Another pinterest recipe roundup

Some good, some bad, all made and rated by me......

B made these eggs and spicy beans for dinner last week. Incredibly easy weeknight meal and really, really good. I love the fact that these can be altered for a variety of diets (dairy free, vegetarian) when you have guests who have a more restricted diet. We added a little more red pepper and a little more goat cheese than what was called for. We put in 5 eggs for the three of us. It's pretty much a one skillet meal (besides the cutting board for chopping), so clean up is easy as well. This is definitely going on our weeknight rotation.

Jessica posted  this recipe a few years ago and when I went to make it this winter, the site was gone (it was her other blog). I freaked out and flew onto facebook to find out if she could email it to me. We were headed to a party and I knew this was "the" dessert I wanted to take. I have pinned the trifle I make with the poundcake. It's beyond rich, is utterly delish, and looks so pretty at a party. Don't you just think that trifles just scream elegance and effort? What's awesome about them is that they aren't hard, they just look that way :)

We have made this salad twice in the last three weeks. The first time we also threw some chicken on top. Tonight we added apples and celery for added crunch. It's a fabulous recipe and holds up well (even with the dressing on it) for the next day's lunch. Highly recommended. Also, Madison (the blogger) is a real sweetheart, so add her to your blog roll!

This peach smoothie is just okay. It calls for a teaspoon of nutmeg and that really, really overpowered the taste (and, to be honest, I used less than that). A touch of nutmeg would have been good but what she calls for is just too much.

With Valentine's Day right around the corner, I have to bring these cookies to your attention. They are a little involved with the piping into heart shapes but definitely worth it! I've made them the past three years and they get rave reviews every time. The red velvet is delish and cream cheese frosting is always good, right? Annie is always spot on, so if you are ever looking for something to bake, I would always suggest her site first!

For Spencer's class this year, I am going to have him help me make these rice krispie treat pops (scroll down) for his classmates. We're going to make a big, thick pan of rice krispie treats, cut them out with cookie cutters, place them on sticks, and then pipe pink and red frosting on the top around the edge or write words on them like conversation hearts. I still need to pick up the bags and ribbon to go overtop. I'm hoping they'll turn out cute! I'm going to take them to the infant room teachers as well.

For Thanksgiving, I was in charge of the rolls as well as the apple pie. I used this recipe for the rolls. Honestly, they were, by far, the best rolls I've ever made and probably the best I've ever had. They were puffy and buttery and just melted in your mouth. Yes, they are styled after Pillsbury Crescent rolls, but these are 1,000,000,000 times better. Spencer loved helping to roll them up too!

What new recipes have you tried? I'm always looking for good recipes for dinner and love to bake pretty much anything!!

A few things I love right now

Darling clutch from here. Love the equestrian inspired buckle closure

Favorite lipgloss

One of my favorite board books. It's so sweet and would be a perfect baby shower/Christmas present/1st birthday present for a baby in your life.

This bread will change the way you think about breadmaking. I promise, it is as easy as it looks. And it is to die for delicious with an amazingly chewy crust. It makes me look like I'm a master baker and, really, I just pinterest really well (!!!!).

Have a great Tuesday evening!

Applique tutorial

I saw this applique tutorial on Pinterest, and I decided this was something I definitely wanted to try. I'm so glad I did. The tutorial is easy to follow, and as long as you have basic sewing skills (and I mean basic), you can definitely knock this out!!

I had the long sleeved onsie for Peter (actually from when Spence was a babe) and I bought Spencer's shirt for $5 at Target. I bought the all the fabric on sale at Joanns, bought the Wonder Under there too, and went to work. I literally copied the patterns for the pumpkin, the stems, and the leaves right off the computer by taping the fabric to my computer screen.

I've already washed the shirts and, great success, the appliques didn't come off. I definitely was worried that they would!!

I have already cut out and wonder undered a few other shirts and now just need to sew them. I have green and navy trees for a wintertime scene, a P and a S as a simple monogram, and a ghost for Halloween. It's a fun, easy, and cheap way to do cute shirts for boys (which are hard to find, especially when I want them to match). I'm hoping to do an anchor and sailboat for next summer and perhaps a 3 and a 1 for their birthdays next May.

 

Have you ever appliqued before? I promise, you can totally do this! The original poster states that she finds heavier fabrics easier to work with, and after using both lightweight and heavier fabric, I would agree with her. Corduroy is really easy, and satin would suck. So try to find heavier fabric if it's a possibility!! I do have to say that the orange and white stripe fabric used above is quite lightweight and, while it was harder to use, it ended up being just fine. The burlap I used for the stems was a PITA though. I would never use that again!! Live and learn, right?

 

Anyway, I love the tutorial and I thought some of you might find it useful!!

 

 

Pinterest recipes

I love Pinterest. I could not ask for a better place to organize my ideas. I think the problem I have with Pinterest is that when you go back to update your board, your followers don't see your updates. This, to me, only becomes a problem with recipes. I want the followers of my food board to know if I liked a recipe, if I hated a recipe, if I tweaked a recipe, etc. I have tried a LOT of my pins (and have deleted the ones we'll never eat again) and wish there was an easier way to let people know that certain ones are really good IRL.

I've decided to post a few of my favorites here, so at least all of you will be able to check out these, knowing that they're tested and delish!!

Gazpacho Chicken Salad- amazing. We've made it 3 times already in the past month. I add one can of cannelini beans (rinsed and drained) and use about half of the tomatoes (we're not huge tomato fans around here). This makes a great dinner and is wonderful for lunches throughout the week. Serve it with Naan or Ciabatta bread and a great white wine. Would also be wonderful for a ladies lunch on a bed of lettuce.

Honey Lime Chicken Skewers and Black bean, corn and avocado salad- Easy weeknight dishes that work well together but also delicious enough to serve to company. You wouldn't even have to do the skewers- just grill the chicken breasts instead of cutting and skewering. You could then serve the chicken over a bed of cilantro lime rice with black beans if you don't want to make the avocado salad (but you should make it- it's so good!). Again, both of these make great leftovers- the chicken is great chopped small and added to the salad.

Penne with vodka cream sauce- B and I make this every Valentine's day. If there were a recipe that shaped our relationship, this would be it. Amazing "date night in" meal. This year, we're going to try it with homemade pasta. I cannot wait!!!!

Baked spaghetti with cream cheese- A great dinner for a cold winter's weeknight. Really easy, very kid friendly, easy to sneak extra veggies into. We added spinach (I will add spinach to practically everything I can) as well as a few chopped bell peppers.

Monogolian beef- I don't really like Chinese food, so I wasn't expecting much from this dish; however, B loves it, so I made it to make him happy. It was much better than I expected, and it will definitely go into our regular rotation. I served it with stir-fried veggies and put the beef and the veggies over white rice. I did think it was a little too sweet, so I will cut back on the sugar next time. I'm sure it's much healthier than any restaurants version of Mongolian Beef!!

Slow Cooker Tiki Masala- This recipe (and the butter chicken recipe in the post) are our favorites that I have pinned so far. They are both better than any Indian food here in GR, and I love that they're crockpot recipes. I use boneless skinless chicken breasts in both recipes as it cuts down on the grease and the fat. Spencer loves both, too, so I would consider them kid friendly. I throw a bunch of peas into the Tiki Masala for color and nutrition!

Grilled brussel sprouts- If you haven't tried brussel sprouts in awhile, give them a try. They really are quite good if done well. Prior to this recipe we had never grilled them. We always roasted them with balsalmic. I didn't skewer them as we forgot to soak the skewers while we were at work, so we just did them in the grill basket instead. Worked like a charm.

Dairy free double chocolate granola bars- . I found out that our local grocery store does sell the Enjoy Life brand of dairy free chocolate chips and this has pretty much changed my world. I have made these granola bars twice in the past two weeks and take one of these every day in my lunch as my treat. If you aren't dairy free, just use whatever chocolate chips you like, but definitely still make these. I don't use the other weird flaxseed cereal, I have just crushed up frosted mini wheats instead, but I would also sub corn flakes, wheat chex, crispix, rice krispies, or another plain cereal. B loves these, and he is the first to criticize "fake" things that I make when I am dairy free. Trust me, you will be glad these are in your freezer/fridge when you need an easy snack that is full of fiber and delicious! The granola is amazing on it's own, and, if I could, I would eat it with vanilla yogurt every single morning!!

Bananas, peanut butter, and nilla wafer sniacks- I made these for a church picnic this spring and the kids liked them a lot. I thought they were just okay. I had hoped they would be better. If you do make them for a birthday party or playdate, know that they cannot sit longer than a few hours without getting the nilla wafers mushy from the banana. Definitely not something you can make the night before.

Buckeye bark- I adore chocolate and peanut butter so I thought these would be my favorite thing ever. I definitely do not think they are as good as regular buckeyes (though they were a lot easier than rolling out the balls). B liked it and the friends we gave our Christmas goodie packages too said they really liked it, but I didn't love it and I'm not sure if I would make it again. I have too many other favorite sweets to make something that is just "okay" in my opinion.

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes- You NEED to make these. Not even a question. Your husband/boyfriend/fiancee/girlfriend/roommate will love you, and your children will think you are the best mommy ever. We made them for a Friday night in one night last winter and just about died at the deliciousness. These would be a wond erful Saturday after Thanksgiving breakfast when the whole family is together and you are getting into the holiday spirit. I think they would also be lovely as a birthday morning surprise. I promise you that you and everyone you serve them to will love them. PROMISE!!

Frozen banana "ice cream"- This is currently my dessert of choice since I can't eat real ice cream right now. I do bananas, peanut butter, cocoa powder and vanilla- it's fabulous and quite a bit less fattening than regular ice cream even with the peanut butter. You can definitely still taste banana pretty strongly, so if you aren't a banana person, don't bother trying this. I also add a bit of almond milk during the food processing process to make it creamier.

Carmelitas- Hands down, the BEST recipe I have pinned. I have gotten repeated requests to make these again and again and again. In fact, they're so good that I've already blogged about them! I cannot tell you the joy I felt when one of our church friends brought over dinner for us two weeks after Peter was born and she brought a whole container of these. I literally called B at work screaming with joy that Alyssa had brought us carmelitas. Just watch the faces of people you serve these too- I promise they'll be just as excited as I was!!

I hope this run down gives you a few new recipes to try! Please let me know if you do. Also, if you have pinned recipes that you love, please let me know. I am always looking for new ideas!!  Happy cooking!

Quick weeknight fall dinner

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and decided to try it for dinner this week as the picture couldn't be more delicious looking.  I think B would agree, it was awesome!!  For a quick and easy weeknight dinner, it really can't be beat.  We made cheddar biscuits to go with it, though it would be equally good with a great storebought or homemade focacia bread. 

I did tweak the recipe a bit.  I added another can of tomatoes, another can of white beans, a little extra crushed red pepper, and 16 oz of frozen tortellini rather than the dried (it's just what we already had at home).  I wanted it to be a little heartier (8oz of chicken broth is a LOT!).  I also had a ton of spinach on hand so used that as my leafy green. 

Definitely put this on your weeknight rotation.  You'll love it!!!! 

(We're trying another Pinterest recipe tomorrow night- Tiki Masala.  If it's good, I'll let you know!)

These are a few of my favorite pins.......

Perhaps it's the fact that it has been really hot here or perhaps it's that I always dream of what it would be like to have my summers off, but the past few days, all I can think about is the sound of the lake as it comes rolling in at night, the summer breeze through the trees, and the fabulous nights when you need just a little nightie, a thin sheet, and you're just a tiny bit chilly.

The pictures below help me to dream this just a little bit further.....

Do any of you dream of a sleeping porch?