Mexican Tilapia and Quinoa (and other foods you can't pronounce)

Howdy all again,

Well if you haven't heard of Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wa), you are not the first. It is considered an "ancient grain" and is just really starting to make its way into the market again. You can find dry in bags in the dried bean and rice section of your grocery store. It is VERY high in fiber (8gs per serving) so it is great in your mission to get between 30-40 gs. of fiber a day to help keep you regular.

Tilapia is a white fish, hopefully you have heard of that.

Personally I'm not a fish fan at all, unless it came deep fried from Long Johns Silvers, but ever since I've began eating healthier, my taste buds have changed. Fish, not so scary to me anymore.

This recipe can be changed to fit your desired local, and like ALL the recipes in this blog, its more of a guide to help get you started and enjoy healthy eating and actually get full while doing it! You could try the same thing a pasta sauce or Asian spices. I LOVE to experiment!

Ok, here we go: What you need:

3-4 Tilapia fillets (unfrozen)
1-2 tbls of your favorite salsa
1 cup Quinoa
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup water
2 cups sliced mushrooms
2 tbls Olive Oil
2 tbls minced garlic
1 cup frozen (or fresh) edamame
2 cups cherry tomatoes (sliced in half)
2 tbls taco seasoning
a few dashes of "herby" seasoning to taste. (pick it up at Whole Foods)


Fish:
First get the oven preheated to 425 degrees and get a cookie sheet out.
Drizzle just a little olive oil on the sheet where you will lay 3-4 unfrozen tilapias on.
Spoon on your favorite salsa and place in the over. Set timer for 15min.

Quinoa:
It cooks kinda like rise, 2 parts water to 1 part grains.
In a pot, combine 1 cup chicken broth, 1 cup water and 1 cup quinoa.
Bring to a boil and stir often. The quinoa will puff up and absorb all the fuild in about 5 minutes. Turn down to simmer then.

Veggies:
In the skillet with about a tbs of Olive Oil (or EVOO as my TV wife says) add about 2 cups sliced mushrooms and 1 heaping tbls of minced garlic. Saute until the mushrooms shrink and are tender. Add about 1 cup frozen edamame and stir until all are cooked. Around this time, your fish should be getting close to being done.

Add the quinoa to the veggies and mix well and simmer. Sprinkle with you favorite taco seasoning and be pretty generous with Herby (if you like it). Add 3 tbls of chicken broth to dissolved the taco seasoning. The quinoa at this point should be about twice its normal size and have a little "tail" coming out of each piece.

Check the fish, they should be done and be flaky with a fork. Pull them out of the oven. At this point, add your 2 cups of sliced cherry tomatoes to the quinoa/veggie mix and stir well. Pull it off the heat, you do NOT want to get the tomatoes too hot cause they'll taste weird (and loose all their enzyme power)

Scoop out the veggie/quinoa and top with a piece of the fish and POOF! A wonderful filling meal that is has all protein of the edamame, tons of fiber with the quinoa and the omega 3's and 6's from the fish!

Enjoy!