Tomato Garlic Baked Tilapia

We tried out a new recipe tonight. I loved it, and while it wasn't a huge hit with the entire family, I had enough of a success to make it again. Everyone in my family has very different food personalities. Hubby is very "meat &  potatoes," which makes it hard for me sometimes since I like to add in lots of veggies and fruit. He hates seafood unless it is sushi or unless he is "within a stone's throw of the ocean." I love fish and would love to have it more often.

Sassy loves her carbs, potatoes are the only veggie she will eat and not complain, and she only eats some chicken and salisbury steak. Diva hates most meat unless it is chicken tenders, but loves veggies and will eat her weight in salad. Monkey is my garbage disposal and will literally eat anything I put in front of him.

So, needless to say, trying to find new recipes are difficult in our house. I usually try to compromise and include at least 1 thing that each person will eat, but that usually ends up with us eating the same things over and over.

With Sassy's issues with focusing and staying on task, I have been wanting to introduce more fish into our diet so that she is getting natural Omega fatty acids in her diet. I figured that tilapia was a good start because it is not as "fishy" as others.

Several months ago, I was with a friend in Pittsburgh and we went to Giant Eagle Market District. They always have great samples spread throughout the store featuring different products. One of the featured products was Davide pasta sauce. They had 2 recipes to sample, one with chicken and one with tilapia. The tilapia was DELICIOUS. The guy at that station said that it was extremely easy to make, gave me the general recipe, and I bought a jar of the sauce he used.

The nice thing about the Davide sauce is that it is really as basic and "natural" as you can get. This is the ingredient list:

1. Hand-selected tomatoes
2. Water
3. Pure Olive Oil
4. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
5. Fresh carrots
6. Fresh celery
7. Fresh onions
8. Fresh Basil
9. Roasted Garlic
10. Parsley
11. Salt & spices

Yep. That's it. No added sugars. No cholesterol. No preservatives. No citric acid. Our normal jarred sauce we use has 550mg sodium, Davide's has 220mg sodium. Davide's does have 100 calories instead of the 80 calories per serving for our normal jarred sauce, but those extra 20 calories are WORTH it for a better product free of all the "bad" stuff.

I finally got to make it tonight! Super easy recipe, too! I bought fresh tilapia from my grocery store (although I'm sure you could use frozen if you wanted) and used the Garlic sauce. I put a layer of tilapia fillets in a baking dish and topped with Davide's Garlic sauce, then added the last of the fillets and poured the rest of the sauce over it to cover it completely. I baked at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes until the fish was flaky.

Yep. That's the entire recipe. Easy, huh?

I knew that there was a very good chance that Jay and the girls would not eat it, so the rest of the meal was spaghetti (to use the pasta sauce without the fish), steamed veggies, garlic bread, and sliced peaches. Hubby did not eat the fish. Sassy tried it and was not a fan, but did eat a few small bites. She also did not like the veggies, but ate a lot of peaches and pasta. Diva loved the fish and veggies, plus ate the pasta, but did not eat the peaches. Monkey ate everything in sight, per usual.

Even though it was not an unanimous vote, at least I know that Diva loved the tilapia that way and Sassy was willing to eat a small serving. Hopefully she will develop a taste for it if I keep offering it.

I'm trying to get better with portion control, but I was REALLY hungry tonight. I decided to fix my plate with a serving of spaghetti topped with the tilapia and sauce. Here is my dinner, minus the peaches I had later for dessert.

Not too bad and the entire meal only took 35 mins. I prepped the fish in 5 minutes, then fixed everything else while the fish was in the oven. Easy, nutritious, and delicious. Everything a dinner should be.