham and cheese omelette, and ham and cheese are such a great pairing.

Baked Ham and Cheese Omelette
A pasta bake is such an easy and versatile dish, and Amanda Wren-Grimwood, at Chez Le Rêve Français, has this great recipe for a chicken and broccoli pasta bake. Most of us should be able to whip this up in a half-hour. Looks delicious to me.

Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Bake
If you are having friends over, or you just want something more exotic, Petra at Food Eat Love has this onglet steak with loaded fries. This will take you 10 to 15 minutes to prepare, and you can make yourself a great salad while it’s all cooking.

Onglet Steak with Loaded Fries
Talking of great salads, Tieghan Gerad at Half Baked Harvest has just posted this utterly beautiful Tuscan summer stone fruit, tomato, and burrata panzanella salad. I love Tuscan and this is one recipe I am certainly going to put on my own regular diet.

Tuscan Summer Stone Fruit, Tomato and Burrata Panzanella Salad
If you are vegetarian, or vegan, then maybe try this fresh tomato spinach garlic pasta from San Francisco Lady Andrea at Cooking with a Wallflower. This dish has just a few ingredients and should be ready in 30 minutes.

Fresh Tomato Spinach Garlic Pasta
Finally for this week, from Chungah at Damn Delicious we have 10 weeknight chicken breast recipes ~ including this fabulous chicken lazone. Always worth keeping some chicken breasts in your freezer, all you have to do is remember to take what you need out of the freezer in the morning and put it in the refrigerator.

Chicken Lazone
If you have a slow cooker, then try using that to make a weeknight dinner, which will last you a couple of days ~ and you can also take to work for lunch. There are some slow cooker recipes on an earlier post of mine.
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
click the link
Food on Friday ~ Fish
all men are equal before fish
It’s possible to make some very boring, and even quite nasty meals with fish ~ stargazy pie for one ~ but there are some great recipes out there ~ just don’t make it over-complicated. For this week’s Food on Friday we have some fantastic fish dishes from some fabulous cooks. There will be no pieces of salmon among these recipes ~ sometimes salmon is just a cop out, and sometimes farmed salmon isn’t so healthy.
Since most fish dishes cook really quickly, a nice piece of fish makes a great midweek dinner as well as something special for when you have more time. Choose your fresh fish with care.
Fist up this week; crispy miso cod from Amanda at Chez le Rêve Français. This is an easy dish, but you have to give the fish long enough in the marinade to let it really absorb the flavours ~ it’s worth it. If you’ve never cooked with miso before, give yourself a treat, buy a jar, try a miso recipe, I hope you’ll love it.

Crispy Miso Cod
Cod is such a great fish ~ cod and chips is a great English dish ~ that I make no excuse for more dishes featuring this white fish. Here we have roast cod and cherry tomatoes from Heather Christo. If you haven’t tried it before, fish and tomato is a magical combination.

Roast Cod and Cherry Tomatoes
From Petra at Food Eat Love we have a very quick, very easy, and very interesting dish; quick cured,pan fried cod with sauce verte. Really, this is a 20 minute recipe you could serve as a starter or a light meal. I love the colours in this dish.

Quick Cured, Pan Fried Cod with Sauce Verte
As a change from cod, we have another white fish, sea bass. This recipe for crisp skillet sea bass with pistachio butter is from Jessica Merchant, at How Sweet It Is, and it should take you about 40 minute from start to plate ~ looks fabulous. And for good measure, from BBC Good Food, here’s another 27 sea bass recipes. You know what? Unless you’re a fisherman, and have caught the bass yourself, I wouldn’t necessarily choose sea bass over cod.

Crisp Skillet Sea Bass with Pistachio Butter
For those of you in California we have another really colourful sea bass recipe, this time from Averie Sunshine; orange glazed Chilean sea bass with dill, cucumber, and orange champagne relish. Trust me ~ there’s no champagne in this, and if you have cider vinegar you’ll do just fine.

Orange Glazed Chilean Sea Bass with Dill, Cucumber, and Champagne Relish
Finally for this week we have a recipe collection from The Huffington Post Canada; 23 cod recipes you’ll want to cook tonight…. Among the great dishes is this simple black cod, black radish, and turmeric, which I’d serve with rice and a side salad. It’s a simple dish from a simple guy at Six Course Dinner ~ and trust me, the fish isn’t actually black.

Black Cod, Black Radish and Turmeric
~
many thanks to all the great cooks featured in this week’s Food on Friday
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Food on Friday # 55
Occasional Dishes for Christmas.
At this time of year, when we’re busy with shopping for gifts, food shopping, visiting family and friends, it’s easy just to eat snacks on the run. It’s also very easy to get very bored with turkey. Here are some fairly simple dishes you can cook to make your pre and post Christmas evenings, lunchtimes, and mornings a little more interesting.
Tieghan Gerard at Half Baked harvest has given us this pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin, looks delicious, and I will be definitely making this dish for dinner on Christmas Eve. There is some real comfort food here to take away the stresses of Yuletide.

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
~
Chungah at Damn delicious offers us sheet pan steak and veggies. You can’t find an easier meal than this and it looks damn delicious too.

Sheet Pan Steak and Veggies
~
The lovely Averie at Averie cooks has this dead simple dish of curry coconut sweet potato fries with cucumber dill dip. Great to snack on or as a side dish with steak or pancetta wrapped pork tenderloin.

Curry Coconut Oil Sweet Potato Fries with Cucumber Dill Dip
~
Something a little different from Cooking Without Limits; nests of meat stuffed wine vines rolls for Christmas. I’ve had these in Greece, and I can tell you they are a fabulous dish.

Nests of Meat Stuffed Wine Vines
~
If you have a house full of guests over Christmas, just what can you make at breakfast time that doesn’t involve loads of pans and mess. Well, thanks to Elise Baur at Simply Recipes and Sheryl Julian, you can make this ham and cheese breakfast casserole, and it will satisfy the hungriest house guest.

Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole
~
I really like lamb, and although I don’t cook it often, I will be roasting a leg of lamb for this coming New Year’s Eve. So this recipe for slow roast lamb with ancho chilli and garlic marinade from Australian Cooking Up The Pantry is very apposite today. But beware, this dish will take around 6 hours in the oven.

~
Finally for this week, and with thanks to the very uncool Readers Digest we have this cool collection of 20+ perfect Christmas appetisers, including these onion and brie tartlets.

Onion Brie Appetisers
~
a great big thank you to all the cooks featured this Christmas, and throughout 2016
have a very Merry Christmas
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
And that’s how to make Planters’ Rum Punch, an Englishman’s preferred drink to go along with a summer barbecue. The strong is Caribbean Dark Rum, (







jack collier
You must be logged in to post a comment.