Recipe: Quick and Tasty Tilapia

I've been making this dish for years.  So easy to prep and so delicious, this is a great dish for people to get their feet wet with cooking fish.  Tilapia is so mild and versatile, you can put your favorite flavor or seasoning on it and that's what it will taste like.  Before posting this, I combed the internet to find the original recipe, because I know I did not come up with it.  Here it is, a Paula Deen recipe from Food Network.  See?  Not every recipe from Paula Deen is bad for you.  This one doesn't even have butter in it!  Y'all know I love me some Paula Deen, and I've already answered the haters regarding her diabetes.

This tilapia recipe is simple.  You marinate your fillets in oil (she uses olive oil but since I am allergic to that, I just use canola), orange zest, orange juice, grated fresh ginger, tabasco sauce, salt and pepper for an hour and then grill.  I buy the bags of frozen, individually-wrapped tilapia fillets form Wegmans or Costco and they are pretty thin.  So I only need to cook them 3 minutes a side.  Paula's directions are longer but she uses thicker filets.

Tonight, I used my indoor, electric panini press/grill/griddle.  I got this for Christmas 2010 and used it only once between then and April of this year.  But in the last 2 weeks I have used it 5 times and I love it!  Anywho, since I lowered the top onto the fish, cooking it like it was in a George Foreman grill, it was done in 3 minutes flat; no need to turn over.  I've cooked it on the gas grill before, but not directly on the grate; I line the grate with foil and cook it on that.  No grill marks, but it still absorbs the grill flavor.  I've never made the Mango Coconut Rise she serves it with; just plain rice and a veg.  But I will have to try her rice over the Summer.  Enjoy!

The Artist and Paula Deen

I watched Good Morning America this morning for the first time in months!  I like GMA but I miss Diane and Chris.  Anywho, two stories in particular roused something in me and I had to get my thoughts down before I forgot.

1. The Artist - It's a silent film that won a Golden Globe last weekend.  I repeat, it's a silent film.  Movie theaters are receiving complaints and refund demands from patrons b/c they cannot here the dialogue.  *Blink.  Blink, blink.*  'Nuff said.
2. Paula Deen's announcement that she was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes almost 3 years ago and is just going public now.  And she timed going public with being the new spokesperson for a diabetes drug.  Lots of folks drinking the haterade over this one and I think it's ridiculous.  We all know we can't eat Paula Deen recipes exclusively.  And she has every right to keep her medical issues private.  Just b/c someone is famous does not mean the public has a right to know everything about them.  She said it has taken her all this time to process and accept her diagnosis.  I can totally see that.  Denial is usually the 1st response to bad news.  And who better to be used as an example to other diabetes denialers (I made up another word; I'm good at that.) of "it's never too late to turn things around"?  I mean, if Paula Deen can control her diabetes, everyone with a "little sugar problem" should have hope.  And that's all I have to say about that.