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? 😄

[RandeeBT]

That looks delicious! And it's so beautiful to look at! 😄 

[DiVWA]

This looks intriguing -- sort of like a white fruitcake. I'm not into dried fruits except for currants, prunes and cherries, so not sure that I'd like this. I do like egg whites and nuts....

I'm glad you're feeling better today.

[lyravega]

Thanks, Diva.

Great thing about this "bread" is that you can make it with any combo of dried fruits and nuts you like. I'm crazy about dried figs, so that is my main ingredient always ( plus walnuts or pecans). The rest of them vary, depending on what I have on hand at the moment. But, my fave combo is: figs, apricots, raisins, cranberries, and walnuts/pecans. Sometimes I have those different kind of mixes of dried fruits, so I use whichever I have at the moment, with figs and nuts. Juice and zest of an orange give it all a very nice extra flavor.

Very easy to make, yet so very delicious. And, I'm not even a fan of sweets. 😛 ( But, I do have my moments. 😉 )

[DiVWA]

Tonight we had a spicy tomato pork bean stew. Super yummy!

The stew included pastured country style pork ribs, pre-soaked garbanzo and great northern white beans, onions, garlic, dried Arbol chiles, canned fire-roasted tomatoes, tomato paste, dark full-bodied beer, beef broth and fresh rosemary. Baked in oven at 325 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.

[lyravega]

Mmmm, this really looks yummy! If you tell me what country style pork ribs are, and if I could use something else instead of garbanzo... I need this recipe! LOL!

[DiVWA]

TY Lyra! Country style pork ribs are just a different cut of pork rib. You can use any pork rib (with or without bone) and this recipe would work. Substitute the garbanzo beans with any other type of pre-soaked bean (except lentil or split pea--you want a bean that can handle being cooked for a while). If you don't want beans at all, use potatoes or any root vegetable. Whatever you use, it has to be able to get along with a spicy tomato sauce.

According to what I found on Internet: "Country-style ribs are either split pork chops from the blade end of the loin, or they're cut from the shoulder closest to the loin. Good eating, but not true ribs to most people."

[Gwenhwyfar]

Tonight's dinner: pasta and parmesan alfredo sauce with roasted heirloom tomatoes, roasted garlic, crimini mushrooms, chopped basil, fresh spinach leaves, and ground sweet pork Italian sausage. So stuffed. Sorry about the poor lighting; it was fully dark outside by the time that dinner was ready.

[lylysa]

I want to dive fast first into that, don't even need the fork!

[RandeeBT]

This looks seriously delicious! It looks like what you would get from a fine Italian restaurant! I love the use of fresh basil over the dish! 

[blackkitty2014]

Oh mine, you are teasing me with this dish:)

[DiVWA]

Tonight I made meatloaf with organic beets in it (again), but this time I used golden beets. Other ingredients consist of grass-fed beef, organic mushrooms, nitrate-free bacon, and salt and pepper.

Even though you can see some yellow bits in the meatloaf, you can't taste the beets at all!

[blackkitty2014]

Delicious! I'm still licking my chop after that yummy dinner. 🙂 seriously, I love your dishes. I need to copy from you Divwa. 

[newandaddicted]

Roasted two whole chickens, rubbed them with cajun seasoning, garlic, and butter.  Also roasted whole red potatoes with butter and garlic. 

Gonna take the left overs to work for lunch tomorrow

[Gwenhwyfar]

Blackwhiskey inspired me to make pizza, so here is the beauty I created last night (I stole her spinach idea; I've never used whole spinach leaves on pizza before, but I love it!). Just finished the last slice for lunch today; pizza leftovers are always at least 10x better than the freshly made pizza because the flavors have a chance to mix an meld overnight and the aromatics (garlic, basil, etc.) have the opportunity to really flavor the whole pie. Yum!

The under layer: olive oil, salt & pepper, heirloom brandywine tomatoes, slivered garlic cloves, chopped basil leaves, crimini mushrooms, oil-cured kalamata olives.

The over layer: Wisconsin grande parmesan, fresh whole spinach leaves, more Wisconsin grande parmesan.

[RandeeBT]

This looks absolutely amazing! I love Kalmata olives on pizza! I love olives in general! They are one of my favorite foods!

There is a new pizza restaurant in my neighborhood and they only have Kalmata olives and green olives! So far I haven't convinced anyone who has gone there with me to get both types of olives on a pizza yet...I may have to go there on my own to get a pizza with both types of olives! 😄 

[DiVWA]

This looks yummy!

[knuevekm]

This looks great! I love arugula on my pizza. I add it right after the pizza comes out of the oven and the pizza is still hot enough to make the arugula wilt a little. 

[DiVWA]

Knuevekm, such a great idea. It's so easy to wilt greens by adding wet sauces on top or putting them on top of hot food!

[jozkid]

I love the mushies (unfortunately not an olive fan), but beyond that it looks fab-o!

[knuevekm]

This was tonights dinner. I found a list of "America's best mac n cheese" number one had a recipe so I had to try it. This mac n cheese is made with pepper jack cheese and some chili powder to give it a little bit of heat. I like to use cavatappi noodles because I feel like the cheese sticks to that shape really well. 

Recipe:

Spoiler

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups whole milk

¾ cup white cheddar cheese, freshly grated

¾ cup gruyere cheese, freshly grated

¼ cup pepper jack cheese, freshly grated

½ teaspoon coarse salt

¼ to ½ teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

~6 ounces of cavatappi pasta 

To prepare sauce, melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat and whisk in the flour. Continue whisking and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly add milk, whisking constantly. Cook until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add cheeses, salt, chili powder and garlic powder. Stir until cheese is melted and all ingredients are incorporated, about 3 minutes. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter or oil a baking dish. Cook pasta 2 minutes less than package directions. (It will finish cooking in the oven.) Rinse pasta in cold water and drain well.

Combine pasta and sauce in a medium bowl; mix carefully but thoroughly. Scrape the pasta into the prepared baking dish.

Bake, uncovered, 20 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

[RandeeBT]

That looks seriously delicious!