Chicken Pot Pie? No, it's Fish!

If your house is anything like mine, your kids will love fish, especially the easy-bake, breaded traditional fish and chips style. Being landlocked in the prairies makes it virtually impossible to have a proper British fish and chip dinner though.

Tonight I experimented with the concept of a fish pot pie to try and increase the nutritional value of a breaded fish-based meal that my daughter would still love. Limited to the ingredients I had in the fridge resulted in the following:

• 1 large and 1 medium potato, peeled and grated
• 4 small onions and 3 cloves of garlic, sauted in organic grapeseed oil (you can use raw onions if you'd prefer not to have any oil in your dish)
• 1 can of red kidney beans, drained
• 6 eggs, beaten together with approximately 3 tbsp of almond milk
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp red chili powder
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 6 English-style breaded fish pieces (I had Captain High Liner in the freezer, but for an even healthier version you can use haddock or cod filets)

In a small square casserole pan, spread the grated potatoes on the bottom, then sprinkle the kidney beans on top. Spread the sauteed onions all over so that every inch of the potato shavings is covered. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Then pour the egg mixture into the casserole pan, letting it seep evenly into the potatoes. Then lay the fish filets on the very top, pressing them down a bit so it all sticks together (the fish is acting like the crust in a traditional chicken pot pie). Bake for roughly 30 to 45 minutes at 425F until the fish is crispy and golden, and the egg is fully cooked.

Casseroles are a great way generally to sneak in nutrition that your kids might normally balk at! I used what we had in the fridge, but I think that if you added mushrooms,  broccoli, cauliflower or even asparagus, that this would be even tastier! I served it with raw veggies and a sweet potato hummus. It was absolutely delightful. Even better, it was dairy free and can even be oil free if you choose to use raw, rather than sauted, onions.

And one of the best things about it was that altogether it cost roughly $12, and made dinner for 4 and then a leftover lunch for 2, making it roughly $2 per person per meal. Nutritious and budget friendly!