Tilapia Fish Tacos

Today after school, Scott told me that he was craving tacos (this is not news... that boy is always craving tacos).  I reminded him that I was on a diet and I'd rather not be tempted by eating at a Mexican restaurant, where I knew I'd order the wrong thing or overeat.  Besides, we just went grocery shopping and we have tons of food left over.  But he couldn't get the taco bug out of his brain, so I finally convinced him to make tacos at home.  I wasn't going to have any, but I went to the grocery store with him to get tortillas and ground beef, which is where I saw some fresh tilapia on sale.  I'm no dummy... I know that when fish goes on sale, that it's probably not as fresh as it could be, or that it is nearing its expiration date.  But I figured if I used it to make fish tacos today, it would probably be just fine.  And BOY am I glad I made the decision to buy it!

My favorite fish tacos are at Ragtime Cafe, where the fish is well-seasoned and topped with some home-made cole slaw, nothing else.  I didn't have any cole slaw or cabbage at home, but I could improvise.

I seasoned the tipalia filets with a spice blend I made that I thought best replicated their recipe: 1/2 teaspoon of each: cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder and chili powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons of no-salt seasoning, and a pinch of salt.  Then I got a small frying pan searing hot and cooked the filets about 1-2 minutes on each side (it doesn't take long to cook tilapia!).  I warmed up some 6" tortillas and shredded some romaine lettuce, which I tossed with just a smidge of my favorite salad dressing: Ken's Steakhouse Light Sweet Vidalia Onion.  That's all I needed... tortilla, fish, salad, and a squeeze of fresh lime.  They were almost exactly like my favorite tacos from Ragtime, but much cheaper and probably a lot healthier!  They clock in at just about 300 calories for two tacos, which was plenty enough to fill me up, and I was HONGRY.

I have some leftover tilapia, so I will probably make these again for lunch tomorrow... quick and easy!

Tuna Melt Quesadillas

The title of this post alone is enough to make post readers turn away and never come back... but wait!  I promise I have delicious noms in store for you!  In fact, I had to make Scott wait in the other room while I was making these, because I knew that if he found out I was putting tuna in quesadillas, he'd never eat it.  Well, he ate it, and when I asked him to rate his dinner on a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being totally grody and 5 being super awesome good, he gave it a 10.5.  Which is a good thing, since this was such a cheap-o meal, I can make it over and over again.

Let it be known that I do not like tuna melts.  I also don't much like tuna noodle casserole, or any other combination of foods where the tuna is hot and mixed with cheese.  But for some strange reason, I have always loved tuna quesadillas, and I think it might just be because my love for quesadillas trumps my hatred of hot tuna. For this recipe, we will do all we can to hide the flavor of the tuna, and mask its fishiness.

See that tuna quesadilla? Not as good as mine.

I start by mixing one pouch of Starkist hickory flavor tuna (or whatever flavor you like... those things are awesome!) and one can of diced mild green chiles.  Sure, you can dice your own mild green chiles, but for this dish, I like the canned variety because they're nice and soft and I can't be bothered to cook them down from fresh.  For the flavoring, I'll add a dash of sriracha, some leftover meatloaf glaze, and some salt and pepper.

Then I start my quesadillas... some butter in a frying pan on medium-high heat, add a tortilla, add some cheese, add my tuna mix, some more cheese, another tortilla, and done!  Let it sit undisturbed until the cheese on the bottom half is melted, then flip with a wide spatula and cook on the other side until all the cheese is melted and the tortillas are nicely browned.

While the quesadillas were cooking, I mashed up half a ripe avocado with some spicy ranch dressing and a little salt, for a creamy dipping sauce.  Slice the quesadillas up and serve with a simple salad: a wedge of iceberg lettuce drizzled with some more spicy ranch dressing.

One of my favorite foods... behold the Delicious Avocado!

I promise, even if you don't like hot tuna or tuna melts, you will love this dish!  And it's so simple and inexpensive, it's a perfect weeknight meal, and a great meal to make if you're only cooking for one or two people!

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