Thanksgiving was wonderful, but when it comes down to it I’m a little tired.  First there was all the planning and purchasing, then there was the actual cooking, and ever since I’ve been figuring out how to use up all the leftovers.  You’d think that would be the end of it, but no.  Now it’s getting close to Christmas and it’s time to bake dozens and dozens of cookies.  I’ve been making chocolate chip, peanut butter, brownies, brittles, and anything else I can think of to send of to relatives in time for the big day.  What I’m saying is: I could use a cooking break.

To this end I’ve been cooking simple, light meals a lot.  It might sound easy to cook easy dishes, but this time of year it’s not.  The fresh, light vegetables from summer are all gone now and most of the things that I find at the farmers’ market  would involve long cooking times and heavy results.  Fortunately winter is citrus season which helps a lot.  Citrus is obviously not local to North Carolina, but after having lived in Florida for so long it’s been hard to give up.  As a compromise I’ve switched to only using fresh citrus in season.

This week the Shrimp Man had some fantastic looking snapper fillets at the farmers’ market and I thought they would make the perfect quick cooking meal that I was looking for.  I turned them into Seared Snapper with Lemon Butter Sauce and served them with buttered rice and julienned vegetables.  I don’t know about veggies where you are, but here in North Carolina there are quite a few vegetables available in early winter.  For my mix I used some red cabbage, some leeks, and some carrots.  Just steam them and then dribble a little olive oil and lemon juice on top.

I hope you enjoy it, as for me?  I’ve got some more cookies to bake.