Lemon-Pepper Tilapia with Grape Tomato Salsa (Frugal Food Thursday)

Welcome to Frugal Food Thursday!  If you have a great frugal recipe, please link up below! 

A big change happened to my family - and to my cooking - a few weeks ago.

My husband was diagnosed with high blood pressure.  He was told to limit his sodium intake to 2300 mg per day, and to lose some weight.

So he's been eating salads at restaurants instead of fast food.  He's cut out salty snacks.  And I've cut down the amount of salt and prepared products I use in my cooking.

We've also been experimenting with spice mixes to replace salt.  My 7-Spice Seasoning is just as good with a lot less salt in it.  And we were given three jars of Mrs. Dash seasonings by a relative.

I used the lemon-pepper spice mix to bread tilapia fillets - it gave a great taste to the fish!  I also baked them rather than pan-frying them, so as not to add any extra fat. 

Jarred cocktail sauce has a lot of salt, so to go with the fish, I wanted to make a flavorful and healthy sauce.  I looked through my refrigerator and found a container of grape tomatoes I had bought on sale.  I decided to make a grape tomato salsa with them.

I used this idea about roasting grape tomatoes and roasted half of the tomatoes.  I combined them with the other half, added onions and spices, and voila! yummy fresh salsa that complemented the fish very well.

LEMON-PEPPER TILAPIA

non-stick spray
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup bread crumbs
2 tbsp Mrs. Dash Lemon Pepper seasoning blend
4 tilapia fillets

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a 9x13 glass baking dish with non-stick spray.  In a small bowl, mix the bread crumbs and Mrs. Dash.   Place in a row the flour on a plate, the beaten egg in a bowl, and the bread crumb/Mrs. Dash combination on a plate.  Dip each tilapia fillet first in the flour, then the beaten egg, and then the bread crumbs.  Place in the baking dish.  Once all of the tilapia fillets are breaded, bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes.

GRAPE TOMATO SALSA

non-stick spray
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp cilantro
1/2 tsp pepper
3 tbsp white vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick spray.  Cut half of the tomatoes lengthwise in half.  Place sliced tomatoes cut side up on the baking tray.  Roast for 40-45 minutes at 300 degrees until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Watch carefully to make sure that the tomatoes don't burn.

Remove tomatoes from baking sheet and allow to cool.  Slice remaining raw tomatoes in quarters.  In a small bowl, combine roasted and raw tomatoes, onion, and garlic.  Mix well.  Add cilantro, pepper, and vinegar, then mix all ingredients well.  Add salt and more pepper to taste. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour to allow flavors to meld.

There are lots more cheap recipes posted here at Frugal Follies.  Click here for the list!

Got a great frugal recipe?  Link below to your actual post, not your main page.  Please only link up recipes and other food-related posts; contest entries and other posts are not allowed and will be deleted. I'd appreciate it if you would link back to Frugal Food Thursday as well!





For more great recipes, please go to my Linkup Parties list and scroll down to Food Linkups. There are lots of great recipes on each blog and I'm sure you'll find some new favorites!