Magazine Meal Planning starting with Tilapia

So great to be cooking again after my month+ of recuperation.

But, my brain's not up to speed with it. Making dinner every night has a rhythm--once I've got the groove down it goes fine. But after a vacation, or any break from cooking, it all feels slow and awkward again. I can't string together two meals in a row.

So, I snatched up the October issue of Real Simple when the cover saidA Month of Easy Dinners

I bought groceries for the first week of dinners last night. Tonight we had Tilapia with Peppers and Olives. You know what was great about this? Eating real food. Under the push of the little kids' moans, I end up dumbing my menus down to varieties of pasta, cheeseburgers, and egg dishes. It was good to get out from under that.

I broiled the Tilapia instead of pan frying it. I was afraid I'd bought too much when I laid the filets out on the pan, but there were no leftovers, and we could have eaten one more. I only used half an onion, since I knew the younger kids wouldn't want the onion/pepper mix. The flat-leaf parsley came from my garden.

And the reviews were good too.

--Younger elementary school ate her fish, without the vegetable topping, and loved it and had seconds. I didn't expect that.
--Older elementary school had a little fish, but his braces were hurting too much for him to have an appetite.
--Middle school snacked in the afternoon again, and then declared she was not hungry, and could think of things more fun than sitting with us. Too bad. She ate her required two bites, and then half a jar of spanish green olives.
--High School loved it. Later she asked, what, you're going to blog about it? I kidded her back, "wouldn't that make a great movie?"
--Husband really loved it. For him I had put the olives on the side; he doesn't like them.
--And I loved it. It was so great to be eating real food.

Definitely I'd cook it again.

Tomorrow: Beef and Bok Choy Stir Fry. Just in time to use up the leftover rice from Sunday.