A 5-ingredient meal, this Pesto Crusted Salmon is both healthy and full of flavor! On the table in under 30 minutes, it’s a great option for busy weeknights but is elegant enough for date night in. 
Tag: 30-Minute Meals
Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets
Love buffalo chicken? These Baked Buffalo Chicken Nuggets are big on flavor but are healthier than most buffalo chicken dishes out there. With a little prep ahead, you can have this dinner on the table in about 30 minutes.
Raspberry Chipotle Salmon + Incredible One-Pot Cooking Cookbook Giveaway & Review
This bright and flavorful 4-ingredient Raspberry Chipotle Salmon is a weeknight lifesaver. Less than 5 minutes of prep and it cooks in just 10 minutes. Plus, if you enjoy broccoli, you can turn this into a complete one-dish meal.
Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this book from Page Street Publishing Co. in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are mine alone.
Continue reading “Raspberry Chipotle Salmon + Incredible One-Pot Cooking Cookbook Giveaway & Review”
30-Minute Spicy Italian Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner
This 30-Minute Spicy Italian Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner is quick weeknight dinner with very few dishes and lots of fresh veggies, making it an awesome option for busy weeknights.
Back to school means quick weeknight dinners are a must. A quick weeknight dinner that also includes veggies and creates very few dirty dishes? It’s a done deal!
Believe it or not, this is our first week back in school, and I’m not going to lie, I’m thrilled. Don’t get me wrong, this summer was filled with lots of fun – various camps, extended vacations for the kids to both grandparents, an anniversary getaway with my hubby… but as summer has wound down, I’ve been missing the routine that the school year brings. Yes, weeknights are busy. Weekends too. But we get into our groove and generally, things run fairly smoothly.
This year, we have after school activities 3 days a week. One of those days isn’t so bad because Miss. Hazelnut stays after school, and we just pick her up a little later. LOVE not having to do extra drop offs or pick ups, or even having to stay for the activity. I always enjoy watching but it makes it hard to finish everything that needs to be done.
So with the start of the new school year, I’m pulling back out my slow cooker and my cookbooks, and flagging old favorites and looking for new, easy recipes (READ: quick with minimal prep) that will not only please everyone in the house, but that will make the evenings a bit easier for me. I won’t share the new recipes with you until I’ve tried them, but some old favorites include:
- Sheet Pan Shrimp Taco Bowls (ready in 30-minutes with little prep)
- Proscuitto-Wrapped Salmon with Brie (quick and easy)
- Slow Cooker Beef Tacos with Salsa Verde
- Slow Cooker Pork Banh Mi Bowls
Don’t want to wait for more quick recipes? Check out some of the ones that have caught my eye recently, pinned to my 30-Minute (or Less) Meals Pinterest Board or my Slow Cooker Pinterest Board.
Today’s recipe is one that I’ve been making various iterations of for a few years now – Spicy Italian Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner. I tweak it according to what veggies I have in the house, whether someone has a preference for sweet or spicy Italian sausage, but the outcome is usually the same. Sausage + roasted cherry or grape tomatoes (because they’re my fave, when they get all sweet and bursty) + squash. As you see in these photos, I also included sweet Italian peppers (a cousin to the bell pepper) but I’ve also made it with mushrooms in the past. I don’t usually bother with seasoning the sausage and veggies, as the spicy Italian sausage tends to flavor the veggies enough, but you can easily marinate the sausage and veggies or sprinkle with your choice of seasoning. This sheet pan dinner can be served as is, for a lower-carb meal, but I really enjoy it over a bit of brown rice.
So tell me, what are some of your favorite meals for busy weeknights? Leave me a comment and let me know!
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30-Minute Spicy Italian Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner
This 30-Minute Spicy Italian Sausage & Veggie Sheet Pan Dinner is quick weeknight dinner with very few dishes and lots of fresh veggies, making it an awesome option for busy weeknights.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 346 kcal
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 c. cherry or grape tomatoes destemmed and cleaned
- 1 small yellow squash or zucchini cleaned, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 1 sweet Italian pepper (or bell pepper) cleaned, seeds removed, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- 1 lb. spicy Italian sausage still in casing, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
- kosher salt (optional)
- freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 425F.
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Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Add chopped vegetables and sausage. Spray again with cooking spray. If using, sprinkle with salt and pepper.
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Bake for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are softening and sausage is cooked throughout.
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Serve hot.
Recipe Notes
Serving Suggestion: Serve on top of white or brown rice.
Shrimp Taco Bowls
This big, bold Taco Shrimp Bowl – easily customizable to your tastes – can be on your table in under 30 minutes. Make it for Cinco de Mayo, Taco Tuesday, or a quick weeknight meal. The shrimp and veggies are cooked on a sheet pan before being served with rice, garlicky black beans and your favorite taco toppings.
The crazy spring is winding down and I’m excited to be ushering in warmer weather, quieter evenings and weekends, and healthier, fresher food. The past 6 weeks have been a real challenge to keep up with life, nevermind blogging. I’m thrilled for what I hope will be a slower pace over the next several weeks.
Despite the hectic season, I didn’t want to let Cinco de Mayo pass by without a nod here on Books n’ Cooks. I didn’t have the time to make the Progressive Menu that I had in mind, but I think I did pretty well for you this year.
I call this dish Shrimp Taco Bowls, primarily because I used taco seasoning – a pantry staple in my house – on the shrimp and the veggies. However, with the onions and peppers, this is also like a Shrimp Fajita Bowl. Call it whichever you choose… and if you prefer? Skip the rice and make fajitas instead. Less dishes!
What I love about this meal:
- It’s quick. It’s on the table in under 30 minutes, even with the chopping.
- It’s flavorful. Garlicky black beans, spicy shrimp and salsa. Creamy guacamole.
- It’s both filling and yet light. Fiber from the beans (and brown rice if you choose to use it), lean shrimp, and a combination of roasted onions and bell peppers with fresh salsa or pico de gallo.
I really have no complaints, although my husband would have preferred fewer dirty dishes. 😉 The shrimp, onions and peppers are roasted on a sheet pan; the beans are warmed in a skillet with a little olive oil and garlic; and the the rice cooked separately. Good thing I have my professional dishwasher!
Recipe Notes: Modifications & References
- Modifications: Skip the beans. Make extra beans for a meat-free lunch (your coworkers will thank you for not microwaving seafood in the shared microwave!). Kick up the spice or mellow it out. Throw freshly chopped cilantro in everything.
I’ve made some version of these bowls multiple ways. You can easily keep this to a 30-minute no-fuss version with a lot of store-bought toppings and mixes. Some homemade toppings and mixes are household staples in my home but others I only break out occasionally – i.e. when time permits, when entertaining, or when my garden is overflowing. Here are some of my favorite homemade seasonings, toppings, and accompaniments that you can use in this recipe,should you so choose.
- Cilantro Lime Rice: use in place of plain white or brown rice
- Taco Seasoning: one of my pantry staples, this will keep in an airtight container for a few months.
- Restaurant-Style Salsa: made in the food processor, this will keep for a few days, if you can make it last that long! It’s delicious and seriously addictive.
- Roasted Tomato Restaurant-Style Salsa: a fresher version of the above, made with garden-fresh tomatoes and veggies, roasted in the oven before being thrown in the food processor. It also keeps for a few days in the fridge.
- Guacamole: best the day it’s made.
Convinced to try them yet? If you do, snap a pic and tag it with #booksncooks, and be sure to come back, leave a comment, and rate the recipe.
Check out the other Cinco de Mayo recipes my blogging friends are sharing today, and then check out the recipe.
- Beefy Black Bean Tostadas from Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
- Guajillo-Braised Shortrib Tacos from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Guava Margaritas from Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Homemade Corn Tortillas from Food Above Gold
- Humitas with Homemade Queso Fresco from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Mexican Casserole from A Day in the Life on a Farm
- Mexican Chicken Master Mix from The Tip Garden
- Shrimp Taco Bowls from Books n’ Cooks (below!)
- Sonoran Sunrise from Palatable Pastime
- Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars from The Spiffy Cookie
- Taco Joe Dip from Jolene’s Recipe Journal
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Shrimp Taco Bowls
This big, bold Taco Shrimp Bowl - easily customizable to your tastes - can be on your table in under 30 minutes. Make it for Cinco de Mayo, Taco Tuesday, or a quick weeknight meal. The shrimp and veggies are cooked on a sheet pan before being served with rice, garlicky black beans and your favorite taco toppings.
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 4
Calories 525 kcal
Ingredients
- 3 c. white or brown rice cooked according to package
Ingredients for the Black Beans:
- 1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- 1-15 oz. can black beans drained and rinsed
- pinch kosher salt
- pinch coarsely ground black pepper
Ingredients for the Shrimp & Veggies:
- cooking spray
- 1-2 bell peppers sliced
- 1 red onion sliced
- 1 lb. extra-large shrimp peeled, deveined and pat dry
- 2 Tbs. taco seasoning
Optional Toppings
- salsa or pico de gallo
- guacamole
- shredded cheese
- sour cream
- freshly chopped cilantro
Instructions
Make the Black Beans:
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Heat olive oil in a small skillet set over medium-low heat. When hot, add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 3 minutes.
Make the Shrimp & Veggies
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Preheat oven to 400F.
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Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray. Spread the veggies on one half of the baking sheet and the shrimp on the other. Sprinkle baking sheet with 1 Tbs. of the taco seasoning. With clean hands, toss veggies and shrimp to coat. Sprinkle with remaining 1 Tbs. taco seasoning and toss again. Spread shrimp and veggies into a single layer. Mist again with cooking spray and bake in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes, until shrimp are cooked through.
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Assemble your bowl.
Recipe Notes
- One serving is 3/4 c. of rice and 1/4 of the shrimp and beans. Add additional toppings as desired.
- Nutrition calculated using brown rice and 2 bell peppers without any additional toppings. Adding toppings will change the nutrition info.
