Go Fish

The good news: I finally lost the 9 lbs I gained over Binge-mas. (Um, I mean Christmas.)

The bad news: I've hit the dreaded plateau. You know, that place where regardless of how little you eat or how many hours you bounce along on the elliptical machine, you still find yourself flipping the bird to the scale each morning. (Not that I've done that. Ahem.)

While grocery shopping on Monday, I noticed they had packages of frozen Tilapia fillets on sale. The only fish I'm familiar with comes in a giant cardboard treasure chest surrounded with hush puppies and extra deep fried crispies. (Helloooooo Long John Silvers....but I'm pretty sure that doesn't qualify as fish.)

What I do know, is that according to Bob-The-Biggest-Loser-Trainer, fish is great for losing weight. And since I can't pass on a good sale, I grabbed a couple of packages. When I got home I realized I have no idea what to do with frozen Tilapia fillets. I felt like a contestant on 'Chopped' and I'd just opened my mystery basket. (Me likes me reality shows.) I Googled a few, but I prefer getting recipes from people I trust.

Enter Facebook. I sent out a plea stating that I was making Tilapia fillets for dinner and I asked for some recipes and/or tips on cooking them. I ended up with 21 comments. The first few were recipes and tips. And somewhere along the way, things went downhill and fast. It started when someone informed me that Tilapia are "bottom feeders." Let's state the obvious; nothing about that sounds appetizing. Good to know, but I'd already bought the Tilapia. Then there was mention of 'farm raised' vs. 'fresh caught.' Now I have to worry about where they spent their formative years?!? Bob never mentions background checks. And I can only assume, at the price I paid, mine arrived via wagon straight from the farm. Yikes.

Shortly after that, a friend posted a couple of links. I refrained from clicking on them when I noticed the words "tilapia-eat-poop-really" in one of the titles and I stopped reading any further, clicked out of Facebook and turned off my computer. It was time to cook dinner.

I stood by the counter looking down at my poop-filled-bottom-feeding-farm-raised-hillbilly-tilapia fillet and couldn't seem to find my appetite. I baptized it in some buttermilk, dredged it in bread crumbs and baked it in the oven in hopes that anything from it's horrendous past would be disintegrated by the heat.

In all honesty, it tasted pretty good and I'm sure that septic smell was strictly my imagination. Now I'm left with 7 Tilapia fillets in my freezer. I'll eat them....eventually.

I'd like to try some new recipes. I think I'll stick to Google and take my chances. Turns out my Facebook friends are way too highly informed.