Mrs. Paul's Fish Dinner

Mrs. Paul's Roasted Garlic Tilapia

Husband, hesitantly, trying not to start any trouble even though he knows what he's about to say easily could: I like having fish for dinner, but I just don't want to get burned-out.


Wife, perplexed: When we have it cooked differently every time, how are you going to get tired of it?


Husband, treading lightly: I don't know, but you're feeding it to me every Friday. I just don't want to eat so much of it that I don't want to eat fish anymore.


Wife, knowing exactly what he's getting at: Do you want to have fish sticks while I have baked fish?


Husband, suddenly enthusiastic: Yes! That sounds good. Let's have fish for dinner.

And that's exactly how I got the man of my dreams to go along with fish this Friday evening - again. He knew I'd recently received coupons to try ParchmentBake products from Mrs. Paul's and Van de Kamp's free of charge and was dying to give them a try, so I'm not exactly sure why he had to give me a hard time. I think he did it just so I'd let him eat fish sticks. The man knows me too well.

Mrs. Paul's Crunch Fish Sticks 

I knew his fish sticks would be good because I had a few last weekend. They're filled with actual pieces of fish as opposed to minced fish, and the husband and I considered that a huge plus. The coating browned so nicely in the oven, too, resulting in a delicious crunch before hitting that beautiful white fish on the outside.


Oh, I remember now why I loved fish sticks so much as a kid!

It's also easy to tell when the fish sticks are done. After about 25 minutes in a 425-degree oven they're perfectly brown and crisp, and you're ready for dinner (or lunch or whatever). 

The parchment-baked fish, on the other hand, I wasn't so sure about. The directions said to cook the fish in the package for about 22 minutes at 400 degrees. Well, I gave them probably 22-24 minutes and thought to myself: "OK. It's now or never."

I hesitantly opened the package. 

"What if it isn't done?" The husband asked. I told him I had no idea. If there were directions as to what I was supposed to do if that fish didn't flake easily with a fork once I opened the package, I missed 'em. 

A gentle garlic scent escaped the parchment bag as I pried it open. Luckily, my dinner had cooked perfectly. I threw the fish on my plate, scooping up all of the sauce from the packet. (Hey, if I'm going to consume 6 g carbs on a small piece of fish, I'm not leaving anything behind!)

I'm happy to report that the roasted garlic sauce was really good. It didn't have an overwhelmingly fake garlic taste as I'd feared it would. The husband knew exactly what I was talking about; he said it's like, you know, garlic powder. This sauce is nothing like that. It's tasty.

Unfortunately, I wasn't that thrilled with the fish. I actually thought it had a little bit of a fishy flavor to it. I know, I know I was eating fish, but I thought it tasted more like fish than it should have. And maybe it's just me an my mass consumption of protein these days, but I really wanted to find more fish in that package than I did. The portions are a little small, in my opinion.

But we had fish for dinner, and that's what I wanted. The husband loved his fish sticks. I know he'll be buying more of them again in the near future. I have a feeling, though, that I'm not going to try the parchment-baked fish again for a while. It cooked great, yes, but it just didn't leave me with the best taste in my mouth.

Please note this post is part of a Foodbuzz Tastemaker program with Mrs.Paul's. I was sent coupons so I could buy these goods and share my honest opinion with you. For coupons, visit smartsource.com.