For a long time, I haven’t included fish in my Mexican or Tex-Mex eating. Truth is, I am not a big fish fan, although shellfish is a whole different story. But I do like white fish, such as tilapia, cod, and halibut along with salmon. I never considered using them in Mexican food, but I decided it was time to try it out. I started with this delicious dish.
Mostly, I’m relying on seasoning to bring the flavor to the fish. I used Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning, but you can use your own favorite. This dish easy to make. Add about 1/4 cup of black beans or frijole beans as a side dish along with the riced turnips with chile I posted a few days ago or with the amazingly good riced golden beets I’m adding the recipe for below. I usually use them as a couscous substitute, but they work well with this fish.
Mexican-style White Fish
2 tilapia fish fillets (4 oz. each) or other white fish
1 cloves garlic minced
1/2 lime juiced
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
In a shallow pan or bowl, add garlic, seasoning, salt, and lime juice and mix. Rub the mixture over the fish fillets, making sure to cover them on both sides.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, place the fillets in the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn and cook the reverse side the same amount of time. Turn off heat, flip the fish back over, and let it sit another minute.
Serve with a salad, beans, riced beets, or cauliflower rice along with guacamole, sour cream, sliced onions, and tomato as preferred.
Makes two servings.

Riced Golden Beets
1 medium golden beet, peeled
1/4 cup Hot Water
1/2 teaspoon Better Than Bullion Chicken
1 tablespoon Butter
1/2 cup Diced Onions (optional)
Salt to taste
Cut beet into cubes and use a food processor to chop until the pieces are rice-sized.
Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add butter. Add onions and sauté for two minutes.
Add one cup of the riced beets and stir into the butter and onions for a couple of minutes. Heat water to boiling, then add chicken bullion. When melted add to the skillet, add salt, and stir in. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Check a couple of times to make sure the rice doesn’t dry out. Add water as needed. Check to be sure beets are tender.
First day of the second week and I am hanging in there. I feel some of the limitations of Induction, but it isn’t bad. It includes a repeat and lunch out. PK and I went to the movies, so we stopped by Skipilini’s after seeing “Wonder Woman” and had our favorite appetizer, bacon wrapped jalapenos, along with a salad.
Here’s the menu for the day:
Day 8
Food
NC
breakfast
Cloud muffin
2
Sugar–free Jam
2.5
Coffee with creamer
1
Lunch
Caesar Salad
2.8
Chicken
0
2 1/2 Jalapeno Poppers
1.7
Iced tea
0
Dinner
Tilapia
0
GG mashed cauliflower with bacon and cheddar
4
sauteed greens
2
dessert
pumpkin mousse
3
19
Breakfast was the Atkins cloud muffin from Day 4, but I toasted it and put 1/2 tablespoon of Smuckers Sugar-free Apricot Jam on it. Bliss! For lunch, we had the aforementioned salad with the poppers. I’m including the easy to make recipes for these for home use. I had iced tea with liquid sucralose so 0 carbs on that.
For dinner, I made seasoned tilapia and served 1/3 cup of Green Giant mashed cauliflower with bacon and cheddar cheese with it. I also sauteed some greens, namely spinach and beet leaves with 1/4 cup of grated daikon radish. Recipes follow.
Your alternate breakfast option is:
Bacon and Avocado Omelet
3 or 4 large Eggs
1/2 Haas Avocado, cut into slices
1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese
4 tablespoons Southwest Style Salsa (optional)
4 slices thick Bacon, broken into pieces
Dash Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Water
Break eggs into a bowl, add water, seasoning salt and pepper. Beat until foamy. Heat a medium-size round bottom pan or omelet pan with 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat.
Add eggs and let cook for a couple of minutes until the egg sets on the bottom, then begin lifting the edges with the spatula and tilting the pan so that the uncooked egg runs underneath. Repeat, working your way around the pan. Keep lifting and tilting until most of the liquid egg is gone. This builds a fluffier omelet.
Evenly distribute the bacon and most of the cheese down the one-half of the omelet. Use the spatula to lift and fold the omelet over the top. Reduce heat to low and put a lid over the pan. Let cook for about 3 minutes in order to melt the cheese.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cheese over the top. Cut the omelet in half and serve each half with 2 tablespoons of salsa and half the avocado slices. If you wish, you can heat the salsa before serving.
Makes 2 servings
Nutrition Info per servings Calories: 430 Fat: 35.3 g Net Carbs: 3.0 g Protein: 23.5 g
Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Peppers
These are Skipolini’s bacon wrapped jalapeno peppers, but the recipe is similar. They can also be grilled rather than broiled.
Cut the peppers open on one side and remove the seeds if you don’t want them too spicy.
In a small bowl, add 1/4 teaspoon of BBQ seasoning to the cream cheese and stir until it is completely mixed in.
Put the bacon on a paper towel on a plate and put in the microwave for one minute to partially cook. This will make it easier for it to get crisp without over-cooking the pepper.
Stuff each pepper with the cream cheese mixture, then wrap with the partially cooked bacon and secure with a toothpick.
Put on a sheet of aluminum foil under the broiler and cook for three to five minutes per side until the bacon is crisp.
Let cool a couple of minutes, then serve. Makes two servings.
Nutrition information per serving: Calories: 185 Fat: 16.5 g Net Carbs: 1.7 g Protein: 6.5 g
Caesar Salad
One of the best spots for good recipes is AllRecipes.com, so I am going to give you the link to a goodCaesar Salad recipe. However, omit the croutons. They are not on the low carb diet at this point and quite possibly never again.
Broiled Tilapia Filet
The beet leaves are intent on dying everything pink.
PK and I weren’t all that hungry after our late lunch, so I split one filet down the middle for dinner, but feel free to make a full filet per person. They are carb free.
2 Tilapia Fish Filets or other white fish of choice
1 tablespoon of Butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Sprinkle of Salt
Dash of Pepper
Rinse and dry the fish, then use a spoon to pour butter and lemon juice on the top. Put a sheet of aluminum foil on the broiler pan then place the filets with the butter side face down. Spread the lemon butter over the side that is now exposed to the flames.
Broil for about 5 minutes, then turn and broil for another 5 minutes on the other side. Test for doneness with a fork. The fish should flake, but not be dry.
Use a pancake turner (spatula) to move to a warm serving plate. Add vegetables and serve.
Makes 2 servings.
Nutrition information per serving: Calories:134.2 Fat:7.3 g Net Carbs:0.1 g Protein: 18.1 g
