Matt and I had the most delicious dinner last night: Almond Encrusted Tilapia with Black Bean Olive Salsa!
I wish I had some better pictures because it was seriously the best thing I’ve eaten in ages, but alas it was dark outside and indoor lighting is not my friend for photography. Oh, well. Guess I’ll just have to make it again! 😉
This dinner was particularly exciting because I have a confession: I have been SUPER lazy about cooking dinner lately. And by lately I mean the past few months. At first I think it was just the heat of summer meaning I didn’t want to turn on the stove (plus I had a ton of leftovers usually from cooking all day at my dietetic internship), but now that the weather has gotten cooler I think it’s just become habit (combined with the fact that I’ve been really busy with school work). I mean, scrambled eggs, salads, and sandwiches for dinner are all well and good, but not every night of the week.
I decided yesterday that it was time to man up and stop being lazy. I don’t have to cook something extravagant every night of the week, especially when Matt’s not around (cooking for one is just not as fun as for two), but it’s time to remind myself that cooking can be fun and a nice stress relief, too! I especially love cooking with music on. 🙂
Matt was arriving back from DC around 7:30 last night, so I told him to get pumped because a delicious dinner would be awaiting him.
I decided to make one of my absolute favorites — Almond Encrusted Tilapia (click to see the recipe). I followed the recipe exactly, except that I didn’t use the optional butter (we’re out and it’s just as good with only olive oil).
At restaurants, I always love when fish is paired with some sort of creative salsa, so I decided to make something along those lines to go with the tilapia.
To make the salsa, I mixed together:
- Half a can of drained pitted ripe olives, chopped
- About 1/4 a jar of salsa (that’s the salsa we made and canned ourselves this summer!)
- Half a can of black beans, drained/rinsed (in the baggie — leftovers!)
It was seriously AMAZING on top of the fish. I loved the mix of the salsa with the crunchy toasted slivered almonds. Major yum.
We also had some broccoli on the side for good measure. 🙂 Please make this dinner. You won’t regret it! And if you’re not a seafood fan — I bet this salsa would be really good on top of a similarly prepared almond encrusted chicken breast or even tofu!
Has anyone else been lazy about cooking lately? We can motivate each other to get back on the cooking bandwagon! I’m thinking the cooler weather will really help — I’m excited to start making soups and chili again!
