Latin Spice Night! Ole!

Tasty tilapia tacos w/pineapple salsa, mmm.

It's a Tuesday night, and three roommates are stirring in the kitchen... as well as chopping, grilling, and seasoning. Tonight's menu: fish tacos complete with pineapple jalapeno salsa, roasted miniature red and yellow peppers, and, continuing with the theme of last night's scrumptious concoction, tilapia! (If you plan out your meals ahead you can purchase enough fish to last through both of these recipes! We did!) Tonight's meal was an epic success! Low-fat, low-cal, and freakin' delicious!

Bobby Flay ain't got nothin' on us.

Some tricks to shortening the length of time required to cook this meal are simultaneous preparation and a deliberate order to the cooking of ingredients. For example, the Campus Cuisine Crew was able to cut down the prep time by setting up the salsa ahead of time to allow for the marriage of flavor, then chopping all the veggies while heating the corn, roasting the peppers and onions side-by-side while warming the tortillas, and saving the fish for last.

Pineapple Jalapeno Salsa

Juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp pepper, or to taste

1/2 cup chopped sweet onion

1 jalapeno, chopped

2 cups fresh pineapple, finely chopped

Cut pineapple, onion and jalapeno (DON'T TOUCH YOUR FACE!). Combine in bowl then add salt, pepper and lime. Let sit for 30 minutes.

Fish Tacos

6 wheat tortillas ($1.69)

4 tilapia fillets ($8.13)

8 oz small bell peppers, sliced into strips ($2.99)

1 jalapeno, sliced ($.10)

1/2 large sweet onion, sliced ($.88)

1 1/2 frozen corn ($.79)

salt, to taste (bulk item)

pepper, to taste (bulk item)

2 tsp extra virgin olive oil (bulk item)

First, remove corn from bag and place in pan over low heat. Cut peppers, jalapenos, and onion and grill. Heat tortillas on grill as well. Remove all ingredients from grill. Combine veggies in serving dish and season with salt and pepper to taste. Baste tilapia in olive oil and place in large frying pan over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper (amount to user's discretion). Cook for 7 minutes each side or until fish is cooked all the way through with no pink remaining.
Serves 3 (2 tacos each) $14.58/$4.86 per serving


We ended up having a bit of the veggie mix left over, so being thrifty college students, we opted for chicken fajita paninis for the next night's meal.  This super easy and cheap recipe is the perfect way to use up leftovers in a yummy sandwich.

Chicken Fajita Panini
3 frozen chicken breasts
leftover veggie mix from recipe above (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 slices of harvati cheese
dash of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
6 slices of bread of choice (we used french)
1 tbsp. of olive oil


Defrost the chicken in the microwave, then place in a plastic bag with desired amount of salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Cover chicken evenly.  Then place the oven in a pan with 1 tbsp. of olive oil, and cook through on both sides.  Warm up the remaining veggie mix in the microwave. Then it's time to construct your sandwiches! Brush the bread with a bit of olive oil, and arrange the chicken, veggies, and cheese.  Throw it on a panini press or grill pan, and when the bread is nice and toasty, take it off and enjoy!
Makes 3 sandwiches