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? 😄

[lylysa]

Last night was bacon cheeseburger casserole with mushroom chunks. It's like a grown up version of Hamburger Helper. 😄

In other news, I believe we all channel this meme when we see all the images posted here and read all the food posts:

[DiVWA]

For dinner we had spicy pulled pork with potatoes and broccoli.

[barbieletdown]

smoked salmon sushi burrito with wasabi guacamole!

[lylysa]

Did you make this yourself? I'd love a recipe or how it was all put together!

[lyravega]

Hubbz made my favorite dessert today... Chicken cracklings! YUMMMMM!!!!

[lyravega]

A lil' experiment. Made lasagna with egg white crepes cut into lasagna "noodles", instead of the real deal noodles. I was a bit skeptical about it... But, actually, it was really good! And, that's coming from someone who only like lasagna with the real deal lasagna noodles. 🙂 ( Once in a while I try to find an acceptable low/er carb version of noodles. I've tried zucchinis once before. That was terrible. And, after that - eggplant. That was even worse. But, this version is great! Yaaay! 🙂 )

[malday]

Oooooooooooohhhh, recipe??? I love eggs with anything haha.

[lyravega]

I made lasagna the way I always make it - meat "filling/sauce", ricotta cheese, mozzarella, parmesan...

As for the egg white crepes, I whisked 8 egg whites with 1 tablespoon of milk. Heated a 10 inch skillet over medium heat, coated it lightly with some coconut oil. Added just enough egg mixture to coat the pan in a very thin layer, about 1/4 ( or less ) of a cup. Covered the skillet with a lid and cooked it for about a minute. You can usually just dump the crepe right out onto a plate, but you might need to use a rubber spatula to help get it out of the pan. Cut them into noodles when they cool down. And, that's it. 🙂

[KateLovesYSL]

Thank you! I'll have to give this a try soon! Sounds delicious !

[lyravega]

I'll be back with details asap, I promise. 

[lylysa]

Me toooooo!!! I love steaming beaten eggs with chicken stock....it comes out like silken tofu!

[ShannonAlexis]

It got cold again, so I made Spanish turkey meatball stew (aka lazy-broke-grad-student-stew). I like to make things that I can eat off of for a few days, and the boyfriend like it so win-win. 

[AMHWKI]

That looks delish!  Mind sharing a recipe?

[ShannonAlexis]

Sure thing! I got it out of a WV Living magazine I think. I'll share the original and the changes I make.

- 2 table spoons olive oil

- 1 large onion     (I didn't have an onion so I just used a lot of minced onion flakes)

- 5 cloves garlic  (Didn't have this either so substituted with some garlic powder)

- 1 teaspoon paprika 

- 1 cup sliced carrots (I didn't have carrots so I used peas. Ideally I think both would be good)

- 2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes

- 2 cups of chicken broth

- 1 15oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (here I substituted 1 cup of ditalini noodles because I don't care for chickpeas)

- 1 and 1/4 pound lean ground turkey (I used Kroger lean turkey meatballs)

- 3/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

- salt and pepper 

- I chose to add baby spinach leaves as well

 - If you're going to use noodles instead of chickpeas, prepare them first and have them sit until ready. They're added pretty quickly. Also, where is says "skillet" I just used a big pot since I didn't transfer the mixture. 2 pots total - 1 for noodles, 1 for everything else.

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally until soft. Approx. 5 min. Transfer half of the mixture to a large bowl (this is if you're using ground meat. Since I used pre-made meatballs I just kept all of it in the pot). 

2. Add paprika and carrots to the onion mixture and cook for about 1 min. Add the tomatoes, chicken broth, spinach leaves (if desired), and chickpeas/noodles; bring to rapid simmer and cook (stirring occasionally) until the sauce thickens slightly (about 6 min). 

3. Meanwhile, add the ground turkey, parsley, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper to the bowl with the reserved of the onion mixture. Mix together and form about 20 meatballs. Place the meatballs in the skillet with the sauce and simmer, turing once, until cooked through, about 7 min. Serve with more pepper and parsley.

----Obviously I skipped this entire step since I used pre-made Kroger meatballs (1 and a half containers, although just 1 would have been fine). 

I did put a little extra paprika, some Italian seasonings, and various other spices in mine because I like spicy things. It's pretty fast (especially if you use pre-made meatballs) and kind of healthy I guess. It's pretty easy to add spices to the broth until you find a balance you like. 

I hope that was easy to follow, I didn't really do what you're supposed to. If you try it let me know if you like it!

[AMHWKI]

Thanks so much!  I will try this soon!

[lylysa]

Two nights ago, I made CHIP-KEN 😛

-2 chicken breasts, butterflied and cut into strips/pieces (I typically end up with 12-15 pieces when working with that amount of chicken)

-1 egg, beaten and set aside in its own container

-Flour or corn starch (used to lightly dredge chicken strips)

-Spices/seasoning (add these into the flour/corn starch, I like to use salt, pepper, and onion powder, feel free to keep it simple or jazz it up as much as your taste buds want)

-Chips, crushed up (no need to make it a super fine powder as you still want there to be crunch)

-Bread crumbs (optional, if you want to add in a seasoned variety in with the chip crumbles you can to help coat chicken even more)

Here are the chips I love to use:

They're pretty flavorful on their own (so I don't need to add in too many spices to the dredging step) with quinoa, brown rice, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seeds, oat fiber, safflower oil, and sea salt.

1. Set oven at 350, line a large baking sheet or tray with foil (because I'm lazy and don't wish to wash a pan after if I don't HAVE to). 

2. Dredge chicken in flour/corn starch mix that has been spiced/seasoned lightly, coating both sides of chicken strips.

3. Dip strips into beaten egg and transfer into a separate container with the chip crumbles (add in the bread crumbs if you want) and coat strips evenly.

4. Lay out strips on foil covered pan/baking sheet, move to oven, bake for 20-30 minutes.

5. Remove from heat, let cool a bit, enjoy as is or with any condiments/dipping sauces! 

You can really play around with the type of chips you use, you can even do baked varieties or use hearty crackers like Cheez-Its or Ritz Cracker Chips.

[DiVWA]

Sounds yummy and is something I also make. Except I substitute the chips for crushed pork rinds mixed with a bit of cashew meal.

[lylysa]

Speaking of pork rinds, my bf had a bag yesterday and I totally mentioned how we should use them as coating one day! You and I must be on the same wavelengths! 😉

[DiVWA]

Pork rinds make great coating--similar to panko crumbs without all the carbs.

I grind them up in my food processor by the bag. The spicy version is also good to have on hand.

[lylysa]

The reason why I've probably never breaded with pork rinds is because once I get my hands on them I make sure non are left! 😄 Haha! I love the spicy variations....gahhhhh now I must do this soon!

[lyravega]

Paleo chicken bruschetta. Sooooo good!

And, new batch of homemade garlic butter. This stuff is just unbelievable yummy. I use it for/in/with anything and everything!