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? 😄

[DiVWA]

Thanks for sharing Evangeline. Do the plantains need to be green or ripe in these recipes, or does it not matter?

Here's my recipe (which is adapted from a paleo cookbook). These are baked:

Spoiler

Plantain Chips or “Tortilla” Chips (for nachos or snacking)

Ingredients:

2 green plantains

1 to 2 tablespoons ghee, melted

Sea salt

Seasonings, optional (see below)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Space two oven racks about evenly apart. Cover two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Prep the plantains. Cut off both ends of the plantains, then with the tip of a sharp knife, make shallow slits lengthwise along the skin. Use your fingers to pry off the strips. With a mandolin slicer on its thinnest setting, slide the plantains into coins. Use your gloved hands or two wooden spoons to toss the slices in a large bowl with the melted ghee.

Assemble and season the plantains. Use six or more coins (or various pieces) to make each “tortilla” or “chip.” Lay them flat on the parchment paper with edges slightly overlapping (while they bake, the natural starches will make the coins or pieces stick together). Sprinkle with sea salt and any other seasonings you want.

Bake the plantains. Bake for 15 minutes, and then switch places of the two baking sheets, so what was the sheet on top is now the sheet on the bottom, and vice versa. Bake for an additional 15 minutes, until very crisp and beginning to brown.

Remove from the oven and eat now, store or use as nachos. Let cool and then eat now, store in a sealed container or use for nachos. If making into nachos, top with nacho fixings such as thinly sliced greens, thinly sliced red onion, thinly sliced pepperoncini, seasoned ground beef, chopped tomato, chopped ripe avocado, etc.

Some suggested (optional) seasonings to use: Smoked paprika (sweet, hot or bittersweet); garlic powder; onion powder; ground cinnamon; lemon pepper; smoked chipotle chili powder; and any others you can think of.

[EvangelineDamon]

For the "saltier"/garlic-y recipes, the greener the better.

But for the sweet recipes, you want them very ripe and black.

I used to cut them as thin as I could and fried them in butter and brown sugar, then let it cool.

Once the sugar crystallized, they were the tastiest little sweet crisps.

...however, it was difficult not to burn them. 

My grandma used to let them ripen (for weeks) and then she'd cut them in fat chunks and put them in hot canola oil, then she'd take them out and smash them to fry them up again. Those were easier to make sand just as good.

Your recipe sounds awesome.

I need to try that out one day.

[vegchililover78]

Yum! Those look so good. 

[heartsmyface]

Oh my, my meal tonight was a meat and cheese platter.  Not the whole thing but I am stuffed.   

[DiVWA]

Today is Polenta Friday! I'm trying to make a different Butternut "Polenta" on every Friday, using the bargain butternut squashes I keep buying at Trader Joe's.

Here is today's polenta: Chive-Rosemary Polenta. See recipe in older post on this page or next. I replaced the nutmeg with some crushed dried rosemary and added some kinda-minced fresh organic chives.

Other add-ins that you can do:

Dried marjoram

Dried red pepper flakes

Dried thyme

Lemon Pepper

Finely chopped fresh scallions

Grated garlic

Plus other stuff that I haven't thought of yet!

[redwagon44]

Cauliflower 'mac' and cheese. I've been craving comfort foods with this crappy weather, so I've been making this often. Just your basic creamy sauce with steamed cauliflower. For the sauce I make a bechamel with skim milk and stir in a bit of grated onion, dijon mustard, and grated sharp cheddar. Yummmm.

[lylysa]

Can I just sop that up with a roll? 😛

[jisub89]

Every winter, I always indulge is as much squash as I can for the season, usually in the form of a decadent, creamy blended soup. I've been trying something new though and I love the recipe! Basically, I would roast (pan or oven) the butternut squash or kabocha squash with olive oil, cumin, ground coriander, ground pepper, sea salt, paprika, and a dash of cayenne. When it's done, I top it off with fresh parsley leaves, which really add to the flavor profile. 

It's a very quick and effortless dish too if you guys can get the butternut squash prewashed & precut (I know it's available in my local Wegmans). If you want to be extra health-concious though, I say go for the kabocha and leave the skin on to roast.

* from Joy the Baker. I don't have a picture myself but I felt obliged to include one to make the post complete lol. Can't remember the blog I got the recipe from but if you google "roasted squash with cumin, coriander," many similar recipes pop up.

I have a quick question: how many of you guys try to stick with organic meat and wild-caught seafood? I've been making a habit to buy those options when I can, but I was slightly shocked when the wild-caught salmon fillet I purchased today at Wegmans came out to ~$45 today ($32.99 a pound). Ugh, so expensive compared to the $5.99/lb farm-raised salmon -- I'd probably only buy again on special days. 

[Anonymous]

Oh no, you're paying double per pound what you can get from Whole Foods frozen (wild caught sockeye - 2x 6oz fillets $13.99). Unless this is sushi grade salmon? I'm not going to lie and say that what I get isn't a bit fatty bit it beats the simply brand at Target that is MOSTLY fat and finger bones.

I have a feeling you were bitten by "holiday" prices on your salmon. It usually creeps up this time of year along with turkey, chicken, and ham.

We've been avoiding case meat the past year+ because of specific store issues, but yeah we used to have a couple meals a week of doing wild salmon or organic raised pork/NZ-Lamb/Bison. I prefer grassfed, but sometimes all you can get is grain fattened. 😕

[jisub89]

I typically buy wild sockeye too and the price at Wegmans is similar to that of Whole Foods. I had to resort to wild Alaskan King salmon today since there was no sockeye -- maybe this particular variety is extra sumptuous? I'll have to try it and google later if the Alaskan is worth twice the price of sockeye lol.

Speaking of sushi, I'm wondering what type of raw tuna, salmon, etc they use in buffets. Sushi buffets can be extremely cheap in NYC (as low as $12-16; the better ones are $30+) and I can't imagine them using the better ingredients if they were to make any profits.

And I can't agree with you more on grass-fed beef. After eating a grass-fed burger at a local diner's named Stellas, I don't think I can ever eat a regular burger again (unless I'm voraciously hungry; at that point, almost anything tastes good). Luckily, all the organic beef in Wegmans are also grass-fed and the price is reasonable (~$10-20/lb depending on the cut).

[Anonymous]

I do know the King salmon does command a higher price, we never invested in one since our stores would only have a few. Any plans on how you plan to roast it? I've always been a fan of using orange sections on a fresh fillet. 🙂

[jisub89]

I prepared part of the salmon already by searing and then broiling with a miso maple glaze made of equal parts of yellow miso paste, rice vinegar, and maple syrup (a really good one that my roomate got from Canada). I think I might prepare the rest as you suggested with orange slices since I'm a fan of citrus flavors with fish as well! 🙂

Spoiler

Spoiler

probably going to try this recipe from pinterest but in the oven 🙂

[lylysa]

I loooove doing miso honey salmon! ^_^

[jisub89]

It really is amazing! 

[Anonymous]

I'm honest to goodness drooling, may your glaze caramelize and not burn. If there are any leftovers, you can always make salmon cakes with breadcrumb tomorrow.

[vegchililover78]

I had this for dinner tonight! It's from my favorite local Vietnamese place. Number V4!

[jisub89]

That looks interesting! I always go with the boring choice of pho with spring rolls or pork chops when I visit any Viet restaurant but I really should venture more in my food choices.

[lylysa]

Same, I'm always guilty of spring/egg rolls and a basic bowl of pho with lean beef or sometimes some brisket and call it a day. It's tough to break from a GREAT go-to.

[vegchililover78]

So the menu picture is kind of small even though I chose the largest setting. It's Mixed Vegetable & Tofu Sate with rice noodles. Delicious!

[EvangelineDamon]

I hearted this despite the tofu!

It looks great.

Is this pho?

[vegchililover78]

It was delicious! The Vietnamese name is Pho-Mi Hutieu. The one I got is a little different because it's vegetarian and made with vegetable broth. Both of us had big soup bellies last night! lol