Tilapia with roasted vegetables

Many nights, I make quick and easy dinners that I know everyone will like. Sure, I mix it up a bit, maybe modifying the seasoning on my roast chicken, or serving chili with rice instead of corn bread, or making mashed potatoes instead of baked with steak. And I have to admit that for the most part, my family greatly appreciates and enjoys what I cook. Then there are nights that I spend an hour or more chopping, braising, and sauteeing, and someone complains, and I feel so under valued.

When Noah was younger, we ate a lot of salmon with pasta and steamed vegetables. Besides chicken, it was his favorite protein, and Greg and I like it too, so I'd try it one night with dijon mustard, another with a pineapple mango salsa, and other nights just with basic seasonings and herbs. Then for a while, he stopped liking it and we fell out of the habit. I'd try trout or tilapia and he and/or his siblings would protest, and so we fell into a rut of chicken, ground beef, pork (usually pulled or ribs), and occasionally a steak.

Fairly recently I started thinking about how nice it is to have a fresh piece of fish in the summer with herbs from the garden, and a light and easy side dish like a bean salad or cole slaw, and resolved to start eating fish more often. Last week when I was at Whole Foods, I picked up a package of tilapia (I think farm raised is what they sell, if that's the "safest" in terms of mercury contamination).

As I started to think about dinner this evening, I contemplated how I could make the fish so that everyone would like it. I knew I wanted it to stay very moist, and to be able to make the vegetables in the same pan. So, I raided the crisper and came up with mushrooms, a green onion and grape tomatoes (so happy that Publix was selling organic tomatoes for only fifty cents more than regular--Ava loves to eat these all day long). In the fridge I found a half eaten jar of artichokes, and green olives. I chopped all of those and placed them on top of the tilapia, then drizzled everything with a little olive oil and sea salt. The meal was delicious and everyone pretty much cleaned their plates. Greg and I are mostly following a low/no carb diet now, so we had the fish alone, but the kids had pasta.

Next up on the menu will be salmon, and I'll probably prepare it the way Noah always used to love it, with a paste of dijon mustard, mayo (I'll use Veganaise), salt, pepper, and some type of herb--maybe parsley. The health benefits for wild Alaskan salmon are so plentiful, that I'd love to get this back into the rotation weekly. Wish me luck!