Almond Crusted Tilapia

Here’s a fast and healthy meal, and a great use for tilapia, an inexpensive fish you can find in the freezer section at the grocery store.  I think nuts and fish are a great combo (like our favorite pecan crusted salmon).

Almond Crusted Tilapia (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  whole natural almonds
• 2  tablespoons  dry breadcrumbs
• 1  teaspoon  salt-free garlic and herb seasoning blend (such as Mrs. Dash)
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  tablespoon  canola oil
• 1  tablespoon  Dijon mustard
• 2  (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
• Chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Preparation

1. Place first 4 ingredients in a blender or food processor; process 45 seconds or until finely ground. Transfer crumb mixture to a shallow dish.

2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Brush mustard over both sides of fillets; dredge in crumb mixture. Add fish to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired.

Approximately 8 WW pts per serving

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Birthday Crab Cakes

Happy 26th birthday Tyler!  To celebrate I made Tyler a tasty dinner of crab cakes, pecan crusted salmon, asparagus, and couscous.  No dessert however, we are both completely burned out on sweets and still have lots of Christmas candy floating around if we need a fix!  I’ve been wanting to make crabcakes forever, but finding quality lump crab meat in Kansas that isn’t ridiculously expensive is quite a challenge.  So I bought a package of these babies at Costco for about $16.

and I whipped up a nice sauce to go with them!

Lemon Aioli Sauce (adapted from The Neelys at Food Network)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon chopped chives (I used parsley)

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

I also added about a tablespoon of dijon mustard and a pinch of sugar

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients together.

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Teriyaki Salmon

Here’s another great recipe for salmon, I looooooooved it.  Easy and quick to make, and although you have to brush the marinade on every 2 minutes, it’s really not that complicated.  Tyler made the salmon while I made the sides, dinner was ready in less than 30 minutes!  We’ll definitely be having this one again!

Teriyaki Salmon (from Real Simple)

Ingredients:

2 salmon fillets
2 T soy sauce
2 T sugar
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 t grated fresh ginger
1 t fresh lime juice
1 t wasabi (we didn’t have any so we left it out)

Directions:

Cut the salmon crosswise into 1-inch strips. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl. Heat broiler. Arrange the salmon skin-side down in a broiling pan and brush with the sauce. Cook 2 minutes and brush again. Repeat until the salmon is just flaky, about 10 minutes total.

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Steamed Salmon

I’m exploring more quick and easy meals now that I’m busy with school and my practicum (with preschoolers, which totally wears me out and makes me not want to spend much time in the kitchen!)  We made this meal last week and I really enjoyed it, although it may have been a bit too lemon-y.  It was an easy way to cook salmon though, and I looooooove salmon!

Steamed Salmon and Asparagus in Parchment (from RealSimple)

1 1/2 pounds small new potatoes
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
4 salmon fillets (about 6 ounces each)
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 scallions, trimmed and sliced
4 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 lemons, halved

Preheat oven to 400° F. Place a piece of parchment paper on a 13-by-12-inch baking sheet. Put the potatoes on the sheet and season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and ½ teaspoon of the pepper. Distribute the butter over the potatoes. Roast in top of oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until done. Meanwhile, lay out 4 sheets of parchment (at least 13 by 13 inches) and place 1 fillet on each. Top with the asparagus, scallions, and tarragon. Drizzle with the oil and season with the remaining salt and pepper. Top each fillet with a lemon half, after first squeezing on the juice. Pull the sides of the paper over each fillet, folding several times to seal. Fold and twist the ends to form rectangular parcels. Place them on a sheet pan. Bake on lower rack of over for 20 to 25 minutes while the potatoes finish cooking. Place a salmon parcel on each plate and cut open. Serve with the potatoes.

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The fish that made me eat my words

Well I was skeptical when my dad gave us some trout from a recent fishing trip.  Mostly since they still had the heads on and the bones in and…ick.  I was not too sure about it.  So it sat in the freezer until I knew we just couldn’t ignore it anymore and Tyler set out to make it a meal for us.  I swore I wouldn’t eat it and that if he didn’t get the fish skin and bones and nastiness out of our apartment ASAP I would freak out.  What I didn’t expect was that it would taste so good.  That’s right, I took a bite…and then another…and then I finished off the fillet.   I did refuse to enter the kitchen until he cleaned up the nastiness and got the head out of my sight but my first experience eating trout really wasn’t bad.  In fact I would willingly eat it again, as long as there are no fish heads to be seen!  Tyler did a great job filleting the fish (with the help of an instructional video on YouTube!)  It didn’t taste that different than tilapia.

Baked Trout (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:

4 trout fillets
2 T olive oil
1T + 1t garlic salt
2t ground black pepper
2 lemons, sliced

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Rinse fish, and pat dry.
2. Rub fillets with olive oil, and season with garlic salt and black pepper. Place each fillet on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Squeeze the juice from the ends of the lemons over the fish. Arrange lemon slices on top of fillets. Carefully seal all edges of the foil to form enclosed packets. Place packets on baking sheet.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of fish. Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

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Tilapia with a Thai Twist

Whew, dinner didn’t bomb!  That’s always a relief   Tonight’s dinner was a quick one to prepare, so I had plenty of time to get in a good workout and spend some time reading tonight.  I think if we make this again I’ll serve it with some kind of veggie stir fry or asian noodles.  I just whipped up some couscous and a salad tonight but more flavorful side dishes would have been nice.  Tyler rated this dish an 8 on a scale of 1-10, not bad!  Thanks for the recipe Cara!

Crunchy Coconut-Peanut Tilapia (from Cara’s Cravings)

Ingredients:

2 tilapia filets, 4-6oz each
1/4 cup light coconut milk
1/4 tsp curry powder
3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp roasted peanuts
salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Or, just use a broiler pan.

Stir together coconut milk and curry powder, and pour over fish in a shallow baking dish. Turn fish to coat both sides and let sit for about 10 minutes.

Pulse peanuts and panko together in a food processor or blender; season with salt and pepper. Pour the crumbs onto a plate. Remove fish from coconut milk and press both sides into the crumbs, then gently place on the baking sheet or broiler pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until opaque in the center. If desired, turn on broiler for the last couple of minutes to get the top extra-crispy.

Serving=1 tilapia filet

WW points per serving: 5

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Salmon with Dill

This was a great, fast, Monday night recipe. There’s nothing I hate more on a Monday night than a complicated dinner, so this recipe fit the bill. It was recommended to me awhile back by another Cooking Light fan. We enjoyed this recipe, but definitely make sure to serve it with some lemon wedges on the side, I think it would be a little bland without the fresh squeezed lemon juice. I served this with garlic and herb whole wheat couscous and asparagus sauteed in EVOO and salt and pepper. Quick sides making this dinner prepped, cooked, and on the table in less than 3o minutes!

Baked Salmon with Dill (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients

4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)
Cooking spray
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
4 lemon wedges

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place fish on a baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray; lightly coat fish with cooking spray. Sprinkle fish with dill, salt, and pepper. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve with lemon wedges.

Serves 4 (1 fillet per serving)

WW points per serving: 7

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More fish experiments

So in recent months I’ve come to loathe cooking with chicken. I like eating chicken, but it’s what comes before that I dislike. Trimming off the fat and touching the nasty raw chicken is one of my least favorite things in this world, so I’ve been in search of more recipes that do not call for chicken (and also sweet talking Tyler into prepping the chicken for me when necessary!) After our recent success with salmon I figured it was time to branch out and try other types of fish. I bookmarked this recipe for tilapia a couple of months ago in my Google reader and turned to it tonight. LOVED IT! Best part (besides the delicious flavor) is that this is such a quick and easy meal to prep. Less than 30 minutes from start to finish. I served it with whole wheat couscous which also cooks up extremely fast (I added some toasted pine nuts this time for crunch). I was so anxious to try this recipe out that I didn’t bother cooking the broccoli, I prefer it raw anyway! You’ve gotta try this recipe soon! Big thanks to Foodie Fashionista for introducing me to it!

Tilapia Oreganato (from The Foodie Fashionista)

Ingredients:

non-stick cooking spray
4 (4oz) tilapia filets
salt and pepper to season
2 T fresh squeezed lemon juice, divided (I keep a bottle in the fridge, not fresh, but fast!)
imitation butter spray (didn’t have any so I melted 1 T of butter)
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 T plain breadcrumbs
2 T olive oil
2 t dried oregano
1/2 t garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees, line a baking sheet with foil and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Place tilapia fillets on foil covered sheet and season with salt and pepper. Reserve 1 Tbsp of lemon juice and drizzle the other tablespoon over the fillets. Give each fillet one spray of butter (I just brushed some melted butter on and set aside.

In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs, remaining lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, garlic powder, and 5 sprays of butter. Mix until well blended. Spoon a quarter of the mixture onto each fillet, covering the top surface completely and evenly. Give each a light spray of cooking spray. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until fish flakes with a fork and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Yields 4 servings.

WW Points per serving = 4.5

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Another Salmon Success

After our first successful salmon dinner a couple of weeks ago I was eager to try it again. I saw pecan crusted salmon over on Julie’s blog and it inspired our meal. I had just enough leftover pecans from our trip to Texarkana for our dinner. I knew I wanted a tasty marinade for the salmon so I googled a bit and found the recipe we used for our meal. It was excellent! We used fresh salmon filets we got at HyVee on Saturday and I think they tasted much better than the frozen ones we bought before. It was a very excellent and classy Monday night dinner Served with baked potatoes and sauted green beans. Tyler once again did all the salmon work while I made the sides. So props to my co-chef Dinner usually comes together much quicker when we work as a team!

Pecan-Crusted Salmon with Honey Mustard Glaze (original recipe from betterrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
2 salmon fillets
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. dijon mustard
1/8 c. olive oil, or as needed to thin glaze
1 T lemon juice
1 1/2 cup shelled pecans, finely ground
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
In small bowl combine honey, mustard, oil, lemon juice for glaze using just enough oil to keep glaze from getting too thick. Coat salmon lightly with glaze, then cover with ground pecans. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake salmon on a baking sheet lined with foil for 12-15 minutes or until salmon flakes. Serve at once, top with more glaze if so desired.

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A Household First

Well last night we did something crazy.  We ate fish in our own house.  That’s never happened before.  We eat seafood when Tyler’s dad makes it, or sometimes if we’re feeling wild and crazy at a nice restaurant (had some great fish in Maine last summer!), but we’d never purchased or cooked seafood ourselves.  I knew I wanted to tackle salmon first.  I’m mildly allergic to some fish (though that doesn’t always stop me from eating it) but have never had a bad reaction to salmon.  I found a recipe in my new Cooking Light cookbook (can you tell I love this cookbook yet?!) and picked up some salmon filets at the grocery store and away we go!  Tyler actually did all the work, I just supervised and then ate it   I’m glad we’ve given seafood a try, I think we’ll be trying seafood recipes more often now that I’m not so intimidated!

Citrus Roasted Salmon (from Cooking Light)

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 (6-ounce) can thawed orange juice concentrate
4 (6-ounce) salmon fillets, skinned (1 inch thick)
 Cooking spray
 Orange wedges (optional)
 Flat-leaf parsley sprigs (optional)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Combine first 9 ingredients in a bowl; brush both sides of fish with the orange mixture. Reserve remaining orange mixture. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Place remaining orange mixture in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 2 minutes). Serve with fish, and garnish with orange wedges and parsley, if desired.

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