Category: pinterest

Pinterest is a love hate thing for me.  I love it in that it actually does inspire me to cook and create.  I try not to pin anything that doesn’t link back to a solid recipe in the case of food photos because I don’t claim to be a recipe developer, rather just a solid home cook.  I think that my Pinterest record is pretty dismal though and that there is a pretty high failure rate in either myself or the Pinterest pinned recipes.  I have realized that I don’t always cook to the recipes.  I will read them and generally follow the amounts specified-if they make sense.  Early on in my cooking I realized that chef driven recipes can take days to prep so I had better be prepared for that on the front end..  I can usually tell what won’t work or isn’t a classic ratio.  But… I don’t keep track of how I tweak and change things – not enough to be helpful anyway.  So, from this day on, I vow, that if I recommend a recipe, I’ll note how I made it work for me if it doesn’t on it’s own.

So, I made this recipe for cucumber salad recently and it is a total winner.  I have ‘cooked’ Indian food before and found it complicated and felt it was out of my reach to do it really well.  This little salad totally expanded my view and makes me think about giving it a second (or third or something) chance.  It was simplicity in itself and although it has a few ingredients well worth the price because there were plenty left for future salads.  It was spicy and cool at the same time as well as sweet and salty.  We will eat this again and again.  I used English cucumbers and was well pleased with the result.  I had only one cucumber so it may have had a slightly higher dressing and accompaniments to cuke ratio than the recipe states.  I also was generous in my coconut and peanut measurement. Pinterest wins today.

we tried these most amazing meatballs I pinned on pinterest. The original recipe links back to Better Homes and Gardens. We used turkey for the balls which were glazed with apple cider and soy sauce served over mashed potatoes. We’ve now actually made them twice they were so good. Sweet and spicy and topped with green onions. We halved the meatballs and made the same amount of sauce and used it for gravy. Huh-I want these today!

ugh.  I have a terrible cold.  Some long days at work trying to wrap my biggest project of the year combined with lots of change and some personal griefs gave the opening for it to take up residence sometime overnight.  I have a delightful glass of Airborne sitting next to my keyboard. We did however, make pin-dinner last night.  Idaho Sunrises.  Which is what you ask?  Cups made of shredded hash-browns (Idaho) and filled with eggs and cheese (Sunrise.)  The pin linked to a relatively nondescript recipe which said the potatoes should need 15-18 minutes.  One thing I have found with pins and blog recipes is that ‘results may vary.’  My potatoes took no less than 35 minutes to brown – now, that said, I used a silicon pan instead of metal which may or may not have had something to do with it.  We left out the bacon and had breakfast sausages on the side and added some sliced green onions. We also used scrambled eggs instead of medium eggs whole as I don’t think I’ve ever bought a medium size egg.  Large are my go-to.  We will definitely make this again!

second night of pinteresting dishes and we had tilapia piccata with parmesan cous-cous and garlicky buttered and oven toasted baguette. Slightly butter heavy supper made healthier with a generous scattering of parsley. I mean really. Anyhow, the whole thing took twenty minutes to assemble, preheat the oven and cook. And everything tastes so bright with lemon, white wine and capers. The recipe for this comes from Melissa D’Arabian and was pinned from foodnetwork.com. I love how piccata comes together with a gentle swirl to emulsify the sauce. If you like quick and easy fish dishes, this is for you. Two for two.