Words like “fast,” and “easy” are convenient, but they don’t necessarily scream “HEALTHY!!”, especially when used to describe our food. But when it’s Wednesday night and the baby is crying, the other kid is clinging for life to your leg while you’re on the phone and trying to put dirty clothes in the washer because no one has clean ones, AND your husband is on his way home from work thinking dinner is waiting on him….fast and easy are just too good to pass up. Can anyone relate?

My equivalent of that scenario is “test week,” where I don’t understand the exam material no matter how much I’ve studied it, and I have meetings, work, extra-curriculars, church, and friends all pulling me in a thousand different directions. It’s those moments when I’ve spent the last 5 hours in the library, and I come home to a messy room and a bed I can’t wait to crawl into that I’m tempted to make fast, easy food and call it a night.

Whatever is your “fast and easy” moment, I have the answer to your prayers to not lose your mind on those crazy nights. It’s a One-Pan Fish Dinner! Or chicken, pork, or whatever meat you prefer.

This dish can be prepped in 5-10 minutes or less, and ready to eat in less than 30! Choose any meat (although chicken and fish work best in my opinion) and 2 or 3 different vegetables. Throw it all in a casserole dish and pop it in the oven. I used tilapia, broccoli, red bel peppers, and yellow squash (get them soon before they go out of season!), but feel free to make it your own and use what you and your family prefer!

When you’re done, there is one pan to clean and you can go about your evening feeling good about the fact that you held it all together (or something like that?) long enough to provide a healthy meal to the ones you love the most.

Ingredients:

• 3 servings of tilapia
• 1/2 head of broccoli broken into florets
• 3 medium yellow squash, sliced
• 1 -2 Tbsp of olive oil
• Salt
• Garlic and herb butter (optional**)

Directions:

1. Chop vegetables and set aside.

2.Place fish in the center of the baking dish.

3. Add broccoli florets on one side of the filets and the sliced squash on the other side.

4. Drizzle everything lightly with olive oil and lightly salt/season vegetables and fish.

5. If using an herb butter or other source of flavor, place that on top of the filets.

6. Bake in the oven at 40o℉ (or 350 ℉ depending on kind of meat) for 20 minutes (or until meat or fish is cooked through.)

Enjoy a healthy homemade meal! That is, if the baby will let you 🙂