After a rather long day earlier this week I decided to take advantage of over tired children and put them to bed early. We had both children in their beds and pretty much asleep by 7:30, which as it turns out isn’t that early, they’re usually down for the count by 8:30. Early enough though. While Rob fed them dinner and gave them baths I prepared this meal (which was nothing short of delicious) and cleaned the kitchen so that we could enjoy an evening to ourselves, inside the walls of our cozy house while it was raining a warm rain outside.We watched the movie Taken and just relished in each others company.

This isn’t something that we get to take advantage of often, but it was really nice! Not to mention really inexpensive. We didn’t have to arrange for a sitter, pay for our movie or pay for what could have been an expensive meal had we eaten it at a restaraunt.

I’m sharing a recipe with you tonight that I retrieved from the Recipe Zaar. I just had to share it here in case some of you didn’t happen to come across it over there, it is that good. It appears the girl who posted in on there retrieved it from the Food Network. So here I am, making sure it gets that much more exposure.

(I would also like to add compliments to Southern Living for making my fabulous baking dish, seriously, prettiest baking dish I’ve ever used!)

What you will need:

• 1 cup long grain rice
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1 lime, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• salt and pepper
• 4 tilapia fillets, rinsed and patted dry
• 2 cups jarred salsa
• 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups diced fresh pineapple
• 2 limes, thinly sliced

Directions

-Combine the rice and chicken broth in a pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until the rice is tender and has absorbed all of the liquid, about 20 minutes.

-Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

-In a mixing bowl, whisk together the orange juice, lime juice, oil, 2 tbls of the cilantro, the garlic, and sugar; season with salt and pepper. Add the tilapia fillets to the marinade, turning to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, tuning occationally.

-Stir together the cooked rice, salsa, beans, pineapple, and remaining 2 Tbls of the cilantro in a 2 or 3-quart baking dish.

-Remove the tilapia from the marinade, reserve the marinade, and lay the fish fillets over the rice mixture, overlapping if necessary. Pour the reserved marinade over the fish. Shingle the lime slices over the fish.

-Bake until the fish flakes easily, is opaque, and cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro before serving.

I did not do anything differently as stated, at all. I used exactly what it told me to use and I didn’t alter any of my measurements (I usually do when I follow a recipe). For the jarred salsa I used Frontera, 1 cup Roasted Tomato and 1 cup Mango Key Lime. This turned out amazing!