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]

Ooo are those almond slivers on there too?

[pinkonyx]

I had a gluten free corn-dog and fruit for dinner, yum.

[onomotopoeia9]

new obsession - peach greek yogurt!!!!

[Anonymous]

Ooooh What was your drink I love Mango>

[starletta8]

Mmm... tonight's dinner was a bit different and nice.

All of these fit on a salad plate, for serving size reference:

• Grilled mango-lime marinated shrimp
• Grilled asparagus
• Tiny scoop of mac and cheese

Plus, half a cup of lobster bisque.

It just felt like summer!

[Anonymous]

Yum! Sounds good starletta8! I'm a sucker for anything that involves mango and lime. 

[starletta8]

My beverage had mango in it as well, but we don't discuss such things here at BT! 😉

[starletta8]

Today I had a late brunch, and I'm smelling the roasted chicken legs that will be a late dinner.

[lylysa]

Mmm, I had chicken last night too!

[Anonymous]

For lunch today I'm having enchiladas, spanish rice, veggie refried beans, and a large strawberry lemonade. Yum!

[lylysa]

Strawberry lemonade sounds PERFECT for this weather! Oye!!! You should make a frozen slush version!

[Anonymous]

@lylysa it's funny you should say that because I was JUST thinking about how nice it would be in a slush formation. Haha. I really want one of those slushy magic cups.

[lylysa]

Ohhh those are fun! I had one ages ago, it took a while to start the slush creation but once it did....ohhhhh watch out and gimme a spoon! 😄

[kalex]

I have chicken breast thawed in the fridge and no idea what to do with it. Usually I would just sauté it with some veggies and sauce and serve it over rice but we ate out Chinese yesterday.  

Anyone have a favorite quick/easy no-fail dinner idea to share?

[lylysa]

Baked chicken is super easy, if you have panko or breadcrumbs at your disposal, if not, a quick trip to the super market works.

Butterfly chicken breast and cut into pieces or strips (your choice), lightly dust with corn starch or a bit of flour, dip in a beaten egg, I like to add some extra spices and seasoning like chili powder, onion powder, fresh minced garlic, fresh ground pepper, and whatnot to the pieces before dipping them in bread crumbs/panko. I've never seen seasoned panko flakes, but bread crumbs come with seasoned varieties so give some flavor.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (depending on the size and amount of chicken you're baking), and TAH DAH!

My bf actually did foil packet baked chicken that came out extra juicy. Same thing, oven at 350, bake for about 30 mins, but you just add seasoning/spices direct to chicken breast pieces then wrap in a foil packet and place in the oven, you can put the foil packets on a baking sheet if you're afraid the foil will tear or won't hold. We put about 2 pieces/strips in each pack.

[kalex]

Good ol' chicken strips!  That's something my kids can't complain about.  I have both panko and breadcrumbs in my pantry so that may very well end up being dinner!

[lylysa]

If you're not against frying, you can always do tempura chicken!

1 egg, 1 cup of flour (or corn starch), 1 cup of cold water, pat dry chicken pieces and lightly dip in flour (or shrimp, veggies, whatever you want to fry), then dip in mixture of the flour, water, and egg, then fry! 🙂

If you do shrimp and go traditional, peel and de-vein them (leave the tails on) and then cut down their bellies lightly and make a few light cuts across and bend them straight, the incisions should help "break" their shape so they fry out straight.

This kind of explains the cuts, no need to go crazy deep, but just light incisions do. 🙂

[Spyski]

Thanks for the insight, but I'm trying to steer clear from fried foods even lightly battered with panko sprinkled on. Part of the reason why I think he's so picky is that he was grown up on fast foods with high sodium and fried chicken. Hey, I like me some fried chicken, but not once a week. It's a very limited diet. hehe

[lylysa]

Same here, I don't do fried foods often, I bake way more than I fry, the few times I do get shrimp, it'll be an appetizer that I'll make the tempura for. Once I had so much extra batter I ended up frying broccoli! 😛 The tempura frying is something I've found that gives a much lighter fried shell, it's not heavily coated in flour and dry ingredients to where the batter is thick and extra crispy.

[Spyski]

That sounds yummy! My bf is a very VERY picky eater. Over the past years I've been getting him to try new things and let me tell ya it isn't easy! I'm one for more worldy foods, I'll try anything atleast once even the nasty stuff on Andrew Zimmerman's show! It took about 4 months of trying different recipes involving chicken and it boiled down to only one...which was grilled baja style chicken (basically chicken that tastes like tacos). After that, I've tried making regular ole ground beef crunchy tacos with no toppings. SCORE! He like it. Any suggestions on getting someone ease into trying new ingredients? It's a touchy subject with him, since he shys away from talking about his picky palette. 

[lylysa]

I believe it's really about finding a flavor he likes. Often times it's the FLAVOR that folks are scared of. If you know he likes things more mild, go for the standard garlic or onion, if you use fresh versions, cook them down in a skillet before adding in your meat so they're not as potent, add some oil in the pan so the oil itself gets flavor then remove the garlic/onion pieces.

If he likes light/aromatic things, try flavoring fish or chicken with a light dill sauce or even a touch of rosemary. Making reductions or thin/liquidy sauces to go over meats and dishes is a way to have him adjust how much flavor he wants. Same with balsamic vinegars or oils for salads or over pasta. Have him try some pesto or drizzle some flavored oil on toasted French bread. I've found doing a yogurt/cilantro sauce is excellent over fish or baja chicken tacos! It's light, refreshing, and good for Summer!

If he wants things a bit more bold, spice things with coarse salts (sea salt), fresh ground pepper, cumin, chili flake, and paprika.

What are some foods he likes and don't like? This has become like a fun "See what I can throw out for Spyski's bf" food challenge! 😛