I love Pinterest. I love pinning recipes from my favorite food blogs or scrolling down the Everything section to see what everyone else has been pinning. I love the idea of all the crafts and recipes and everything else right there at my fingertips.
Right now I have around 10,000 pins in 60 boards. I do use Pinterest a pretty good bit but tend to stick to the boards regarding Dinner and let other delicious looking recipes or fun crafts languish unused and ignored. This year I'm trying to get more use out of Pinterest so at the beginning of the year I created my 52 Pins in 52 Weeks Board as well as a Results Board to keep track of it. I'll be posting my results the last Saturday of each month.
This month I'm missing a week because things got super hectic but I'm planning on doing 2 pins next week so I'll have an extra in August! I'm looking forward to chunky cucumber relish and Nutter Butter cupcakes coming up this week.
Week 27:
Pin: Elaine's New York Cheesecake from Love and Olive OilReason Picked: I was in the mood for cheesecake!
The Basic Idea: A traditional New York style cheesecake with a slightly lighter texture topped with a strawberry sauce.
The Results: Meh. I had some hesitations based on the cooking time because it seemed to long but I didn't really love the flavor of the batter itself. It ended up being too dry (cooking time) but the flavor wasn't something I'd want to try again anyway. I've normally had good luck with this blog but this was not a winner. I deleted the pin.
Week 28:
Pin: Ocean in a Bottle from Happy HooligansReason Picked: It looked like a simple experiment and one I had all the ingredients for
The Basic Idea: Combine colored water and oil in a bottle, shake it up and observe.
The Results: This was easy and fun. I used a 16 oz bottle because I had one on hand and it worked fine. I think it was a bit too simple for the Tornado (he's 6) but it'd be a great one to do with younger kids and he had a good time with it.
Week 29:
Pin: Loaded Chicken and Potato Skillet from Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy HourReason Picked: I love cheese and bacon - especially if it's topping potatoes and other things!
The Basic Idea: Cook chicken, potatoes, peppers and onions in a skillet. Add bacon, top with cheese and let the cheese melt. Serve.
The Results: For some reason I had it in my head that this dish was going to be coordinated. It's basically a one pot meal though another pot is required to boil the potatoes but that's done early on so you can wash that pot while the rest is cooking. I used a garlic seasoning blend instead of the cajun seasoning because J isn't a fan. I also used 2 red bell peppers instead of 1 red and 1 green because I don't like green (they really do taste different! Really!). The result was really good. J didn't want cheese on his so I only topped about a third of the skillet with cheese. It's also work great with sausage instead of chicken as a breakfast dish. I'll definitely be making it again!
Week 30:
Pin: Fizzy Bath Salts from The Idea RoomReason Picked: I love bath stuff and this seemed easy enough
The Basic Idea: A combination of Epsom salts, rock salt, baking soda and citric acid that fizzes up when you add it to a bath.
The Results: I really liked this one and it was super simple. to put together. I accidentally ended up with scented Epsom salt so I didn't add essential oils to the bath like she recommended. The fizz was fun and I like the skin softening of the baking soda addition. This is definitely something I'd make again and I like the freedom to use either different scented Epsom salts or different essential oil blends. All the ingredients were easy to find with the exception of the citric acid but I was able to buy a pretty good bit of that on Amazon for not very much. I've been wanting to try bath bombs and a few other things that called for citric acid so I was glad to go on and get some.
I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads
I do pin a lot as well but then find I forget what I have there. I am trying to remember to go look when I need ideas. I did, in fact, use two recipes I had pinned this week. I linked them in my Weekend Cooking post.
ReplyDeleteToo bad about the cheesecake :( It makes me sad to think of a cheesecake that wasn't wonderful. The potato dish sounds fabulous. I may need to try the ocean bottle idea with my niece and nephew that are 2 - they might enjoy it. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI'm not a cheesecake fan, too heavy; but the fizzy bath salts, yes will do that.
ReplyDeletePinterest looks like a lot of fun. I'm always looking for artwork and I invariably get directed there by Google, even though I don't have an account I can see a ton of art there, plus so much other stuff. I can see where it might be addicting!
ReplyDeleteStinks the cheesecake was a miss. The loaded chicken and potato dish sounds amazing though!
ReplyDeleteI need to get back on Pinterest. I have a friend who gets a lot of great ideas from there.
ReplyDeleteYour ability to set goals and then keep at them is impressive!
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
I am a red pepper lover, too. I usually buy fresh peppers but I have small bags of a frozen mix on hand, too, and I always pick the green strips out. I like tellow peppers also. I like really dense dry crumbly cheesecake, which is supposed to be NY style, but the best piece of cheesecake I ever had for my preferences was in Boston. I am looking forward to the Nutter Butter cupcakes next time. :)
ReplyDeleteWell it looks like most of them worked okay. I totally agree with you on the green peppers! I love the colored ones cause they are sweeter and do taste different from the green. :)
ReplyDeletePinning is fun - and so easy. Have a great week. Cheers from Carole's Chatter
ReplyDeleteI love that you actually complete your Pinterest projects! I try, but most of the time fail. I'm good with recipes. I try a lot of my Pinterest recipes, but crafts not so much. I always think I'm going to be awesome and do them but I never have the time or energy.
ReplyDeleteYay for most of them working out :D You're doing SO good with this. I've yet to do a single one of my Passionately Pinterest posts this year. I've hardly even looked at my Pinterest page. So sad!
ReplyDeleteI need to steal your idea and challenge myself to use my pins. Bummer on the cheesecake but the other pins sound great. I particularly like the idea of the skillet potato dish. And making your own batch salts is a great idea too.
ReplyDeleteThe chicken and potato skillet looks wonderful, my family would enjoy it.
ReplyDeleteI'm always pinning and then never look at them again! And yes green and red peppers really do taste different, I much prefer the red! Love the chicken and potatoe dish!
ReplyDeleteI love this idea of creating a 52 pins in 52 weeks! I am wanting to cook more healthy recipes at home, and I think this is a great way to help keep myself accountable.
ReplyDeleteI always like reading about your Pinterest. ;-) The fizzy bath salts look like fun and definitely too bad about the cheesecake--no fun when you are anticipating a treat and it doesn't live up to expectations.
ReplyDeleteI already thinking of gifts for Christmas and I think those fizzy bath salts would be a fun thing to add to my idea of a pamper basket. Thanks!
ReplyDelete