Garlic Lemon Butter Tilapia with Shrimp

Seafood has amazing recipes. I usually don’t enjoy baked fish, as I feel baking tends to make the fish dry but this recipe for baked fish is just outstanding. This recipe doesn’t require any mayonnaise, or cheese, or any kind of flour or bread crumbs. All you need is butter, lemon, garlic, a few spices, and salt. This Fish by itself is also Keto friendly. I paired the fish with baby potatoes, asparagus, and mushrooms. I also cooked the Fish and shrimp with bell pepper and jalapenos. But the choice of vegetables is always a personal choice. You can always substitute the vegetables you like. This dish is super simple, low carb, gluten-free, and amazingly delicious.

What kind of Tilapia is good?

If you have a store that sells fresh and clan fish, there can be nothing better. That kind of seafood is the best in quality. But mostly, the fish that I buy, especially Tilapia is frozen which is good too. There is always a possibility that any fish you buy has been frozen at some point in order to keep it fresh for transport.

Frozen fish sometimes are better than the Fish that appear fresh but you don’t see them live. Frozen fish is said to be freezer right after the catch, therefore feel absolutely sure to use the fish that is frozen since it is just as good to use as a live fish, and in most cases better than fish from the counter.

Tilapia is generally best and healthy if it’s wild-caught which is the case with most seafood. Farm-raised fish is also considered very healthy. Tilapia is a great source of protein. Though if you are buying farm-raised fish, make sure you check the reputation of the farm and the kind of feed they use for their fish.

I used Shrimp for some extra flavor which I feel goes fabulously with Tilapia. Baked or grilled veggies are a great source of fiber and fill you up too. This dish is great for kids too. The dish is filling, healthy, and low in carbs. Enjoy!!!

Pasta with Garlic Chicken and Mushroom

This is a great recipe and cooks pretty quickly as well. I am not a fan of Alfredo sauce with my Pasta and honestly the boys were never big fans of cheese sauce either but when I came across dish that has Mushrooms and Chicken cooked with Garlic, it kind of sounded interesting.

So I got down to trying and cooking my own. I love Mushrooms, but the kids aren’t a big fan so the dish had to be interesting enough. Roasting garlic in the oven enhances the flavor in a dish. So, I roasted garlic with skin with olive oil, salt and pepper till its soft and mushy. Cook the chicken pieces in a pan with little oil, salt and pepper. Further adding butter and oil to the same pan and added the mushed garlic and a little chicken broth followed by mushrooms. After it comes to a boil added a little heavy cream and further the cooked chicken. I also added Red chili flakes and White pepper for extra flavor.

This dish can be served by itself or with Rice too, since its a little saucy, but I personally felt that it goes on best with pasta. I served it with Spaghetti Pasta and a side of Garlic bread. Trust me, my boys who do not like Mushroom at all loved this dish. This dish easily qualifies as an awesomely flavorful and delicious dish. The taste is that of a dish you’d get at a high end Italian restaurant. It might seem a little complicated but trust me if you follow the recipe and make it once, you will become pro and will manage making this dish in no time. This dish is actually perfect for those surprise dinner dates. This impresses anyone and everyone.

Cod Fish with Roasted Veggies

We love all kinds of Sea Food. Curries, Fried, Grilled, any which way we love them. This dish makes a great option if you are on a diet, or looking for low carb options or following keto recipes. This is a quick recipe for lunch and a super nutritious one too.

I used Frozen cod but if you have fresh Cod available, that would be great. My boys love fish and grilled veggies or just cold salads on the side of a pan fried fish. These kind of dishes are easy, scrumptious, fits the budget, healthy and delicious. This is a perfect recipe when you are running short on time.

I use basic spices like Red chili flakes, Garlic powder, Onion powder, White pepper powder and Tandoori masala. I also added some dry parsley for flavor. You can always mix and match and use the spices you like. I personally don’t like much of cinnamon or Red chili powder on cod fish. I also feel that Black pepper makes it a little bitter so I prefer white pepper powder. Add a little Lemon juice and the marination is just perfect.

I grill or saute the bell peppers and Asparagus in the same pan as the fish once i am done cooking the fish. I feel it adds a lot of flavor from the fish and the spices to the vegetables. This is a great dish if you want to involve your budding teenagers and teach them easy and quick dishes.

Chicken Quesadilla

These are delicious wraps with spicy pan fried chicken and cheese that come together in under 30-40 minutes. This is something that will make your children ask for more. They are easy to make and can also be made partly ahead of time. These little scrumptious bites are something you will fall in love with.

For Chicken, you can use Rotisserie chicken or any chicken that’s left over, or any grilled chicken or even chicken kebabs. I cooked my chicken in a tex mex style. I cooked the chicken with some onions and green chilies and added Paprika, cumin powder, chili flakes, cumin powder, Garlic powder, Onion powder and Dry parsley. I also added little Apple cider vinegar and hot sauce to spike it up a little. Just cook everything till the chicken dries up and the sauce coats the chicken completely.

The quesadilla can always be made from store bought Tortilla. I made mine at home with All purpose flour and Corn flour. They are pretty easy to make as long as you have a Tortilla maker. Once you make the Tortilla, add some cooked chicken and cheese, fold them up and place them in the oven for 10 minutes.

The quesadillas can be cut into two to make them look nicer while serving. These quesadillas are scrumptious, filling, easy to make and scrumptious.

Shrimp Hero Baguette Sandwich

This recipe is a true inspiration from one of our favorite restaurants near our old home. This restaurant is pretty old, owned by a lovely Italian family and has been serving New York style pizza for almost 80 years if not more. A very small restaurant that can barely seat 12 people, but most people order their take outs. We were their regular customers and along with the Pizza, they also served variety of other Italian fast food cuisines. What I loved the most was the Garlic knots and the Shrimp Hero Sandwich. The sandwich was super huge and loaded with wonderful sauce and lots of cheese. The ingredients always tasted so fresh and awesome.

I kind of always love going to these small eateries because one can vouch that they cook fresh because they do run out of things and say “no” too which never happens with big chains. Although, big chains always maintain quality but use large amount of preservatives that keep the food looking good and taste great. Anyways, getting back to my favorite Shrimp sandwich. We moved and its just not possible to go back and forth to that restaurant. So, once I started making my own bread, I also started making baguettes and that led to making these wonderful sandwiches.

My boys love eating bread. Specially if the bread is served straight out of the oven. Baguette, the long delicious French Bread seems to be a family favorite. Every restaurant that served a good bread had us visiting them more often. Every time we bought French Baguette from our favorite baker, I would reheat it in the oven to make it taste fresh, which was great but not the same. And, that’s when I thought I should try making my own baguette at home. Honestly, looking at so many different recipes, I felt that Baguette wasn’t all that fancily difficult and I decided it was time I just make it. I mean, how could anything be better than a freshly baked loaf of bread? That crackly crust, the tender, airy crumb inside, steamy and yeasty and just begging to be torn into.

You can look into my baguette recipe and follow it. It’s a detailed recipe and the instructions are pretty easy to follow and execute. Once your baguette are cool enough to handle, cut them to sandwich size and slit from the middle. To prepare the shrimp, just devein and take the tail off, wash them well too. Fry some garlic in the oil and add marinara sauce. Once it comes to a boil, add shrimps to it. Cook for 2-3 minutes, add Red chili flakes, dry parsley and garlic powder. Cook for a minute and add Onion powder. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Your marinara sauce should be thick by now and shrimp should also be cooked. Slit the baguette and add the shrimp with sauce. I like mine spicy, so I added Jalapenos as well, but you don’t have to. Place them in the oven at 350F for 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle some dry parmesan cheese and serve.

Salmon New Orleans

Being Muslims we adhere to eating only seafood when other meat options are not halal. Salmon New Orleans was one of those dishes that we tried at one of our favorite restaurant and were immediately in love with. The only problem is only that the restaurant is pretty far away and as much as we would love to be there every weekend, we cannot.

So one beautiful Sunday, when Mr. Parveez happened to be working on a weekend project, my boys craved Salmon New Orleans and there was no other option than me trying to make it at home. Following the flavors I could remember, this is the closest I can get to the dish, but considering that variations are acceptable in every dish, this dish came out fabulous. The boys couldn’t make out any difference except for what we made tasted more fresh. I guess fresh seafood and mixing of spices at the time does always help. And, this doesn’t mean I am advocating you to stop exploring restaurants, but while sharing this recipe at the time of pandemic Covid-19, I feel this is the best option to try out your restaurant favorite foods at home, as there ain’t any other option anyways.

If I was told before I started making this meal, that it will be done, finish to start in around 30 minutes and that too using just one pan, I would not really believe it, but honestly its true. I seasoned the Salmon with salt and pepper. Make sure you don’t add too much salt, because Salmon usually absorbs salt very quickly, so you might wanna hold your hand a little.

There are always different ways you serve your fish. I like mine with some veggies, preferably carrots, spinach, avocados, broccoli or asparagus. Here I used Spinach and avocados. I first cooked the spinach with garlic, saute’ed it lightly so the flavors blend in nicely without overcooking the spinach and making it lose its color. The light garlic tasting spinach adds that perfect flavor with the sweet salmon and shrimp medley. Another side of avocado slices with a little drizzle of lemon goes in so perfectly. If you like, you can always serve with a buttermilk biscuit like me or with anything you like. A little rice or mashed potato. The side should be a little mellow in taste to compliment the flavor of the fish.

Later we need to melt the butter and whisk a little honey. That’s where the slight sweetness of honey cooked with butter creates caramelization that our salmon will be cooked and come out with awesomely delicious results. I like my Salmon fillets to be thin. I feel that makes them juicer and crunchier. If you prefer them thick, then you can always take a fillet that weighs between 6-8 oz or else you can get thinner fillets that are around 3-4 oz each.

I made my cajun seasoning at home. You can always use store bought, but in case you want to make it at home, its pretty simple with ingredients easily available in your pantry. A little garlic powder, Onion powder, black pepper powder, white pepper powder, salt, red chili powder, red chili flakes and dry parsley. I believe the actual cajun spice might have a little more spice added to it, but with my caliber this is all I could guess and trust me doing this at home, the results would amaze you.

After this saute your shrimp in the same pan you used for the salmon, along with some more butter and that cajun seasoning. Top your salmon with a few shrimp and drizzle the cajun butter sauce from the pan right over the top. Garnish with a little chopped cilantro or parsley if you like and you’re done.

That’s it. So simple to make but believe me, you will be amazed with the results. This is Restaurant-quality at home with no-fuss. Isn’t that what we all desire?

Hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we did.

Grilled Salmon with Roasted Veggies

On days when you want flavor, variety, not spend too much time cooking and with all that you want a dish that everyone in your family enjoys. This is a dish when you serve your kids a super healthy meal without compromising on taste.

Salmon is our family favorite. Any day, any time, school day, home day, dinner, Lunch, friends, Salmon is my go to dish. I believe once I knew how to make it correctly, there was no looking elsewhere. Its amazing how kids just grasp so many flavors from you and you just know if you like something, they would like it too. When the grilled/pan fried Salmon makes it to my kids lunchboxes, it just doesn’t excite them, but their school friends too. I always have their friends requesting for certain dishes on play dates and Salmon happens to be one of them.

Jokes apart, we are a family who love seafood and a lot of that comes from my Father in law [May his soul rest in peace]. Mr. Parveez gets his seafood freshness checking skills from his father. He tells me stories of how his Abba would take him along to the fish market and teach him how to find if the fish is fresh or old. So, using those awesome skills he always makes sure we get the fresh catch and as much as I always tell people that frozen fish can be used, there is nothing better than fresh ones. You will know once you try it.

So, this day when we planned on having grilled Salmon, the option of making tortillas at home along with Rice and beans is always better than getting store bought Tortillas. Though usually tortillas and Rice make you very full, but it wasn’t one of those days where we wanted to fill up. One look to my veggies in the pantry, the carrots, sweet potato and bell peppers, all just looked to good to say no to. I might sound funny to you while you read this, but the fact is some days veggies seem like the best option with your protein and its actually a very good one too, and you feel lucky to have your kids gobble down those veggies.

So, if you are a mom like me, who has those days where 30 minutes is all your gang gives and you want to make something flavorful, healthy and filling, this is it!! Enjoy!!!

Chicken Balls

This dish was a play date day invention. My boys had friends over, all wanted chicken, but some wanted spicy, other not so spicy and the rest preferred something with cheese. These balls have different fillings, some are filled with ketchup so they are a little sweet and sour, some have green chili chutney and some have shredded cheese. The kids loved them and it was an instant hit.