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]

Where were you? We made a plate for you! 😉

Chip recipe here:

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.

[blackkitty2014]

Thx you so much Divwa. I had so much fun snorkeling and forgot time for dinner but I can bring some tropical fruits over (banana and rambutan) 🙂

[DiVWA]

that sounds more fun than cooking and eating!

That rambutan looks most intriguing. I have never eaten a rambutan.

[blackkitty2014]

Rambutan is a popular fruit in Southeast Asia though you can find it in any Hawaii islands. When I did a wiki, they said you can find it now in Honduras and Costa Rica. I haven't been in either place so I can verify that 😉 but I can sure you can buy it at any fruit stand in Hawaii. Next time if you and your hubby in Hawaii, please try (just for the heck of it) 🙂 It is sweet and has similar taste to Longan or Lychee.  I took the picture last week when we was in Kauai. I wish I can bring some home to you Divwa 🙂

[DiVWA]

I hope that my husband and I get to Hawaii again sometime. What a lovely place!

[lyravega]

Spaghetti Squash Enchilada Boats. Me no like. Husband ate it all, I couldn't. I just "cleaned" all the melted cheese from the top of it. 😄

Looks pretty, though. 🙂 And, I like the idea. But, I think I don't like spaghetti squash...

The recipe is in the spam tag. I modified it by adding some ground beef. I had to. All veggie meal?! Sorry, but

Spoiler

[RandeeBT]

I recently made a spaghetti squash meal as well. I made homemade turkey meatballs and scraped the spaghetti squash from the squash to use as "pasta." I really did not enjoy it but I think it would have been better if I had cooked the spaghetti squash longer and had a better sauce for it. 

I am sorry you did not enjoy your enchilada boats. They are really adorable anyway! At least your hubby enjoyed them. 😉 

[lylysa]

Bwahahaah to the "Nope" octopus!!!!

Thanks for sharing the recipe, the food pics look amazing!

[DiVWA]

I have to agree with you. I don't like spaghetti squash much either. I so prefer butternut squash--it's so much tastier. Spaghetti squash tastes too squashy to me.

[lyravega]

Yeah... I had to try them. And, now I know - I don't like them.

I don't think I've ever had a butternut squash... What would you suggest to try and make with those?

[DiVWA]

Two things work well with the butternut squash:

Steam it for a long while until it's quite soft. Put into a glass bowl and mash. Add some ghee or butter to it with a little orange or apricot marmalade and a splash of soy sauce or coconut aminos. Tastes better than mashed potatoes! Even people who think they "hate" squash love butternut squash made this way.

Make my butternut squash "polenta." Seriously. We're eating the different variations I made the last few months (it freezes well) and really enjoying it. Recipe is down several pages on this thread or I can add it here again if you want.

[RandeeBT]

Great recipe ideas, DiVWA!

Butternut Squash is also good roasted. This is the simplest recipe ever (so it's not really a recipe) but I like to chop the butternut squash up in little cubes and put it in a bowl with salt and pepper and olive oil. I'll mix it all up with my hands and then put it on a baking sheet at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. I do this with cauliflower and sweet potatoes too. I just love the flavor of roasted veggies!

[lyravega]

Ohhhh, yes, yes, that yummy looking squash polenta of yours! I completely forgot about it. Yes, please, do add it here, if you don't mind.

And, that mashed squash sounds yummy, too. I think I'm gonna be getting me some butternut squash asap. 🙂

Thank you.

[DiVWA]

It's super good. I don't exaggerate about stuff like that because I know how some vegetables taste too much like blah vegetables. LOL

Recipe here:

Spoiler

Butternut Squash “Polenta”

2 pounds fresh butternut squash *

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (the kind in the green sprinkle container is okay to use)

   or 1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 cup blanched almond flour

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Peel the squash and then dice it into about 1/2-inch squares. Put the diced squash inside a couple of vegetable steamers. Steam for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is very soft. Let it cool and then put all the squash into a large glass bowl. Mash the squash by hand with a potato masher.

Add the beaten eggs, salt, nutmeg, cheese and almond flour and mix well. Put the mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper. The mixture will be the consistency of thick mashed potatoes; use a small metal spatula to spread the mixture to all the edges and smooth the top.

Bake for 1 hour, or until the polenta feels firm and is browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment (with the polenta on top) to a large cutting board. Cut the polenta into squares in whatever size you want. Serve hot with a sauce on top.

For leftovers, pre-cut them into squares and wrap each square into its own cling wrap and then store all wrapped squares in a sealed gallon freezer bag.

To re-warm leftovers, defrost the wrapped square(s) overnight in the refrigerator. Microwave or reheat in the oven until the square(s) is/are heated through completely.

Optional add-ins:

Dried seasonings such as rosemary, marjoram, thyme, lemon pepper, oregano, aleppo pepper, red pepper flakes, etc.

Finely chopped fresh scallions, or herbs like parsley, basil, chives, etc.

Whole fresh cilantro leaves (no stems)

Chopped carmelized (fried) thinly sliced onion or fried bacon (chop after it’s fried)

Chopped sun-dried tomatoes (the kind that’s dry, not the kind packed in oil)

Grated garlic

* Try to choose a squash that is longer in the “tubular” area and less bulbous. Then try to just use that part for the recipe because it’s easier to peel and dice than the bulbous part. Best to weigh the squash before peeling/dicing. Cut off the long part first and weigh it (unpeeled) to try to get to the needed 2 pounds; if more is needed, then cut into the bulbous section, seed it, halve it or cut off a part of it and add it to the scale until reach 2 pounds or an ounce or two over 2 pounds.

Adapted from a recipe copied from a library book (title unknown).

[lyravega]

Thank you. 🙂

[lyravega]

[lylysa]

Cheers to that!

[DiVWA]

I bet it would be difficult to misplace those glasses. LOL Well, except maybe after drinking the entire contents of them.

[lylysa]

The large glasses are for functional purposes should anyone ask...y'know...so that way you never lose them because they're so large and always able to be seen out in the open! 😉

[lylysa]

Here goes one of my recent dinner ventures. Normally it's steamed pork spare ribs or pork chops that I'll make when involving pork as the meat, but my bf and I got porkloin at Costco last and I had my first hand at that.

Per usual, I'm a season to taste/smell/personal preference kind of gal so exact measurements aren't really my thing. 

Here goes! (I'll see if I can upload a photo later)

-3 porkloin pieces cut into medallions or bite sized chunks, the size of the pieces before they were cut resembled this:

-5-6 red potatoes, cubed, enough to fill the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish

-Olive oil

-Butter (I used about 2-3 tablespoons)

-Finely chopped garlic

-Onion powder

-Chili powder

-Rosemary

-Oregano

-Black pepper, I love using fresh cracked black pepper

-Salt, I like sea salt 

-Montreal Steak seasoning (optional, it adds a bit more kick because it's a spice blend)

*Preheat oven to 375

1. With the potatos cubed and in the baking dish, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle on rosemary, salt, pepper, onion powder, and chili powder and mix well (I tossed it all together with my hands)

2. Drizzle a little olive oil onto pork medallions and rub in salt, pepper, oregano, and rosemary

3. Melt butter down in a pan on the stove over medium-high heat, add in garlic to begin a roast. Once butter is melted down, lightly sear the pork medallions on both sides, remove from stove and add on top of potatoes

4. Set pan in oven to bake for 45-55 minutes

5. Once finished baking, remove from oven, let cool a bit, serve...eat...enjoy..devour...promptly enjoy food coma after!

I did have a it of honey water that I would drizzle over the pork while it was baking from time to time (did this maybe 3 or 4 times while it was in the oven) to ensure it wouldn't dry out and to add a very subtle sweetness to the pork without also drenching the potatoes.

This recipe can obviously be edited based on spices you like or even adding things like pearl onions or cut up carrots as well (I was out of carrots at the time, if so, I would have added them to the potatoes).

The pork came out very tender and the potatoes were roasted super well!

[EvangelineDamon]

I need to make this, asap!!