2 point Tilapia!

SO! I’m trying to trim down a little... okay AND im trying to eat something other than creamy cream with a side of mayo – eating healthy for me, is SO PAINFUL! In case you couldn’t tell from my previous recipes hah. But my sister and man have both expressed how scared they are that im going to drop dead from clogged arteries enough that now im trying… I started Weight Watchers, which I highly recommend because it’s structured and rational and something to follow that motivates me to snack healthier instead of having a family-size bag of chip. Tilapia is 2 points per fillet. (that’s why the name of this entry is 2pt tilapia.. fyi) So this is me, trying to be healthy..

Step one: trying to like fish. Every time my tiny gorgeous little sister and I go out to eat, I get fried something and steak, and she gets a house salad and the fish entrée. I 100% need to work on that. SO here I am, trying to like fish. I found out that there are different types of fish (duh) and they each taste .. get this.. different! (duh?) I dunno.. I assumed all fish taste like fish. Then I heard that tilapia and halibut DON’T taste like fish. So I started there. - Im still afraid of raw meat of any kind.. so for fish ive started with frozen fish at publix. They are each frozen in their own plastic casing, so you defrost them. To defrost, I put the fillets in a bowl of tap water for like 20 minutes. Because the fillets are so thin, they defrost really fast (again, I realize for people who cook all the time, these are stupid obvious facts. But a mere year ago, I would read recipes that just said “defrost meat” and I would think ‘how? Where? How long is this supposed to take? Im gonna poison us..’ so AGAIN, this blog is for the NEW cooks. If you're seasoned and know everything already just read the bold ingredients below and skip all this crap lol)

So, I defrost the fish. Then you cut the little package open, rinse it and lay it on a baking sheet. Eventually im gonna broil the fish (broil is a setting on the oven btw.. I never knew that either. I thought it was like BOILING.. because .. mostly because they sound the same :/ im ridiculous) I think you need a specific pan for “broiling”something, but I just use my baking sheet. (if that’s terrible, someone let me know!) anyway then I season them and broil them. This fish, I’ve learned, takes on the flavor of anything you put on it. So its actually awesome. (oh unless you fry it, then it tastes like fish)

Stuff you will need:

For the Sauce: (this is PER fillet. So if you're making 2, you double this. 3 and you triple this lol you get it)

1 HEAPING tbsp non-fat Greek Yogurt (you can also do 1 tbsp (not heaping) yogurt, and then 1 tsp low fat or non-fat mayo.. the mayo changes the consistency of the sauce and obv the taste, but not really. You CAN do without it. I’ve made it both ways, and theyre REALLY similar)

1 lemon (you need half the juice for the sauce, and half for the actual fillet)

1 tbsp Cajun spices (if you look at my Cajun-cream pasta recipe, it has the Cajun spice mix there. But im putting it here too because let’s be honest, who has time to search for things: 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 ½ tsp paprika, ½ tsp cayenne, ½ tsp black pepper, ½ garlic powder. You can also make it in bigger quantities and use it on other stuff later- and I lessened the cayenne in this because it can get too intense w the fish)

For the Fish:

1 Fillet Tilapia (lol guess that’s obvious)

1 tsp EVOO (Extra virgin olive oil)

1 tsp Garlic salt

1 tsp Onion powder

1 tsp Black pepper

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Preheat: put the oven on Broil LOW (there are apparently two temperatures for broil. High and low. So for now, keep it on low.

Here’s what you do: take a little bowl and mix together your yogurt/mayo the spices and the lemon juice. Mix mix mix until it’s light pinkish and smooth :) and if you want it extra flavorful, throw more Cajun spice in there! Can’t really go wrong!

Put the fillet on the baking sheet and drizzle it with the olive oil. Then squeeze some of the other half of the lemon on it (save the rest of the lemon for the other side). Then sprinkle the fillet with half your garlic salt, onion powder and pepper. Then flip the fish over. On the other side, squeeze the rest of the lemon on it, then sprinkle the rest of your garlic powder and then onion powder and pepper.

THEN, take a spoonful of your sauce and plop it on top of your fillet. And spread it around.. you can spread it on pretty thick. It’s yogurt so it’s thick anyway, but when it’s all over the fish, you should only see yogurt, don’t make it so thin that you can see the fish underneath. I hope this makes sense… make it like ¼ of an inch thick LOL… this is more complicated than it needs to be haha..

Then grate parmesan on top of that sauce. – okay when I started this mess, I was like “FISH with CHEESE!? GROSS!”but its not. Its amazing. trust me. (I derived this recipe from like 5 other tilapia recipes that said to put parmesan on the fillet. I tried those first, all good.)

Take the baking sheet and put it in the oven on the top rack closest to the top of the oven. (I think that’s how the broiler works… I THINK.) so throw it all in there for 7-9 minutes and then put the broiler on HIGH for 2 minutes.

Take out, heat up some broccoli and rice and ENJOY :) also! Its awesome with hot sauce… specifically Cholula. Enjoy and lemme know how it turns out!!

(this pic is the tilapia with black-rice and cauliflower mash. fyi)