A to Z Food Challenge: P

I can't believe it's already Friday guys! Seriously these past few days have flown by. I know time flies when you're having fun, but sheesh. I'd appreciate if "time" would slow down a little bit so I could catch a breath for goodness sakes. All well, I guess everyone loves the weekend. I am really excited that Fall is creeping closer and closer....ok it's over a month away, but still. I just want to get the worst of this Summer over and start the Fall festivities. Ok back to what today is all about. Food!!!

This week I decided to implement the one food I'm not necessarily a huge fan of. Fish. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love sushi - mostly crab - but I just can't handle raw or extremely "fishy" tasting fish. It's not something I'm a fan of, but I do my best to include fish into mine and my son's diet weekly. Mostly tuna, but sometimes Cod since it's not overly "fishy" and can easily be made into simple tacos with avocado to mask most of the taste. However this week, I ventured further into the edible ocean world and decided to try the Trader Joe's Panko Breaded Tilapia. 

If you aren't sure what "panko" is, don't worry I didn't either. It's a Japanese version of our traditional bread crumbs and to be quite honest I feel like it's actually better. The amount of crisp I got from each fillet with the panko breading, was absolutely delicious. Almost like a "fried chicken" texture, but with more crumbs. I decided to pair this fish with brown rice - found in the frozen section of Trader Joe's - mostly because I like the added flavor that brown rice gives in general. I also squeezed a little lemon, because that's the only way I can stomach fish at all...besides cooked crab in sushi. 

Now I would like to apologize in advance, because again I lost the receipt. With an extremely hectic day, somehow I misplaced the receipt once again. I paid less than $20 for everything, I just can't be definite on the price for each item. 

First off this is an extremely easy meal to prepare. Simply unwrap the individual Tilapia filet and place them in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes. The rice is easily prepared using the microwave in 3 minutes or by using the stove top in roughly 10 minutes. I personally use the stove top, but that's because I don't own a microwave. Once that's complete, squeeze a little lemon on top and enjoy!

You could use this fish for tacos as well, but personally I don't think I'll be replacing my Cod fish for this Tilapia filet. Don't get me wrong, it's good, but it's not delicious to me. 

My son enjoyed it and easily eats an entire filet, but to my personal taste buds I couldn't handle the slightly more distinct fish flavor. The smell is amazing though. It's flaky, soft, amazingly cooked, and the panko breading is very well dispersed. It's not overwhelming and it's really well prepared. I'm just very picky with my fish.

Even though I'm not a big fish person, I will say I ate the entire thing during dinner. I didn't shiver or shutter, but I absolutely won't buy this again. I do think this is an excellent dinner for families, as it comes with 4 individual packages of Tilapia, just so long as you're ok with a little extra "fishyness". 

With the rice and fish, you could easily feed a family of four! Also, fresh salsa goes amazing on this fish, but then again fresh salsa goes great with almost anything!

I may not be re-purchasing this healthy meal, but I do suggest you try it out for yourself. It's not an overwhelming fish flavor, but it's more than Cod. If you keep that in mind and still desire to taste it, I say absolutely go for it! Heck, make some tacos AND add the salsa! 

Have an amazing weekend guys! Please stay safe and please have fun. Tag me in some photos of your weekend on Instagram! I'd absolutely love to see what everyone is up to. Perhaps I'll even repost them on my page!