I love Fridays for SOOOOO many reasons, but one of my TOP ones lately is the Healthy Food Friday link up over at Mamavation. I love seeing the amazing recipes and it’s proof that you don’t have to sacrifice taste and flavor for healthier eating.
A bit of a warning – if you aren’t already, you will be hungry after seeing some of the amazing recipes offered by Miacupcake, InspiredRD and NoTimeMom. Not to mention the other recipes linked up by the community.
So Today for Healthy Food Friday, I’m totally cheating. but something happened last night that SHOCKED ME. It was one of those Ah-Ha moments that slap you upside the head because it is so simple I can’t believe that I never thought about it. When I mentioned it on Twitter, it became clear that I was not the only one who hadn’t thought of it so I’m sharing it now.
Thursday nights tend to be a bit busy at my house and it used to be that I would grab “dinner on the go” because it was just easier. But since adopting healthier ways to fuel my family, I’m always looking for quick, easy, healthy meals so that the bulk of my night isn’t spent in the kitchen…and there’s some nights I just do not want a Crock-pot meal. So on my latest shopping adventure at my local HEB, I saw these beautiful looking Parmesan Crusted Tilapia filets in the seafood window and thought – perfect – fish and veggies.
I of course keep frozen veggies stock piled for convenience and pulled a bag of Frozen Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrot mix and prepared to throw them in the microwave.
I love veggies and luckily so do my boys but nuke-ing them often means mushy, tasteless veggies…so I had an epiphany – grabbed a glass pyrex baking dish and threw them in the oven right next to the fish – Seperate baking dishes – and sprinkled with a little garlic salt. Nothing else – no oil, no butter, no nothing.
And in the 25-30 minutes it took the fish to cook, the veggies also were done – talk about quick dinner. The best part? The veggies were so rich in flavor you would have thought I roasted them from fresh! SO worth an extra pan to clean.
If the Parmesan Crusted Tilapia piques your interest, here’s a recipe from Food.com that I’ve grown to adore:
| Parmesan Crusted Tilapia |
- 3 -4 tilapia fillets , depending on size
- 1/4 cup breadcrumbs or 1/4 cup crushed Ritz cracker
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tablespoon italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- salt
- pepper
- garlic powder
- olive oil
- Thaw and wash tilapia fillets if frozen. Pat dry on paper towels.
- Combine crumbs, parmesan, italian seasoning and garlic powder on a plate, mixing well.
- On a different plate, pour 1 tbsp lemon juice.
- Working 1 at a time, place a fillet on the plate in the lemon juice, sprinkle with desired amount of kosher salt (be careful about how much salt is in your parmesan, crumbs, and other seasonings), black pepper, and garlic powder. Turn the fillet over in the lemon juice and sprinkle seasoning on the other side.
- Dredge fillet in the parmesan mixture patting it all over to coat.
- Place in an oiled baking dish, repeat with remaining fillets.
- Sprinkle a little lemon juice over fillets and drizzle or spray them lightly with olive oil.
- Sprinkle an extra bit of Parmesan cheese on top of the fillets before baking for an extra hit of cheesy goodness
- Bake at 350ºF for about 20-30 minutes depending on thickness. You will know they are done when they easily flake with a fork and edges are browning
Enjoy! And don’t forget to check out the mouthwatering recipes over at Mamavation!
I’m putting this one on the dinner menu this week! Thanks for sharing.