I absolutely love Pinterest! My current pin count is just under 10,500 and I have dozens of boards. I alternate between pinning from the tons of food and craft blogs (I have a different system for book blogs!) and pinning after mindlessly scrolling through the "Everything" option where I can see all the pins that have been pinned and repinned recently. In 2015 I realzied that while I relied on Pinterest for all kinds of things a lot of my boards were being seriously neglected and even in the boards I did use regularly there were still plenty of pins collecting dust. And that's where 52 Pins in 52 Weeks came from. At the first of the year I make a board called 52 Pins in 52 Weeks and fill it with 52 pins that I want to do over the course of the year. I've tried to include a good mix of food, holiday, and craft pins and push myself to step a little out of my comfort zone. I pin my results on my 52 Pins in 52 Weeks Results board. Some pins are wins and some are most definitely fails but it's always interesting to attempt them! This year I hope you'll share your Pin Wins and Fails with me and link up below! The format is totally up to you. Just post about the pins you've tried over the month (it can be multiple posts) and link up here! The link up will the the last Saturday of every month and I can't wait to see what everyone is doing!
Week 1
The Pin: Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies from Something SwankyThe Basic Idea: This is supposed to be a recipe that Neiman Marcus charged a woman $250 for. It's an urban legend but this is one of those recipes I see everywhere.
My Results: These were really good chocolate chip cookies and definitely worth trying. They're nice and crispy at the edges but still soft in the middle. However, I don't think I like them as much as my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe so I probably won't make them again.
Week 2:
The Pin: Bird feeders from Eighteen25The Basic Idea: Shaped birdfeeders to hang from trees or where every else you can hang a bird feeder from.
My Results: The Tornado and I enjoyed this one. He picked out the cookie cutters and helped me fill them. Today we're planning on getting them hung up in just the right places and then we'll see if the birds eat them so there's big bang for the buck. The whole thing is pretty simple and the supplies are really inexpensive - especially if you own cookie cutters already. My one issue is that if you want to make more than 1 or 2 you're going to need to quadruple the recipe. I doubled it and got 3 good sized cookie cutters worth out of it.
Week 3:
The Pin: Bakery Style Lemon Sugar Cookies from Real Mom KitchenThe Basic Idea: A thick sugar cookie with a lemony frosting
My Results: It's been cold and gray lately so I'm all about lemon flavors! I'd been burned by extract in citrus desserts before but this has enough actual lemon to counter the fake extract taste and it comes off as pleasantly tart. The cookie isn't very sweet but is buttery with a nice texture and the frosting is nicely tart. It sets up really well after about 20 minutes or so and they pack pretty well. Due to time constraints I didn't have time to refrigerate my dough for 2 hours so I rolled it up in a cylinder in plastic wrap and froze it for about 30 minutes and then sliced off the roll. This worked really well and is probably what I'll do next time I make these.
Week 4:
The Pin: Lose 10 Pounds in 10 Days by Drinking WaterThe Basic Idea: Drink 82 ounces of water a day to lose weight.
My Results: 82 ounces is a LOT of water. I tried to follow the plan that was laid out in the article as an "easy" way to get all the water in but it proved impossible so then I just tried to always have a bottle of water with me. I think I got 82 ounces in once or twice but was lucky to get 64 the rest of the time. As for my weight it is down a little but I'm not sure how much of that is from drinking water as opposed to being back on routine, eating better, and going to the gym regularly again. While I probably won't be drinking 82 ounces (or even 64) on a regular basis I did realize that drinking more water than I was makes me feel better so I will continue to implement the change.
Now your turn!
I'm linking up with Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads
Oh I think my kids would like to do the bird feeder one! I have also heard about the $250 cookie recipe. Glad they were good even if not your favorite.
ReplyDeleteMy squirrels would knock that bird feeder down and devour it! They are very persistent and do acrobatics to get to bird feeders unless they are super protected!
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
The bird feeder idea is fabulous, I want to try that. As for the cookies, I don't think my husband has met a chocolate chip cookie he didn't like. Great start to the new year with your pins!
ReplyDeleteYou had some great pins this month! Those lemon cookies look particularly delicious--I love anything lemon and the bird feeder ornaments are fun. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou certainly are an enthusiastic pinner! I've found that drinking more water does help. And, how can you go wrong trying new cookie recipes?
ReplyDeleteAlways fun to see what you've been up to with your pins. Of course I'm still drooling over both cookie recipes, and I do like feeding the birds, so those shaped feeders are appealing.
ReplyDeleteI love the mixture of pins you tried - those cookies do look pretty yummy, and whilst I do love a cookie, you wouldn't catch me paying $250 dollars for them, urban legend or not!!
ReplyDeleteHappy in pinning, and trying them out, in February.
I can't even imagine drinking that much water! I bet you'd lose weight because you'd be too full eat. LOL.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of the bird feeders. I may have to try that too.
And the cookies? Well they both look good.
Love the idea that you're adding a link-up. I'll try to get organized in the next few weeks and join it. (I mean I have good intentions, we'll see if I follow through)
Supposedly you should try to drink at least half your body weight. I try to do that which is why I have lots of loose leaf, David's Tea in my cabinet. It's like a snack or filler for me but my skin really appreciates it. I like the bird feeder shapes.
ReplyDeleteI really need to clean up my Pinterest boards. This is such a great idea and I think that you have inspired me to get at it! Those Neiman Marcus cookies sound amazing and I think that I have heard that story once before, too. Happy pinning! :)
ReplyDeleteMy all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is the one they used to print on the back of Arm and Hammer baking soda boxes. Ha ha. I love the little bird feeders. Lemon! I'm with you when it is dreary out, lemons are the best. The cookies sound delicious and I think I will give them a try. I am loving the link up. I already have my next pin planned. :)
ReplyDeleteThe lemon cookies sound wonderful! Of course, so do the chocolate chip ones. I just like cookies. 82 ounces of water is a lot of water. I don't think that I could easily drink that much in a day but I do need to drink more water. I am glad that these worked out for you!
ReplyDeleteNeimen Marcus Chocolate Chip cookies are great-I received their cookbook a few years ago and am a huge fan of that recipe.
ReplyDeleteThe irony is that I do follow your Pinterest, but because I'm all over the place when it comes to pins, I'm not as diligent about visiting you there. So today, I made a concerted effort and totally loved it, loved it! The water pin and the Valentine pin drink for the kids was fantastic, so I pinned them, but you have a lot of other really good things on there, as well. I'm going to try this challenge to see how it works, and think that it's a really good idea. Hugs...
ReplyDeleteThe lemon cookies look wonderful.
ReplyDeleteGoodness that is a LOT of water. No way I could do that. The rest of the pins sound great :)
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to try those lemon cookie! I've been really trying to drink more water this year and I must say my skin is much less dry than it usually is this time of year. But 82 oz? My god, you'd spend half your day drinking water and the other half peeing it back out again!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on a successful month! I think out of these pins the one I would try is the drinking-water one! I've also been trying to drink more water and exercise more, while eating better, since the New Year, and have lost a few pounds. I used to drink a lot more water than I do now, and need to get back in the habit! I forget about Pinterest for long stretches of time, but I mostly only use it for recipes and I tend to turn to my cookbooks for inspiration instead of to my Pinterest boards.
ReplyDelete