tilapia tacos with accompaniments 

I like this meal because it’s basically a cutting board filled to the brim of whatever older end-of-the-week veggies you have that you might want to add to a taco. In the Ingredients section, you’ll see that I say “your favorite…” — and I mean it. Use your favorite cheese. Hate peppers? Sub a crunchy green apple. Think tomatoes are the grossest thing ever (ew me, too!)? Double up on peppers or replace with zucchini. This is all about YOU. I’ll say that tilapia isn’t our favorite fish for fish tacos. It’s a little on the fishy side. I’d sub mahi mahi, but the stores were pretty scarce when we did our big shopping trip a week ago, so tilapia it is.

Ingredients:

• 3 tilapia filets
• 1 mango/1 your favorite fruit
• 2 radishes/1-2 your favorite crunchy
• 3 small peppers (we chose red, yellow, and orange)/
• 1 cup lettuce
• 1 cup of your favorite cheese (we always have a Mexican blend handy)
• 1/4 onion (this onion was also used on the burger last night)
• 1/4 tomato (for our family–only Brandon eats it and it was leftover from burger night)
• leftover grilled pineapple (again from burger night)
• 1 package (of 8 tortilla shells)
• 1 lime

The How To: 

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sprinkle paprika, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper on your tilapia filets.
3. Spray some nonstick spray on a broiler pan. Bake the tilapia for about 10 minutes.
4. While the tilapia is cooking, cut your fresh veggies and place on a tray, or whatever is easiest for you to assemble. My mom used to have a bunch of wooden bowls for each ingredient.
5. Throw your shells in the oven to heat them (we made two tacos a person…then Brandon and Trenton each had an extra one).
6. Remove your tilapia from the oven and squeeze the entire lime over it. That’s it!

Other items you can add:

• Roasted zucchini
• Corn
• Salsa
• Chilis or peppers or jalapeños
• Sour cream or greek yogurt
• Rice
• Black beans or refried beans
• Cilantro (ewwwww)
• Any fish would be just fine

So, what’s it cost?

• 3 tilapia filets ($4.99 for 9 frozen filets): $1.66
• 1 mango/1 your favorite fruit: $.79
• 2 radishes/1-2 your favorite crunchy: free from garden
• 3 small peppers (we chose red, yellow, and orange)/ (1 lb bag was $2.49): $.62
• 1 cup lettuce: $.40
• 1 cup of your favorite cheese (we always have a Mexican blend handy): $1.0
• 1/4 onion (this onion was also used on the burger last night): $.24
• 1/4 tomato (for our family–only Brandon eats it and it was leftover from burger night): free from garden
• leftover grilled pineapple (again from burger night): free–cost included in burger night
• 1 package (of 8 tortilla shells): $1.79
• 1 lime: $.20

Total cost $6.70, or $2.23/person