Sometimes, when I sit down to write up a recipe post, I can’t find anything to say.  This is one of those times.

Because, really, the beauty of this sandwich is that it’s so simple.

Grilled fish that cooks up quick on a George Foreman or other indoor grill.

Cajun seasoning  kicks the flavor up a notch or three.

Homemade tartar sauce that is just mayo with a little sweet relish stirred in.

Put it on a bun, serve it with fries and carrot sticks or salad.  It’s a little out of the ordinary, but casual and easy enough for a weeknight supper.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

The fish is in a bowl of water to thaw.  It takes about 15-20 minutes to thaw like this.

I thought the sandwiches would be great with lettuce, tomato and red onion.  Sadly, I didn’t have any of those.

How often do you eat fish?

This is one of those dinners that tastes special, like you’ve gone to extra trouble.

Good news!  This dish is quick to fix.  I had it finished in about 30 minutes and that included time to line up ingredients, take photos and jot down my recipe.  Not bad.

I did start with another recipe as inspiration.  I wasn’t sure what should go into the Pineapple Salsa, so I searched Tasty Kitchen and came up with a recipe for Tropical Chicken and Coconut Rice Bowl.  It’s from Katie at The College Culinarian.

I wanted fish instead of chicken, so I turned the marinade into a sauce for the tilapia.  And I tweaked her salsa recipe a bit too.  The result was delicious!

Here’s what you’ll need: 

Tropical Tilapia with Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

For the coconut rice

• 1 can Coconut milk
• Water to bring liquid to 3 cups
• 2 cups White rice

For the salsa

• 8 oz. Pineapple tidbits, lightly drained
• 1 Tbs. Red onion, minced
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup Red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 jalepeno pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 tsp. Cilantro, minced
• Salt, to taste

For the fish

• 6-8 Tilapia fillets
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tbs. Brown sugar
• 2 Tbs. Soy sauce
• 3 Tbs. Lime juice
• pinch dried Ginger

Instructions
For the coconut rice

Pour the coconut milk in a measuring cup.  Add water to bring the level to 3 cups.  Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add the rice, turn the heat to low and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 15-20  minutes.

For the salsa

Combine all the ingredients for the salsa in a small bowl.  Set aside while you fix the fish.  This can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge, if you like.

For the fish

Stir the brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger and lime juice together in a small bowl.

Salt and pepper the tilapia fillets.  Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and the crushed garlic.  Place the tilapia in the skillet (work in batches, if necessary).  Cook a few minutes, then flip.  Cook another couple of minutes.

Pour the sauce over the fish in the skillet.  Cook for 2-3 more minutes, until the sauce is reduced a bit and the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serve fish on bed of Coconut Rice, topped with Pineapple Salsa.

This is not your typical tuna salad.  There’s no mayo.

Instead, the tuna is served over avocado slices and topped with tomatoes, cilantro and a simple vinaigrette dressing.  The flavors are out of this world.  For complete happiness, serve it with good, crusty bread.

Oh yeah, you don’t need to turn the oven on for this dinner either.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

This is more method than recipe. Trust your taste as you fix it.

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
• small handful fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 cup diced red onion (not in photo)
• drizzle olive oil
• several splashes white wine vinegar
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 can white albacore tuna, drained

Stir together the tomatoes, cilantro, onion, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Place half the avocado slices on each of 2 plates, arranging in a circle.  Put half of the tuna in the middle of the avocado.  Top with half the tomato salad.

Makes 2 servings.

*tip* If you’re only making one serving, leave the skin and pit in tact on the extra half of avocado, pop in a baggie and store in the fridge.  This will keep it from turning brown too quickly.  It should last at least until the next day and possibly another day.

Salmon patties are healthy, inexpensive and a quick dinner to make.  I like to serve them with mac & cheese that’s kind of runny so I can dip the salmon patties in the cheese sauce. You all know my love for cheese, so this is probably no surprise.  My kids like to have ketchup with their salmon patties.

This recipe is adapted from Whole Foods for the Whole Family.  Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 can salmon
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 Tbs. lemon juice
• oil for browning

Pour the salmon into a mixing bowl, along with the liquid in the can.  Use a fork or pastry blender to mash the salmon and bones.  Stir in all the other ingredients.  If the mixture seems to wet, work in a bit more flour.  Shape into 8 patties.  Fry in oil in a skillet over medium heat, about 7-8 minutes on each side.

Serves 6-8 people.

On a side note – do you consider a meal of fish to be meatless?

Oh my goodness!  Please go to your kitchens and make this for dinner tonight.  It is soooo delicious.  And it’s easy.  (If I had a nickel for every time I said that a recipe is easy, I would be rich.  Or, at least I’d have an extra 30 cents a week.)

The tilapia is seasoned and cooked in garlic butter with a splash of lime juice.  Divine!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 3 Tbs. butter
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 Tilapia fillets
• Old Bay Seasoning
• 1/4 cup lime juice

Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute or two.

Season the fish with Old Bay Seasoning on both sides of each fillet.  Add to the skillet.  Cook for several minutes.  Flip and cook the other side for a couple minutes.  Pour the lime juice into the skillet.  Cover and cook the last few minutes until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Serves 4-5 people, depending on how much they eat.  We had enough for 5 of us, but we all would have eaten more because it was so good.  Next time I’ll double the recipe.

I’ve done tilapia in a foil packet before, but this time I wanted to use the grill and more veggies.  Instead of making individual packets, I made a large one.  The fish and vegetables cooked perfectly in just 15-20 minutes.  Even though the foil was charred around the edges, the food didn’t burn at all.

Here’s what you’ll need, but feel free to substitute any vegetables and seasonings you like.

• 6 tilapia fillets, thawed (I used one bag of frozen fillets)
• 3 leeks, sliced thin
• 1 yellow squash, sliced in thin half moons
• 1 zucchini, sliced in thin half moons
• 3 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin
• 1-2 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning or to taste
• non-stick cooking spray (not in photo)

You’ll need heavy duty foil for this dish.  If you don’t have that, try doubling regular foil.  Spread a large piece of foil on the counter (about 15 inches long).  Spray with cooking spray.

Place the tilapia in a single layer on the foil.  Lightly sprinkle with lemon pepper. Cover with the veggies and sprinkle more lemon pepper using as much or as little as you like.

Rip off another piece of foil, about this same size as the first and cover the fish and vegetables.  Fold all of the sides of the foil together so you end up with a loose packet.  Slide the packet onto a cookie sheet or cutting board to transfer it to the grill.  Cook over low to medium heat for 15-20 minutes.

I made this on our old grill, which was not reliable at all, so I’m not exact on the best temperature to use.  That grill had hot spots and cool spots and burned things, even on low.  We just got a new grill though and it cooks much better.  In future recipes I’ll be able to give better grilling instructions.

Here are some photos of the assembly process for the packet:

I have the best neighbors.  I asked my boys what they wanted for dinner the other day, and they both requested Fish Tacos.  The Chipotle Dressing calls for cilantro.  I have some growing in the garden, but there wasn’t much.  I took it in the house, determined to make it work and then the phone rang.  It was my neighbor asking if I needed cilantro.  She had a bunch that she wouldn’t be able to use up and offered it to me, not realizing that I needed some at that exact moment!  It’s such a blessing to have neighbors like that!

Back to the tacos – I had 1 bag of Tilapia fillets in the freezer and also a bag of shrimp, so I decided to make both kinds.  I seasoned the shrimp with plenty of Old Bay Seasoning and sizzled them in a hot, iron skillet.  This time I only had romaine lettuce, instead of the slaw mix or cabbage, but it made a good substitution.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 lb. medium raw shrimp, deveined with tails removed
• Old Bay Seasoning
• 2-3 Tbs. of oil for frying
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Tbs. lime juice
• several teaspoons of adobe sauce from chipotle peppers
• palmful of chopped fresh cilantro
• chopped romaine lettuce, cabbage or slaw mix
• corn or flour tortillas

Thaw the shrimp, if it’s frozen and drain it.  Generously sprinkle with Old Bay Seasoning.  Heat a skillet over medium-high heat and put a couple tablespoons of oil in it.  Add the shrimp, but don’t stir.  Let the shrimp get very browned on one side before flipping.  Remove from the skillet when cooked.

For the sauce, stir the sour cream, cilantro, adobe sauce and lime juice together.  I just used a spoon to dip out the sauce from the can.  I used about 3 spoonfuls.  The adobe sauce is spicy, so add according to how much heat your family likes.  I froze the rest of the sauce and peppers for another dish.

Warm the tortillas and assemble the tacos.  This recipe will feed 3-4 people.  I fixed it, along with Fish Tacos and had enough for 5 people, plus some leftovers.

Note: The chipotle peppers in adobo sauce can be frozen and used for another time.

Dinner time was creeping up on me and I had no plan.  Only four of us would be home on that night.  Usually, when Jim is gone we have pancakes but that didn’t sound good.  I wanted something fast and easy, but different.  Inspiration came from one bag of salmon fillets in the freezer, which isn’t enough for 6 of us, but perfect for 4.  When I spied the bottle of sesame seed oil in the pantry, I knew I was on to something good.

I decided to grill the salmon in foil packets with a simple, flavorful sauce made with soy sauce and sesame seed oil.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4-8 salmon fillets, thawed (I used 4, but use more if you’re feeding more people. You won’t need to double the sauce, as there will be plenty.)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
• 1/2 tsp. sesame seed oil
• 2 green onions, sliced
• fresh ground pepper, to taste

Place each salmon fillet in a piece of foil that is large enough to fold into a packet.

Stir the soy sauce and other ingredients together.  Spoon a couple tablespoons of sauce over each fillet.  There will be extra sauce, which is tasty over white rice.

Grill the packets on an outdoor grill for 10-15 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.  You could also bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

I love a dinner that is so easy and speedy to make, but is so full of flavor.  And there’s something about eating salmon that just feels healthy to me.

It’s only been very recently that I’ve tasted fish tacos.  I’ve ordered them in two different restaurants, but I really wanted to try making them at home.  My first search for recipes called for expensive types of fish, like swordfish.  I kept looking though, and found a few recipes that use tilapia.  I combined the ideas of several recipes to create these and the result is easy and tasty.

Even the kids liked them.  At first they were skeptical, but I explained that fish tacos are different from regular tacos.  It’s not like you just substitute fish for the hamburger.  Low and behold, they tried them and they liked them too!

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 4-6  Tilapia fillets, thawed
• Old Bay seasoning
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 Tbs. lime juice
• several teaspoons of adobe sauce from chipotle peppers
• palmful of chopped fresh cilantro
• slaw mix
• corn tortillas
• cheddar cheese, shredded – if desired

Sprinkle the fish with Old Bay seasoning.  I used a George Foreman grill to cook the fish.  You could cook it in the oven or a skillet though.  In the oven, it will take about 20 minutes.  The fish will cook in less time in a skillet.  It’s done when it flakes easily with a fork.

For the sauce, stir the sour cream, cilantro, adobe sauce and lime juice together.  I just used a spoon to dip out the sauce from the can.  I used about 3 spoonfuls.  The adobe sauce is spicy, so add according to how much heat your family likes.  I froze the rest of the sauce and peppers for another dish.

Cut the fish into pieces.  Assemble the tacos by layering the fish, slaw and sauce on warmed corn tortillas.  You can also add cheddar cheese, tomatoes or avocado if you like.  I used 4 fillets and that was just enough for 5 of us, but one child only ate one taco.  All the rest of us had more.  Also, we had just enough sauce to go around.  If you’re serving more people, you’ll probably want to make more sauce.

I know there are a lot of ways to make fish tacos.  If you like to make them, how do you do it?

Fish is such a fast and super easy thing to fix.  Often, when I fix tilapia I grill it on the George Foreman grill, but this time I decided to bake it.   Three ingredients and about 20 minutes later I had dinner on the table.

Here’s what you’ll need: