Day 53: Make Your Own Fish Sticks

Anyone who cooks on a budget eats chicken.  A lot.  Like five times a week.  Don't get me wrong, I love chicken.  I love the fact that you can do chicken breast a billion different ways.  But every once in a while you just need a change!  For health and expense reasons, we are not big red meat eaters.  We'll have red meat maybe twice a month.  So to change things up, I've started making more fish.  Tilapia is an inexpensive and easy to cook fish.  I buy it frozen in sealed packets.  I saw this recipe for tilapia fish sticks on Pinterest.  I didn't make this recipe, but it did serve as an inspiration to try my own.  Fresh is always better than frozen and pre-packaged, and my boys seem to like mine better than Gorton's.  Yay for me.  :)  Tonight I'm trying cod instead of tilapia.  I know cod makes great fish and chips, but I don't have the ingredients for a good batter, so we're going with fish sticks again.

What you'll need:

• White fish (tilapia, roughy, cod, haddock) One fillet per person
• 1/4 cup flour
• Eggs, beaten
• Panko bread crumbs
• Seasoning to taste (I like salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder)
• Oil for frying

Cut your fillets into strips.  Each fillet should give you 5-6 "sticks."  Season your bread crumbs.  Gently dredge each stick through the flour and then the eggs and then roll in the bread crumbs.  Fry in 1/4" oil or in a deep fryer.  It only takes about 2 minutes to cook through (in shallow oil in the pan), so stay close! Drain on paper towels before serving.  It's a crime, but of course, my kids like ketchup on theirs.  While you're at it, skip the processed frozen fries and julienne a few potatoes.  You can even use the same oil you are using for the fish. It may not be the healthiest meal, but it's better than take out, and it's better than the frozen food section's counterpart.  Enjoy!

***After making these tonight for dinner, I think I'll always go with cod for fish sticks.  They were so hearty and flaky.  It's a perfect fish for frying, that's for sure!***