Quick and Easy Dinners

If you are like me you don't feel like taking a long time to prepare food after a long day at work and driving home in traffic.  I have two quick, easy, delicious, and healthy meals you can add into your dinner rotation with very little effort.

The first is one of my new favorites, and it goes to show how taste buds change over time.  When I was a kid I think I could smell fish cooking from a mile away, and there wasn't a thing you could do to get me to open my mouth to taste it.  I can still remember the gagging noises, holding my nose, and all other obnoxious behaviors I showed when there was fish for dinner.  At some point during my 20s I started trying fish when I was at the beach, and realized it was pretty tasty.  I was still a little hesitant to start cooking it at home - you know, in case I started gagging from the smell.  Well, it doesn't smell at all, and it is delicious!

Quick and Easy Tilapia
Ingredients:
- 2 tilapia fillets defrosted (We like the frozen tilapia from Trader Joe's)
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- 1 lemon

Steps:
I use the baking directions on the Trader Joe's fish.
- preheat the oven to 425 F
- line a baking sheet with foil
- brush both sides of the fish with olive oil
- sprinkle both sides of the fish with salt and pepper
- bake for 6 minutes
- flip and bake for another 2-3 minutes
- top with lemon juice if desired

We like the fish with green beans, asparagus, or edamame beans (sold in the frozen section at Trader Joe's).  I'm sure there are fancy sauces and things you could add to this, but it really is delicious with just the basics.  Anna loves it too, so your kids might like it.



The second recipe, Black Bean Tostadas, is from A Couple Cooks.  I LOVE black beans, and along with breakfast foods Tex-Mex is my favorite type of food.  This recipe was really easy to make, and it didn't have any weird ingredients. I copied the recipe from their site, and my adaptations are in red. Anna and Bryan both liked it so it will go into the rotation!

Black Bean TostadasAdapted from the Food Channel

Makes 4 tostadas

What You Need1 tablespoon vegetable oil (I used Olive Oil)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons Mexican hot sauce (we like Cholula) (I used about 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha) 

1 teaspoon hot chili powder

2 cups black beans (I used 2 cans of Meijer Organic Black Beans, drained and rinsed)

1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 lime, zested

4 corn tortillas
3 ounces queso fresco (or a mild feta cheese)
Roasted tomato salsa (I used Frontera Red Tomato Salsa Mexicana found at Meijer)

I also added diced avocado.

What To Do

1  Preheat the grill.

2  Mince 2 cloves of garlic. In a sauce pan, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 45 seconds until lightly browned. Add 2 cups of black beans, 1/4 teaspoonkosher salt, 2 teaspoons hot sauce (to taste), and 1 teaspoon chili powder. Heat until the beans are hot and then cover and keep warm.

3  In a bowl, whisk together 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and about 1/2 of the zest of 1 lime.

4  Brush 4 tortillas with a bit of vegetable oil and grill each side for about 3 to 4 minutes, until just blackened.If you're not into grilling the corn tortillas, this would taste great on some all natural tortilla chips as nachos.  

5  Create your tostada! On top of each tortilla place a pile of the black beans, some roasted tomato salsa, a dollop of the cumin sour cream, and some crumbles of queso fresco. Garnish with the extra lime zest and a wedge of lime.

I hope you enjoy these quick, week-night meals as much as we do!  Remember, it's about making small changes so it's a manageable change that you can stick to.