Iowa Girl Eats

Hello!

Well I mentioned it this morning, but tonight I’m kicking off a week-long, Summer Inspired Dinner Series! With bright mornings, warm nights and carefree summer days coming to an end, I thought, what better way to wave goodbye to summer than with a week of dinners that are easy, fresh & celebrate my favorite summer tastes?!

Up first: Baked Tilapia with Grilled Asparagus & Wild Rice!

YUM!

The tilapia was my second mystery item from Costco My Mom and I split a big pack for $5 each! I’ve mentioned this before, but Costco is a wonderful place to buy fresh seafood if you live in the Midwest, like me.

I really love the fresh, light flavor of Tilapia so I simply seasoned my filets with an Old Bay inspired mix. I combined:

• Dried basil
• Lemon pepper
• Garlic salt
• Cinnamon
• Onion powder
• Red pepper
• Ground ginger
• Paprika
• Ground mustard
• Salt & Pepper (unpictured)

Feel free to add or delete any spices. I just looked online to see what was in Old Bay and used whatever I already had on hand that matched. I combined everything in a seasoning shaker I just happen to own:

 

Next I seasoned each side of the Tilapia filets with the mix, placed them in a non-stick sprayed oven-safe dish, and topped with a few, wee pats of butter. Then I squeezed a wedge of lemon over everything and put it in the oven at 375 for 25 minutes, or until it was flaky.

Meanwhile, I cleaned up some asparagus and fired up the grill. Hello! Fresh asparagus + grill? Totally summer!

I let these babies char and rolled them every couple minutes, until they were done.

Finally, I took some help from Uncle Ben and popped a Wild Rice packet into the microwave to heat up. Easy!

When I assembled my plate, I couldn’t help but smile. Easy, breezy dinner for an easy, breezy summer night. Perfect!

I’m so glad I simply seasoned my Tilapia filets instead of breading or sautéing them in oil. It was the perfect amount of spice, and I could taste the fresh fish.

 

I served lemon wedges on the side for squeezing

The grilled asparagus were smokey and perfectly cooked. I like my asparagus a little crunchy. How about you?

Wild rice, Ben’s request, was a perfect side dish. This particular product didn’t have a lot of preservatives or funky ingredients. Plus, it was ready in 90 seconds!

Now…what would a good summer dinner be without a perfectly summer dessert?? Nothing! That’s why I made Grilled Pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert – wheeee!!!

I just grilled fresh pineapple until they were slightly charred and while we ate, I put them in a gladware container with a lid so they could steam and get soft.

When it was time for dessert, I dished out some vanilla ice cream and placed my pineapple around it.

I don’t think you need me to describe how incredible this was…cool, creamy ice cream + sweet, smokey pineapple…WOW!

Well – I am a FULL and HAPPY lady The Summer Inspired Dinner Series is off to a good start if you ask me! Tonight’s dinner met all the requirements: fresh ingredients, insanely easy preparation and TOTALLY the taste of summer!

Stay tuned tomorrow morning for a fun announcement – until then, have a super night!

~~~~~

Do you ever cook fresh fish?

This was actually my first time cooking white fish and it seriously couldn’t have been easier…it was actually easier than cooking chicken because you don’t have to trim it, you can tell when it’s done, etc. Loved it!

Related posts:

1. Summer Dinner Series Day 2: King of the Grill
2. Summer Inspired Dinner Day 4: Summer Classics
3. Summer Dinner Series Day 3: All American Cookout

Tags: grill, summer inspired dinner, tilapia