Food!!

Hubs had an extra day off this week so he decided to spoil me with a nice dinner. I only take credit for slicing the potatoes though. He literally made everything else. So what was for dinner, you ask? Here it comes... *drum rolls*

Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Chicken with Scalloped Potatoes!  

The Preparation

diced veggies, scalloped potatoes, stuffing, and bacon wrapping

The Finished Product

And of course, a peek inside :)

 

♥B

Pre/Post Workout

PRE

POST

(PRE) My staple sandwich & glass of OJ - deconstructed as follows: oat and honey bread, spicy hummus, honey mustard, spring mix greens, ham, smoked turkey, avocado, oat and honey bread.  

(POST) My play on Belle's mushroom sage gravy grilled chicken - Garlic, mushroom & onion gravy SMOTHERED chicken with watercress and wild rice

I love my protein and I love it even more after a great workout. This meal definitely hit the spot and has earned a spot in my book of recipes! Maybe Belle or I will post a recipe as soon as we aren't lazy and enjoying our food too much. :)

♥M

Spring-ing

Wow it's been a while since we both updated! As you can imagine, we're busy enjoying the spring weather outdoors. I went out with the family today and it seriously felt like summer already. Anyway, Saturdays mean prepping food for the week - things like baking, or pre-cooking and freezing food. Today it means CHICKEN STOCK/BROTH! If I'm lazy, I tend to resort to chicken cubes which are in fact high in sodium and probably a bunch of other things that aren't necessary to one's body. Instead, I make my own! It's a nutritious alternative to store-bought stock or broth because you control what goes into the stock.

Ingredients: fresh parsley, celery, carrots, onion, tomato, garlic and raw (bone-in) chicken

That's all. You literally put all that in one pot and cover it with cold water. Let it boil and simmer for at least 4 hours so that all the ingredients can really flavour the water.

No, seriously... Just throw it all in one pot. It's so easy you could probably do this blindfolded.

So hopefully, it'll inspire you guys to make your own chicken stock as it really is healthier. If you're a vegetarian, you can just omit the chicken and you get vegetable stock!

* * *

What else to do while you wait for chicken stock to boil for a few hours?

Finger paint!

 Essie - Chinchilly (3 coats)

Happy Saturday everyone!

♥B

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Here's a meal that I am happy to say was a collaboration between my brother and I... and by that I really mean I cook he eats. Well.. he was the one who made the trip to the grocery store! We were both being health nuts so we decided on loading up on the veggies and protein and reducing the carbs and fat.

Sweet Chilli & Pepper Chicken Breast, Potato Wedges, Baked Carrots, & Romaine Lettuce Salad

♥M

Temporary Gluttony

Doesn't it feel so good when someone else makes a delicious meal for you? Yes it does! I'm a sucker for comfort food, and of course hubs knows that. Being the wonderful chef that he is, he loves to take comfort food to the next level and try to keep it nutritious at the same time. Most of the time it is much healthier than eating out so I don't complain!

This was Monday's dinner: Mac and Cheese... Or is it?

Well, it sort of is! It's penne and cheese. Looks great doesn't it?

This may be one of the less nutritious ones, but hey,

we can all be gluttons sometimes!

Of course we can't complete a meal without fruits...

Strawberries and sugar.

I know what you're thinking, "you're crazy for dipping strawberries in sugar!".

JUST TRY IT ONCE.

Thanks for reading :)

 

♥B

Curry Chicken

This has ought to be one of my most favourit-EST foods ever. I am terrible at documenting my cooking adventures and I usually cook without a recipe so my apologies for the lack of a recipe and list of ingredients.. but here are a few tips! I recently started conjuring up my own recipes for curry based on what my parents used to make growing up. For a more authentic flavour, I find the type of curry powder and addition of coconut milk make it closer to the real thing, so try and find a legit store to choose your ingredients from. A quick and simple tip to add more flavour along with whatever spices you are using is to add a block of S&B Japanese curry, which I had used for this recipe. It instantly thickens the sauce and adds a touch more curry flavouring in which there can never be enough! To add more of a kick, throw in some red chilli's (seeds in for a real good kick) and let it simmer in the sauce.

Curry Chicken & Egg garnished w/ Nori Flakes & Fried Onions on Rice

♥M

Catching Up

Finally got the chance to blog. I'm typically busier on Mondays and Tuesdays than I am any other day of the week. The biggest reason being that hubs has these two days off, and work is always hectic on these days as well. Wednesday is almost one of those relief days for me since I get to just sit back and relax after a long day of work and errands. Errands being... cook, clean, tend to the daughter and whatever else that needs to be done.

Anyway, for the past couple of days, I've been eating such yummy food I had to take pictures and share them! Most of them were actually made by hubs (he's the chef in the family) but no recipes though. If you want them, feel free to email us at belleplusmel@gmail.com and I'd be happy to let you in on some secrets hehe.

A) Roasted Lamb with homemade fries, green beans and grape tomatoes - Okay, I can't take credit for this at all. Hubs totally made this for dinner on Monday night and mymouth had several orgasms.

B) Shredded Chicken open-face sandwich - Made with crisped up potatoes, some carrots and drenched in delicious gravy over whole wheat toast

C) Mapo Tofu with vegetables and spam - This is one of my daughter's favourite meals. It's literally just rice, tofu, green beans and little bits of spam. She already knows what comfort food is!

D) Chicken in mushroom gravy with asparagus and garlic whipped potatoes - This was just my dinner tonight :) Nothing special but still good.

Hopefully that made your stomach ache a little because it definitely makes me hungry all over again...

On another note, I have a clinical addiction to oranges lately. I seriously eat 2-3 a day almost everyday. I have one a day at least. I guess it's better than being hooked on someting unhealthy. So in celebration of having such a nutritious addiction, I painted my nails just that colour! Yay!

This polish is from Joe Fresh, most commonly found in Canada's Real Canadian Superstore (formerly known as Loblaws). I bought these for a ridiculously great price at $10 for 3 bottles or $4 per bottle. And these weren't even on sale... Surprisingly the formula was great. It's heavily pigmented which only required two full coats. The colour is Pineapple but as you can see, it's almost identical to my oranges! I would've thought pineapples were a bit more yellow but oh well. It's a really cute colour especially for spring. Definitely check out Joe Fresh if you can find their products.

Goodnight. 

♥B

Friday Night In

TGIF! I've honestly learned to appreciate my weekends a ton more now that I'm working full time again. Usually I bring work home to do, but I opted to take it out of my bag to refrain from going into workaholic mode on a Friday night. Instead, I made a nice meal while waiting for hubs to get off work.

Chicken Stirfry with Steamed Egg on Rice

I decided not to do a specific recipe because this is totally easy to recreate. In fact, you could add whichever vegetables and meat that you want. It's one of those "clear your fridge" meals! All I used were carrots, red bell peppers, green beans, onions, garlic and shredded (already cooked) chicken. In terms of the sauce and seasoning, I added a bit of hoisin sauce, soy sauce, chinese five spice, sugar, salt and pepper. For the steamed egg, believe it or not, just mix eggs with a bit of water, salt and green onions and pop it in the microwave for 3-4 minutes. I topped the stirfry with chopped salted peanuts. The peanuts gave some crunch and flavour since I only used a pinch of salt for the entire plate!

This yummy and healthy stirfry was just THAT simple. I love to make meals that are colourful since they always say: You always eat with your eyes first. Mel and I enjoy plating most of our meals prior to eating, picture or no picture. There's nothing like sitting down, visually enjoying your culinary creation, and then emptying your plate. Hopefully some of our recipe-less posts will inspire you to reach into your inner chef (we all have one!) and create food on the spot that is delicious yet nutritious. Happy Friday everyone!

 

♥B

Hump Day

Am.
Time to get back on that health tip. I love having a cup of jasmine green tea in the morning.. it instantly warms me up and makes me feel refreshed! Lunch consisted of a seasoned chicken breast, broccoli florets, sauteed mushroom, and avocado. I made sure I had an extra large portion of vegetables to sub for all the carbs that I had devoured the past few days.. can't go wrong with having too much veggies! As a snack I had a kiwi.. not a huge fan (because it makes my tongue feel funny) but it was the only fruit laying around the house for me to eat.

They call me "Miss Teacher"

Outfit of the day.

Nude lips - to be blogged, Striped long sleeve shirt - H&M, Trousers - H&M, Faux Leather Bag - H&M

Pm.

Here's another simple recipe that turned out DELECTABLE - Chicken Souvlaki w/ Tzatziki sauce. The idea came from out of the blue.. but somehow putting together ingredients that I had to use up worked! For those who aren't familiar with this, it's a popular Greek food which can be made of small pieces of any type of meat (usually pork, chicken, or lamb) often served with vegetables, rice and/or potatoes, and a 'tzatziki' sauce. My sides were wild rice with sauteed mushrooms (as you can see I love mushrooms) and zucchini. Here's the deal.. you will need: 

for the Chicken Souvlaki 

1 Chicken Breast

1tsp of each S&P

2 tsp oregano

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp olive oil

for the Tzatziki Sauce

3 tbsp plain yogurt

1 tbsp sour cream

1 tsp of each S&P

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp creamy cucumber salad dressing (due to my lack of cucumber I replaced this with a Kraft salad dressing which substituted it quite pleasantly!) 

1 clove of garlic, finely minced

Note: I strongly stand by Michael Smith's secret to a recipe which is simply cooking without one! Most of my measurements are done by eyeballing or by taste and personal preference - so don't be afraid to alter the proportions. I was highly impressed by the results of making this for the first time.. It was absolute heaven and I can't wait to make it for my family and friends! I definitely see my self making this in the future and tweaking it to perfection. Enjoy!

GOOD night.

♥M

Currently Eating..

Warning: This post just might make you hungry!

It should be obvious that we absolutely lovelovelove food. We love to eat it, cook it, look at it, take pictures of it, you name it! FOOD = LOVE. Here's a little peak at what was on today's menu. Enjoy!

Brunch

Avocado, Garlic Mushroom, Seasoned Chicken Breast, Swiss Cheese Melt opened face sandwich w/ a refreshing Avocado Salad on the side

Dinner

Lemon & Pepper Salmon, Garlic Zucchini, and Butternut Squash

♥M