Running Mama Cooks

Zach suggested that we have a bruschetta tilapia for dinner tonight so I did some searching around for ideas. I came across The Mad Chemist and her version of this dish. I decided to use that as my inspiration. At Wegmans, I found roasted red pepper bruschetta and used that because it sounded so delish! And it saved me the trouble of making bruschetta from scratch.

Bruschetta Pesto Tilapia
Adapted from The Mad Chemist
Serves 2, 11 WW points plus per serving

Ingredients:

4 Tilapia filets
4 tbs pesto
4 tbs roasted red pepper bruschetta (Wegmans brand)
1/2 cup asiago cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350

Pat tilapia filets dry and place on a baking dish. Top each filet with 1 tbs pesto and 1 tbs roasted red pepper bruschetta. Sprinkle with asiago cheese.

Bake for 5 minutes. Switch oven to broil and cook for 3 minutes more or until cheese is browned.

ZACH'S RATING - *** 1/2

Operation "eat more fish" is going well! I am happy that this recipe was such a success and I can add it to my repertoire. The topping on this was so tasty and the mahi mahi was cooked perfectly.

Sun dried Tomato and Parmesan Crusted Mahi Mahi
A Running Mama Cooks Original Recipe

Ingredients:

2 mahi mahi filets
1 lemon
1 clove garlic, whole
1 tbs dried basil
Drizzle olive oil
Splash dry white wine
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Pinch red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450.

Place mahi mahi filets in a medium sized backing dish and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the zest of one lemon. Drizzle with olive oil, juice of the lemon and a splash of white wine. Cover loosely with foil.

In a Cuisinart, combine Parmesan cheese, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, red pepper flakes, 1 garlic clove and 1 tbs dried basil. Set aside.

Bake for 20 minutes. Bring oven to broil. Place sun dried tomato and Parmesan topping on fish and broil with oven door open until brown and bubbly, approx 3 minutes.

Roasted Zucchini
A Running Mama Cooks Original Recipe

3 zucchini
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
salt and pepper

Slice zucchini length wise and cut into half moon pieces. Toss with salt and pepper, garlic, and 1/2 tsp basil. Place in a baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes.

ZACH'S RATING - ****

My Mom came over this afternoon and I made us a light early dinner. I knew this would be right up her alley and I have been meaning to experiment more with cooking fish. This ended up being a big winner!

Lemon Mahi Mahi with Garlic and Thyme
A Running Mama Original Recipe

Ingredients:

2 mahi mahi filets
2 lemons, one sliced, the for juice and zest
1 tbs lemon zest
2 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed
5-6 fresh thyme sprigs
salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450

place lemon slices in a small baking dish, covering the bottom. Add thyme sprigs on top. Season filets with salt and pepper and place on top

Drizzle filets with olive oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Scatter garlic cloves on top. Cover loosely with foil and bake for 20 minutes, until fish is opaque and flaky.

Serve fish on a bed of garlic spinach (see below)

Ready for the oven:

Whenever we have company for dinner, I love serving something special. I feel like this meal fit the bill. I made my parmesan crusted tilapia but added a little twist. It came out great and I think it took an already tasty fish dish to another level.

The instructions are exactly the same as the link above, but the topping was a bit different. I put a handful of fresh basil, 5 sundried tomatoes, and 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts in the food processor and pulsed until finely chopped. Then I added a cup of parmesan cheese and 2 tbs of dried basil and pulsed to combine. This made enough topping for 9 tilapia filets. The flavor was amazing!!


My main side dish was Pioneer Woman's Sundried Tomato Risotto. Wow! Definitely make this if you love risotto. It was awesome

Sundried Tomato Risotto
from The Pioneer Woman

Ingredients

4 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
½ whole Large Yellow Onion, Diced
3 cloves Garlic, Minced
2 cups Arborio Rice, Uncooked
8 whole Sundried Tomatoes Packed In Oil, Drained And Minced
1 cup Dry White Wine (optional)
7 cups Low Sodium Chicken Broth (I used low sodium vegetable broth)
Salt As Needed
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 cup Parmesan, Freshly Grated
¼ cups Heavy Whipping Cream
Fresh Basil, Chiffonade (I used dried basil)


Preparation Instructions

Heat broth (note: it’s important the broth be low sodium) in a saucepan or in a microwave safe pitcher. Set aside.

Heat butter and olive oil in a large pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.

Add dry rice. Stir to coat and cook for 3 minutes, stirring gently.

Pour in wine. Stir and cook over medium-low heat until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add in minced sundried tomatoes and stir.

Then begin adding broth, one cup at a time, stirring gently while the rice absorbs the liquid each time. Repeat this until the rice is done—it usually takes between 6 and 8 cups of broth. The rice should have a slight bite to it, but not be crunchy at all.

Remove from heat, then stir in Parmesan and heavy cream. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

I originally thought I was going to skip the heavy cream at the end, but decided what the heck, since it was a special dinner. I'm glad I went for it. And I'm really happy to have some leftovers today. Is 9am too early for risotto?

I also served roasted asparagus (425 for 15 mins with olive oil and salt) and a simple Caesar salad.

Big Thanks to Lynsey and John for coming to dinner!

Believe it or not, this dish is my 3.5 year old's favorite. She LOVES tilapia! Since it was just me an Cecily for dinner tonight, I decided to make it since its quick and easy. I am not sure where I originally got the recipe, but I've simplified it over time and it has become one of my "go to" dinners.

I keep a frozen club pack of tilapia in the freezer at all times. They are individually wrapped so I can take out as many as I need. They defrost so fast which is also a plus.

Heat the oven to broil. Mix roughly 2 tbs of dried basil with 1/3 cup grated Parmesan. This is for 3-4 filets.