Almond-Crusted Tilapia and Roasted Sheet Pan Veggies

We used to eat poultry as our dinner protein a majority of the week until this summer. Now we try follow a more vegetarian/pescatarian diet, and I'm having lots of fun finding fun seafood recipes to try and add to my recipe book. I'm not a huge fan of plain tilapia since I think it's a pretty bland fish, so I'm always on the hunt for recipes that give it a little extra oomph.

I'm so glad I came across this recipe in my All Recipes magazine! I love almonds, so this was an added bonus for this recipe. It's fairly simple to throw together with the help of a blender or food processor, and thanks to the almonds, the leftovers are still crispy/crunchy the next day unlike many other "breaded" fish and poultry I've tried.

I have never made enough of this to serve 8 people, so I've simply reduced the ingredients a bit based on how many people I'm serving.

Additionally, I'm finding myself making roasted veggies as a side a lot in the fall and winter months, so I thought I'd share my go-to recipe for that, as well. It goes well with pretty much anything and is so easy to do. I am always sure to have potatoes, carrots, and broccoli on hand just in case I get a hankerin' for roasted veggie deliciousness. The leftovers are also scrumptious!

Almond Crusted Tilapia

Serves 8

What you'll need:

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper *I did 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then squeezed  fresh lemon juice on the fillets once they were coated
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups finely ground almonds with skins
• 1 1/4 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 8 6-oz. tilapia fillets *I used frozen tilapia loins from Costco (thawed before cooking, of course)

What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Spread butter over bottom of a 12x17-inch rimmed baking sheet (add a layer of foil for easier clean up!)
2. Stir together flour, spices, and salt in a shallow bowl or pie plate.
3. Whisk eggs in separate shallow bowl or pie plate until combined.
4. Combine ground almonds and cheese in separate shallow bowl or pie plate.
5. Dredge each fillet in flour mixture, shaking off any excess, then dip in egg, letting excess drip off. Finally, dredge each fillet in almond mixture, coating both sides, and transfer to prepared baking sheet.
6. Bake until fish flakes easily with a fork, about 10 minutes.

Roasted Sheet Pan Veggies

What you'll need:

• An assortment of your favorite roasting vegetables: carrots, red potatoes, onions, squash, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. (my faves are carrots, potatoes, and broccoli)
• Olive oil
• sea salt
• fresh ground pepper

What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line a cookie sheet with foil, then drizzle olive oil on top.
3. Wash, peel (when necessary), and chop your veggies. Carrots should be in slightly uniform chunks (unless you're using baby carrots), broccoli or cauliflower in florets, potatoes and squash in uniform chunks.
4. Arrange veggies in single layer on cookie sheet. Drizzle with more olive oil and season with sea salt and pepper. Toss slightly to coat.
5. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until you can easily pierce the veggies with a fork and they feel soft. *If you're making this to accompany the tilapia above, you can put them in the same oven at 450, just keep an eye on them...they'll probably only need 10-12 minutes.

This is SO good, y'all! Enjoy!