Dijon Almond Crusted Tilapia and Spaghetti Squash

As you know,  I am a big fan of fish, but you can only just stick in on the grill so many times before you want to mix it up.  Don't get me wrong, grilled salmon is amazing, but I always love my almond crusted, pistachio crusted, really anything crusted seafood at restaurants so I decided to give it a try on my own.  We recently received a new food processor from our registry so I really wanted to put it to good use.  We have had one before, but it was very small and terrible to use.  Now, we got the super heavy duty Kitchen Aid one and I am so excited to make pesto, hummus, etc. with it.  this time, we needed it to chop some almonds and it worked beautifully!  Below you will find the wonderful dinner we had.  With the Tilapia, we made spaghetti squash.  Let me tell you, I am a huge fan of it!  I tried it for the first time a while back at a restaurant and fell in love.  This was also an experiment, but after reading about it, it seemed simple enough.  I still don't understand how it comes out like spaghetti, but hey that is the fun of it!  Spaghetti squash is so simple to bake, and because it really doesn't have much of a flavor, whatever you put on it will be the flavor of the spaghetti squash.  I will put the recipe below but don't hesitate to experiment!    Enjoy!

Dijon Almond Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients

• 2 filets of tilapia (about 1 pound)
• ⅓ cup whole almonds
• about ¼ cup dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• salt & pepper
• olive oil for pan-frying
• lemon

Instructions

1. Place almonds in a food processor and process until finely chopped. About 20 seconds.
2. Transfer chopped almonds to a shallow dish. Add paprika and mix together.  Make sure you don't overdo the paprika because the dish in general has a milder flavor.
3. Season the tilapia filets generously with salt & pepper.
4. Spread mustard on both sides of the filet and then transfer to the almond mixture to coat both sides.
5. Heat coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat.
6. Once hot, place the filets in the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes per side or until the fish is cooked through. Exterior should be browned and crispy but not burnt.
7. Serve warm and garnish with lemon.

Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:

1 small spaghetti squash (about 3-4 pounds)1 tablespoons butter1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder 

Parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Pierce squash a few times with sharp paring knife (to let steam escape). Bake spaghetti squash for 60 minutes, or until a paring knife pierces easily through skin with little resistance. Let squash cool for 10 minutes.
2. Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Use a fork to remove and discard the seeds. Continue using fork to scrape the squash to get long, lovely strands. If the squash seem difficult to scrape, return the squash to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
3. Add oil and butter to saute pan.  When pan becomes ho and butter is melted, add garlic and onion powder, and spaghetti squash strands.  Saute until desired consistency. The spaghetti squash should have a slight crunch (i.e. not mushy) - but if you like it softer, cover the pan and cook 2 more minutes. Garnish with diced parsley.

Tilapia Recipe and maged adapted from here
Spaghetti Squash image and recipe adapted from here