Oh you fancy huh

Yesterday, only through the coaxing of my wonderful bf, I made a particularly "fancy" dish, titled:

Spicy Fish and Coconut Rice w/ a Side of Spinach

WHOA!  Are you taken back by the title?  I surely was.  I got the recipe from Essence's October issue...you know the one with all the yummy men on the front cover ;-)

Source

"Let the church say AMEN!" Oh yeh...the dish...

Ingredients
FISH
Heavy-duty foil
4 4-oz red snapper filets
1/2 teaspoon lowest sodium kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 8-oz can crushed pineapple in juice
1 medium mango, slightly unripe, peeled, seeded & cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 large shallot, minced
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup Italian parsley
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

RICE
1 cup instant brown rice
1/4 cup fat-free evaporated skim milk
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, lowest sodium available
2 teaspoons light tub margarine
4 teaspoons sweetened coconut flakes, toasted 30 seconds in microwave

SPINACH *my own "recipe"*
1 bunch spinach
2 cloves garlic
All purpose seasoning to taste

I honestly am exhausted just after typing all of these ingredients.  I omitted/revised a couple of ingredients, but I do that sometimes due to my frugality.  For the fish, I substituted sea salt for kosher, forgot to buy the pineapple, and bought 1 orange to replace the orange juice.  I don't drink juice at home and buying "natural" juice is expensive - I find that purchasing the actual fruit saves money for juices you don't use often.  I also purposely omitted the parsley because it was mainly for garnish and free garnish tastes best!  For the rice, I substituted coconut milk for skim because I had some on hand.  I also subbed sea salt for kosher and used butter because I didn't have margarine.

Although I am a pescatarian - this means I include seafood in my diet - I rarely cook with seafood at home.  Mainly because it's expensive and I'm cheap!  After cooking this dish I feel more inclined to stick to vegetarian-ONLY meals at home.  Don't get me wrong, the meal was good.  However, the fish ALONE cost $22 for 3 filets!!! WTF? That will be the last time Whole Foods gets my money for fish!

To end on a happy note, my bf was delighted with the dish - seriously he thought it was "AMAZING"!