Hectic weeknights call for recipes that are quick to prepare. Here are 4 Quick Prep Meals – each takes less than 12 minutes prep time – plus the linky for #CookBlogShare Week 44.
Are we allowed to mention the C word yet? I kind of feel like it is my public duty to announce that there are just 8 weeks to Christmas!!!
Have you started preparing for it yet???
In my real life I haven’t even BEGUN to think about Christmas! But here on Easy Peasy Foodie, Christmas prep is in full swing. Last Saturday I cooked and photographed an entire roast turkey dinner (recipes on the blog soon).
I’m also working on re-photographing my old Christmas recipes from back in 2015, when I’d only been blogging for 6 months and I still took really dreadful photographs. I feel sad because there are some awesome recipes there, but they don’t get much attention as the photos make them look so awful! I’m hoping with new photographs they’ll be much more popular.
Over on Productive Blogging, I’ve not really got anything Christmassy planned. Instead I’ve been working on some more helpful posts for bloggers…
I’ve been sharing posts on how to protect your blog from hackers, how to improve your site speed and how to treat your blog as your business (and make decent money from it!).
I’ve also shared my Beginner’s Guide to Mailchimp and a fab guest post from Emma Amoscato (from Free From Farmhouse) all about how to go from blog to book deal! Emma’s book Living with Allergies is out next spring!
4 Quick Prep Meals
With all that going on with my blogs, not to mention my daughter’s 10th birthday in November and normal life on top, I’m crazy busy at the mo… Which is why these 4 Quick Prep Meals caught my eye from last week’s linky. 4 delicious meals, perfect for busy weeknights – and all under 12 minutes prep!
Lamb and Spinach Curry (Lamb Saag)
First up is this delicious Lamb and Spinach Curry from Corina over at Searching for Spice. This recipe (like most of Corina’s!) is right up my street. Just 10 minutes of prep, then this delicious looking Lamb Saag is simmered on the stove for 3 hours, making the whole house smell amazing in the process. This would be a great one to come back to after a busy evening of ferrying the kids about to their various clubs and activities… And I reckon this would also work brilliantly in the slow cooker too or in my new pressure cooker!
Easy Beef Stroganoff
Jacqui and I were clearly on the same page last week as we both shared beef stroganoff recipes! Whilst mine was designed as a way of using up leftover roast beef (you can find my Leftover Roast Beef Stroganoff here), Jacqui from Recipes Made Easy has created this gorgeous Easy Beef Stroganoff using thin strips of steak, together with a mix of porcini and chestnut mushrooms – which just sounds incredible! Better still the whole recipe is done and dusted in just 35 minutes. And, by using half fat crème fraiche and lean steak, Jacqui has kept the calories down too – just 414 calories a portion!
Butternut Squash and Chorizo Risotto
Jo from Jo’s Kitchen Larder has used two of my favourite ingredients – butternut squash and chorizo – to create this deliciously quick and easy Butternut Squash and Chorizo Risotto. Again, this recipe takes just 10 minutes to prep and only 40 minutes in total. It sounds so warming and comforting too – such a prefect meal for chilly autumn evenings!
Healthy Leftover Salmon and Potato Casserole
As you probably know by now I am a HUGE fan of leftovers meals – such a great way to speed up weeknight cooking! So this Healthy Leftover Salmon and Potato Casserole really caught my eye. Monika layers cooked potatoes, leftover salmon, peas and a white sauce in a casserole, before popping it in the oven to cook for 15 minutes. This recipe takes just 12 minutes to prep – meaning the whole thing can be made in under 30 minutes – perfect for busy weeknights!!
#CookBlogShare Week 44
And so we come to this week’s linky. You can link up any foodie post that you have – both old and new posts are welcome. All you need to do is:
- Link up a recipe or foodie post by clicking the blue ‘add your link’ button below and following the instructions (maximum of 4, please).
- Add a link from your post back to this post (so everyone else can find it and link up too!) and / or add the #CookBlogShare badge to your post (you can find the code below).
- Comment on one of the host’s posts and a minimum of 2 other posts linked up here, and generally share the love with a bit of social media action!
If you wish, you can tweet a link to your recipe to me @easypeasyfoodie and also (if you have room on the tweet!) my co-hosts Jacqui @jacdotbee and Monika @MonikasRecipes, using the #CookBlogShare hashtag and we will retweet them. You can also post your recipe on the Cook Blog Share Facebook Page.
Need some help on Instagram? You and me both…so let’s help each other! Whenever you post to Instagram, use the #CookBlogShare hashtag, then quickly hop over to the #CookBlogShare feed, liking as many as you can and commenting on any that particularly catch your eye. Not a big job at all, but if we all do it, it would make a BIG difference!!
I will comment on a selection of my favourite posts this week and pin them to the Cook Blog Share Pinterest Board. I can’t wait to see what you’ve all been making!
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Just to remind you, by joining in, you are giving the #CookBlogShare hosts permission to use your pictures in a round up and on social media, if your recipe is selected as one of our favourites!
Next week #CookBlogShare will be hosted by Jacqui at Recipes Made Easy 🙂
Pin 4 Quick Prep Meals for later
Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook says
Hello, Eb! Thank you for this week’s party! I hope you are having a wonderful week!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Jhuls – you too! Eb x
Corina Blum says
Thanks for including my lamb curry! The other recipes look so good too – I definitely need recipes without much meal prep right now. x
Eb Gargano says
A pleasure, Corina – definitely my kind of food! Eb x
Mandy says
Eb, when are you ever NOT crazy busy? This time of year is so manic. We have my daughter’s bday in December not to mention Hannukah and Christmas so it’s full on. I’m trying to be as organised as possible this November. Am just about to link up my easy quince compote recipe x
Eb Gargano says
Hahaha – pretty much never! No that’s not quite true. I do take time off at half terms and holidays. But mostly I have so many things I want to do on my blogs, plus my kids are always doing so much that I’m always busy. And this time of year is always the worst! The number of kids things / social engagements / school stuff / blog things just ramps up and up! I am being very good on EPF this year though and not doing 20+ Christmas recipes as I usually do! Eb x
Mandy says
Well we’ll believe that when we see it!
Eb Gargano says
Hahahaha – no this year I’m serious. Only 8 Christmas posts, and I might not do all of those. But I’m making up for it by doing loads of Christmas reshoots instead!! Eb x
Monika Dabrowski says
Thank you for including my dish in this lovely roundup! I’ve been craving comfort dishes recently, so all these recipes look extremely appealing. Shared!
Eb Gargano says
A pleasure, Monika! I always crave comfort food – which is why I have a blog full of it!! 😀 Eb x
Jo Allison / Jo's Kitchen Larder says
Thank you so much for including my risotto together with other delicious recipes Eb! I LOVE the photo of your roast turkey with roasties and stuffing! Your family must have been over the moon with the feast last weekend! 🙂 Your daughter big 10 sounds like a serious affair lol. I’ve got big 5 and big 8 within a space of couple of weeks at the end of November and already had special requests in terms of cake design! No pressure at all! 🙂 x
Eb Gargano says
A pleasure, Jo! The photo was from last year, but I have a whole new set of tasty Christmas recipes for this year – and yes, my family loved having a roast turkey dinner in October… I’ve got another one planned in a couple of weeks, to reshoot some old howlers!! I reckon they will be fed up of Christmas food by Christmas at this rate! TBH I can;t get my head around the fact my daughter will be 10 – how did that happen??? Eb x
Michelle Frank | Flipped-Out Food says
8 WEEKS?! NOOOOOOOOO!!! Wow. That hadn’t quite hit me yet. I think I’ll go back to bed. 😛
All kidding aside, I am SO with you about re-shooting old photos. The most frustrating thing to me is re-shooting something expensive like Prime Rib Roast—and it’s STILL not good! Gah! Great roundup: these all look incredibly delicious, and meal-prep is my JAM these days.
Eb Gargano says
I know! Crazy, huh? Oh I know what you mean about the expensive reshoots that go wrong. I’m always petrified when I’m doing something expensive that it will mess up. The photography is usually fine (unless I’ve seriously messed up my timing and it’s too dark!), but my problem is sometimes the food doesn’t come out as photogenic as I’d hoped – like a piece of meat that’s a bit wonky or has a tear in the skin – totally delicious, but I know the photo won’t convey that *sigh*. Eb x
Mandy says
Just come back to link up a Sneaky Veg recipe this time!
Janice says
Easy recipes – yes, please. They all look delicious.
Eb Gargano says
Would you expect anything less of me???? 😀 Eb x
Lathiya says
Awesome recipes as always…Love it
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Lathiya!
Nickki/Something Sweet Something Savoury says
I think I’m in denial Christmas is just round the corner – I have SO much to do and very little time to do it! I also have a load of very cringy Christmas posts to reshoot – the recipes are fab but the pictures are horrendous! That roast turkey shot looks amazing!
Eb Gargano says
I know!!! 8 weeks seems like such a small amount of time, doesn’t it? I’m keeping Christmas very low-key this year, both on the blog and IRL – so I hope it will all go more smoothly this year and I’ll be less stressed #famouslastwords!! Eb x
Jenny walters says
Great round up. I love allll the recipes this week. Am off to pin them all!
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Jenny! Eb x