What's on your plate?

[lylysa]

Hello there, ladies and gents!

Keeping in line with all the fun and interactive threads asking about your most recent halls, items you have your eyes on, what you're currently wearing, what's your hair routine, and more, I've decide to branch out and ask:

"What's on your plate?"

The beauty world doesn't just stop at skin care and cosmetics, it also goes hand in hand with your overall health and well-being, so with that, I'm curious to see what we're all chowing down and snacking on be it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, or inbetween!

For those with apps that help count calories or to those who just want to keep a log, here's a place to share, possibly find and share some recipes, and even tips on maintaining a balanced diet.

Don't just share food items, but even drinks! I'm a huge fan of tea and at least have a cup of green tea a day (anti-oxidants) and drink plenty of water.

For lunch today, I had:

-Brown rice

-Steamed egg

-Steamed red snapper with green onion, sesame oil, and black pepper

-Gai lan (it's a type of Chinese vegetable/greens)

Now, tell me, Beauty Talk world, what do you have? 😄

[Anonymous]

Let me know when you commit, as I have a lot of recipes scanned in for cooking in one. Can either hook you up on FB or let you know which books they came from.

I have an 80% love with my Hamilton Beach oval 6qt. It is programmable to either an internal temp, a specified length of time in 30 minute blocks at either Hi/lo, and manual hi/lo/warm. The 20% dock is because the unit is a little cheaply made is all. $45 it is hard to complain y'know?

[lylysa]

Ooo, the blender I have is from Hamilton Beach, the slow cookers I have glanced at are programmable. I was actually considering on when I was still regularly working out because it would be a pain to try to rush home, cook/work out, then shower and try to eat at a decent time still.

[RandeeBT]

Your casserole recipe sounds delicious and pretty easy to make! How long does it usually take for the pot of chicken and veggies to boil? 

[lylysa]

No long at all, Randee! I actually get the pot of water on the stove first at about an 8 or inbetween the medium to high setting so it comes to a slower boil. At that time, I begin chopping up the chicken, I use two breasts that I butterfly and trim the fat off. I do chunks the sizes of what's in a hearty chicken noodle soup, throw those in, and by that time the water is getting hot. I go to cut the carrots from there (I also preheat the oven at this point), add those at the same time as the frozen peas, then toss in the noodles and let boil. I was lazy and used a box of the wheat rotini noodles and Velveta this time. Once noodles are cooked up, I strain it all, then it's back on the slow on medium/low head, add in the can of soup, Velveta pack, half a can of milk (too lazy to use a measuring cup so I reuse the can from the soup), stir until everything is evenly mixed and coated. By now the oven's preheated, I pour out the mix into the pan, sprinkle bread crumbs (I had Italian seasoned ones) and cheese, pop in the oven just long enough for the crumbs to get a bit baked and the cheese to melt, and TAH-DAH!

[RandeeBT]

Definitely trying this! It sounds delicious! 🙂

[lylysa]

It was my bf who suggested I add the cream of mushroom soap as the Velveta pack from the noodles alone wouldn't have been enough. I did add in some salt, pepper, onion powder, and spices to the mix, nothing fancy, so it's definitely capable of being seasoned up to your liking!

[Anonymous]

Bean cakes made with applesauce and topped with guacamole!

[lylysa]

Ooooooo, did you make the bean cakes, applesauce, and guacamole? If so, share share share the recipes! 😄

[Anonymous]

Wholly Wholesome's guac! the recipe is really forgiving. add some spice!

19oz beans drained

1/4 c coconut flour

1/4 c buckwheat flour

1/4 c Olive oil

2T flax

1/2 t soda

3/4 t baking powder

1/8 t salt

1 c pumpkin or applesauce

Opt 2 t vinegar

375-ish degree oven

[lylysa]

LOL! I totally misread your picture post as the bean cake and applesauce being separate, upon reading it again, I realized it's made WITH applesauce included!

That sounds yummy. I've only ever had soba/buckwheat noodles but never toyed around with purchasing buckwheat flour on its own.

[Anonymous]

Soba with yam blended is the best noodle period for anything.

I have been making biscuits with coconut and buckwheat flour but I'm not happy with the recipe yet. From my standpoint, they need to be on equal footing with the gluteny catshead biscuits I grew up with before I would share it. lol.

The most successful recipe has been with some chocolate cookies. I haven't made those in a couple years, but they are gluten and diary free.

[lylysa]

Oooo yam noodles (shirataki) are delish!

Hmmm, are the biscuits made with coconut and buckwheat not hearty enough or doughy enough? What's been your experience with using either flour for biscuits? I'm curious because I love me some biscuits, rolls, and carbs in general LOL!

[Anonymous]

The (current recipe) darn things are too dense imo, the insides stay really moist and the outside is crispy-critter. The next attempt I'm going to make half dollar sized biscuit and drop the butter in favor of oil. They taste alright and even better with honey on top. The texture on the inside being moist and still like it isn't cooking is really off.

Adding buckwheat in addition to a normal flour adds a nutty taste and good carb benefits (buckwheat is a heartier cereal and technically a pseudo cereal- suitable for gluten and diabetic friendly diets). They also make a super lacy looking savory pancake if you ditch all other flours, you just have to keep the batter stirred up because the density makes the buckwheat settle to the bottom.

I can vouch the coconut flour does make a good substitute for doing a roux. Still getting a feel for it, but it is a neat product (and that lovely smell).

[lylysa]

Do you find that the coconut flour for making roux just dissipates easier and smoother than normal flour? 

You have me extra curious on the buckwheat for pancakes now, I make pancakes currently with wheat flour and like the heartiness it gives, but if you're saying buckwheat adds a nuttiness then it'd be great for banana nut pancakes!

Mmmm, honey and biscuits....lemme just have a moment. 😛

Have you ever seen the newer Charlie's Angels movie with Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu? The mention of too dense biscuits makes me think of the scene where Drew Barrymore throws a muffin Lucy Liu made at Cameron Diaz and it's so hard and dense it just makes a hole and lodges itself in the wall!

[Anonymous]

I think coconut from Bob's Red Mill is on par with the fine sifted biscuit flours like White Lily. The benefit to it in a roux is the high fiber content and how much moisture it can soak up.

Banana nut pancakes or chocolate pancakes, just be careful because the color of the batter darkens a bit as you up the concentration of buckwheat. Can make the color check for doneness a little more tricky but nothing impossible.

I've only seen bits of CA, lol that they would do a cooking scene. I always think of Drew with the pancakes in 50 first dates. But the biscuits that are being my problem child are not that dense, they flake perfectly! I just swear there is not enough loft to the mix and that is why it is sitting gunky in the middle. Maybe as a yeast biscuit it would work better.

[lylysa]

I can imagine the buckwheat  would darken up a bit, the same goes for my whole wheat pancakes.

50 First Dates is a cute movie...now I wanna build/eat a waffle house!

Once you nail down a recipe for the biscuits I'd love to hear it!

[redwagon44]

My dinner tonight! Lentil and brown rice pilaf with cucumber and pepper salad 🙂 I'm trying to cut down on dairy to see if it will help my skin, so I resisted the urge to make the cucumber salad with yogurt and cover the pilaf with feta! So hard for this Wisconsin girl 😉

[lylysa]

I love making cucumber salads like they do in Japanese restaurants/sushi spots!

Thinly slice cucumber rounds, drizzle some rice vinegar (you can melt a touch of sugar in it if it's too sharp on its own), top with crab meat (most of the time it's the artificial crab stick at sushi places), and sesame seeds! 

[redwagon44]

Mmmmm, that sounds so tasty! And a great use for some of the cucumbers I've picked up from the farmers market.

[lylysa]

Sure is! I hardly touch cucumbers, except for when they're in sushi rolls or when I get the cucumber salads. Play around with the sugar/rice vinegar ratio to your liking. I heat up the vinegar a tad to make the sugar dissolve better and you can even have the vinegar/sugar mix pre-made and kept on hand for whenever you want to toss in some slices of cucumber into a bowl and chomp away!

[malday]

1 Giant white peach

1 Banana

Homemade almond milk

Chia seed

So delicious!