Tag Archives: kale

what’s ringin’ our belle…round 109

13 Tuesday Jun 2017

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What we’re craving…


A Fennel and burrata salad (we love fresh fennel!!)

Or this Kale Caesar salad
Can you guess maybe one of us just spent a week in the DR?? And with teenagers…so not in some high falutin’ place.  Hence, we lived on quesadillas, hamburgers and chicken fingers.  It was great, until it wasn’t . Just sayin…
Good advice always rings our belle…


Never drink this on a plane!!!

We are always in need of some eye-catching earbobs


And a new footfancy never hurts!! 

Cheers!!  Let’s make homemade Pimms!!! (Practice up before Wimbledon, belles)

a&a

a scrumptious salad to take away our winter blues…

04 Friday Mar 2016

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The blahs of winter can really get us down, and we often struggle to find a new and vibrant salad to perk up our menus. We decided to stroll the market and create a delish taste thrill of our own.  Here’s what we came up with…and it does not disappoint. 

Kale and Romaine Salad with Blood Oranges and Asian Vinaigrette

For the salad:

3 cups julienned Lacinato Kale

3 cups chopped romaine

1/2 diced orange pepper

1 segmented blood orange

1 diced avocado

1/4 c salted pistachios 

  

Add your kale to a large bowl and drizzle with 1/2 T olive oil and a pinch of salt 

Then add your romaine…
  

Now add your blood oranges….isn’t that color divine????

  

Your orange pepper goes in next 
  

And then zee avocado….remember, she’s a good fat!!

 

Now scatter those pistachios about  

 
The colors are amazing . 

Now you’ll toss with this easy vinaigrette:

3 T rice wine vinegar

2 T sesame oil

1T soy sauce 

1t honey 

Cracked black pepper 

Salt 

Combine all in a jar and shake vigorously.
Pour the vinaigrette over the salad and toss  

 
Et voila…a beautiful and mouthwatering salad. 

Makes 4 side servings or 2 main servings . 

Let us know what you think of our creative cooking. Feel free to adapt to your liking…that’s what we do!!
a&a

the best of the belles…volume 1

14 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by in belle maison, belle-icious, fashion forward, healthy belle

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To celebrate two years of this blogging business…and nearly 400 posts (yes, we have hit quite a milestone)…we thought it would be fun to list our favorite – and most talked about – posts (’cause we are really, really sweet, and we all need gentle reminders of stuff we need to do, buy, make, read…)

In the #belleicious category:


First up…The French Poodle Vinaigrette. This salad dressing is a constant in our homes. If you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for?


Remember our foolproof Tenderloin recipe?  You’re welcome đŸ˜‰

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Belles love barbecue…and grandmother’s BBQ sauce is the gold standard…

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This roasted okra puts a tasty spin on a veggie favorite…

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And in other “eat your veggies” news…you must try this tomato pie…

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Seems to be all about the kale lately…this kale salad is a winner every time…


And if we are gonna splurge on dessert, it better be worth it. These salted caramel blondies do not disappoint!
Some #fashionabelle reminders:

White jeans…yes, you can wear them after Labor Day!

Aquatalia boots…you won’t believe the comfort, style and practicality!  Every one is a real belle-ringer…


For the mindful belle…these BUDHAGIRL bangles totally make the cut…

For the belle-maison:

 

Remember when we suggested Perennials outdoor fabrics?  Well, they are still our go-to for beautiful, durable upholstered pieces!


We are still all about acrylic pieces to bring a little light to a room…


And this fretwork from FretworkDesigns is still one of our favorites…
And, last…but not least…for the belle-on-the-go:

We still start every day with The Skimm (and some giggles)..we encourage you to do the same


And we keep track of our running around with our FitBit Flex, made Ă¼ber-stylish with our Bezels and Bytes bracelets…


And there you have ’em, belles…our faves so far!

a&a

what’s ringin’ our belle…round 5

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

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No we aren’t tired of it yet…especially when it’s in this salad .

A homemade pizza we are dying to try!

How to be ready for a party at a moment’s notice..and belles need to be prepared…always!

A lariat that we swoon over!! Or a lil’ drama for those ears…they deserve attention too!

The best way to Beat the heat! Would make a great Father’s Day gift too!

Michael you can do no wrong. This could be our new Uniform.

We all deserve a little Decadence …just sayin…

And, of course…a delightful cocktail.
Cheers!

a&a

get your greens…a healthy party pleaser to ring in the New Year

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

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Time to plan that New Year’s menu, belles…yes, more food!!! But, there’s no need to allow this occasion to dash our resolve to make a healthy start to 2015.

Spinach-Artichoke dip has been around for ages…and is still quite the party-pleaser. And with the added bonus of being 90% (our rough guess-timation) veggies, it has some powerful redeeming qualities.

But here’s a new twist from our friend Gwyn (not really)…posted on goop…

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It’s a Kale and Artichoke dip that sounds positively belle-icious!!

Think we’ll be giving this one a try. We encourage you to try it as well…remember, on New Year’s Day, greens mean “green” (aka: $$$) for the year ahead.

Wouldn’t want’cha to miss out on that, belles!!!!
a&a

kan’t kwit kale…

17 Thursday Apr 2014

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We are here to tell you, it’s true, we simply can’t get enough of the stuff. We jumped on the kale train and we are all on board.

This version we are sharing with you is from Joy the Baker. If you haven’t visited her blog yet, it is about time you did. We find ourselves getting lost in her recipes and the photos will tempt your taste buds.

Just a few ingredients and a little time and you will be thanking your lucky stars (and us) that you made this tasty salad with an Asian spin.

You will need:

A fresh bunch of kale (curly) stems removed, cut into the thinnest chiffonade you can manage.

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1/3 cup roasted almonds coarsely chopped

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In a bowl whisk together:
1 small clove garlic minced
Generous pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
Pinch of salt
2 T soy sauce
4 T rice wine vinegar
2 T sesame oil
2 t honey
Pepper to taste

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Now toss the kale , almonds and dressing and try to restrain yourself from eating it with your bare hands.

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The original recipe calls for sesame seeds but in our eagerness to create this we neglected to notice we didn’t have any in the larder. We also doubled the recipe because we just KNEW this salad was going to cause a ruckus if there wasn’t enough to go around.

In a word: scrumptious

a&a

kale, yea!

27 Thursday Mar 2014

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We see so much of kale lately! There’s a kale-this or a kale-that on almost every menu…but finding the perfect recipe for at-home prep is a bit of a challenge. “Cooking it down” as greens have been subjected to in the South since the discovery of the collard green just doesn’t seem to cut it. (“they” say it destroys all of the good stuff in it) Most salads we have tried are a bit overwhelmingly “green” – if you catch my drift. Enter our good friend and gastronome, Cathy, with the Perfect Kale Salad!! Dilemma solved…and belles ringing!!

Perfect Kale Salad

6 c. kale chiffonade

kale in process

1/4 c. panko, toasted

parmesan

3 cloves garlic, pressed

garlic

1/4 c plus 2 T parmesan, grated

parmesan (not panko)

4 T evoo

olive oil

juice of 1 lemon (and we like to add some zest!)

lemon juice:zest

3/4 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, and 1/4 t red pepper flakes

salt pepper red pepper

Place garlic, 1/4 c parmesan, evoo, lemon juice, salt and pepper into blender. Blend. Toss with kale. Just before serving, toss in panko and remaining parmesan.

Delicious perfection! Ring-a-ling!!

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a&a