Crispy Tilapia and a word of advice

People if you will listen up for just one moment.......I have some advice that is simply life changing and the best you will receive all week.

ahem, attention..is this thing on??

Do NOT cook fish and zucchini on the grill if you are also having serious life changing conversations.

Got it???   I think the pictures will speak for themselves.

Ok, so we are having Crispy Tilapia with Avocado Pico de Gallo, Sweet Potatoes and grilled zucchini

Let's do this....and remember, no serious conversations FOCUS on the FOOD!!

Fish needs:

Soak your tilapia fillets in milk when you get them home from the grocery.  I buy my fish at Central Market and the fish guys are super great and have wonderful cooking ideas to share if you ask.

Once those fillets have soaked, make a mixture of 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal and 1/2 tsp each of chili powder, cumin and salt.  Mix that around really good and coat each side of the fish.  I have 5 large fillets so I had to make up two batches of this mixture.

Now if you are like me and you don't like the smell of fish cooking in your house, grab yourself a big iron skillet and dump about 3 Tbsp of oil into the pan and start preheating that grill.  I personally used grapeseed oil.  Idea from the wonderful fish guys at Central Market.  I would have used olive oil but they mentioned that olive oil does have a flavor, the Grapeseed oil...has zero flavor but still the good healthy stuff of olive oil. Give it a try, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Anyway, it's time to get that fish going on the grill.  As you can see we had some zucchini that needed to be eaten and I sliced the zucchini into thin slices and doused it in olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and then a little bit of thyme.   I know I know...I'm just lovin' this combo with veggies lately.  We've never grilled zucchini so this was a first and I must say..it was very tasty.  Next time however I believe I will slice into long thin strips to help stabilize on the grill a little better.

Cook your fish about 3 minutes each side or until it's white and flaky......or until you run screaming out the back door when you forget that you have fish cooking.

I also cooked up some sweet potatoes like before with the salt, pepper and thyme. We love them this way... as if you couldn't have figured that one out!  I roasted those in the oven.   We need to whip up the pico de gallo now.   Just buy some pico de gallo at the store.  Once again  Central Market forges ahead of the others.  They have fresh pico on their salad bar so I just grabbed me a container and then cubed up 2 avocados to add to the mixture.  This is what you get and believe me...this makes the fish POP!!

Take a look at the plate of veggies...... I promise, you fix them like this and your kiddos will gobble them down!

and this my friends is what happens to your fish when you are having conversations of life changing proportions and you keep forgetting that you have food on the grill.

The taste was great as usual but it wasn't pretty......it's ok, no one seemed to mind.

Here's my dinner plate, which also occurred at a moments notice so it's not pretty either.

The bread was a Rustic Durum Sourdough Bread from Central Market as well and it was soo yummy!!!  Matter of fact, I haven't had breakfast and I'm thinking toast!!   

Don't be afraid to try new foods and even to mess up.  While our dinner wasn't picture pefect, it was good and good for us and we enjoyed it very much and when it's all said and done....isn't that really what it's all about?   

Peace, Love and Yummies my friends!