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
March 18, 2008
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
March 4, 2008
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
February 26, 2008
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.
January 29, 2008
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.
January 18, 2008
