A Healthy Southern Weeknight Meal

One of the perks of being home regularly is that I now have an opportunity to catch a news cast program more often then not and it's been kind of nice being able to actually know what's going on in the world.  And you sometimes learn when it's a really slow news day because something will take over the news that isn't all that substantial or important...case in point, the big uproar of Paula Deen announcing she is diabetic.  Let me throw the disclaimer out there right now before anything else can be said: diabetes and obesity are serious diseases that affect millions of Americans each year and should not be taken lightly but she cooked up quite the media ploy to announce this news while it very well could have been something that was handled quietly and privately .  I was never a fan of Paula Deen to begin with and I wish her the best but this isn't going to change anything now.  I think she has given southern cooking a bad name (I therefore will not be throwing out my February issue of BA dedicated to all things Southern when it arrives this week) and while I think Anthony Bourdain has gone a little far in his media war with her, I do think he has a good point and of course a few good entertaining lines to come out of it. 

So you are probably wondering, "where am I going with all of this,  is she just going to ramble through an entire post"  but I promise I have a point or a link to tie it all together.  Here's our dinner last night - a healthy Southern supper of Tilapia with Spinach-Pecan Pesto, a couscous medley and some glazed carrots.  The pesto takes all of 5 minutes to make and the great part about it is that you are going to have some leftover for another meal.  It's great as a sandwich spread, on a pizza or tossed with your favorite pasta and it's an easy way for people to eat spinach if they are skeptics.  The recipe for the fish is really adaptable and does well with pantry substitutions.  We ended up having it with flounder last night because it looked better at the supermarket and I used walnuts instead of pecans since that's what I had at home.  I always hear people try to say how hard it is to cook healthy, simple meals at home but don't sell yourself or your health short.  It's the little changes that make the big difference and you don't have to cook with 3 pounds of butter to represent the south. 

the fish about to go into the oven

By the way:  I'm a sucker for inspirational quotes and mantras and I fell very hard for this one.  Check out "Sweet Sugar Spice Candy"  for great lines whenever you might need a little positive pick me up.   My favorite for the day... "Keep your head, heels and standards high".