Best thing about Pinterest for me? you mean, besides all the amazingly adorable pictures of animals? All the amazing recipes!!! I am always, always on the hunt for new ideas in the kitchen, who wants to eat the same things over and over again? And the thing I love the most about Pinterest recipes is that these are not "cook book" recipes, with weird, hard to find ingredients that you will only use once and then throw away. These are easy, tasty, everyday recipes that you can usually whip up with things you already have in your cupboards! So I started pinning like crazy... ooohhh that looks so tasty!! - oohhh that looks so beautiful and fresh!! - ooohhhh I NEED to eat those cookies RIGHT NOW!!! and so it went until I looked and saw that I had pinned dozens of recipes and hadn't tried any of them!!! At that point I told myself that before I would pin anything else I would try the ones I had already earmarked... or at least a lot of them!!
Here is a compilation of the ones I've tried thus far and my thoughts on them.. some even with pictures! ;)
String Cheese Mozzarella balls - Super fast and easy, fairly tasty. Really, as tasty as the string cheese you buy. We buy the low fat string cheese which lacks a little bit of flavor so I seasoned the bread crumbs with fresh parsley and minced garlic. It helped a lot! I would definitely recommend this one if you want a little snack or an easy appetizer.
Corinne's Rating: 3 out of 5
Mini Tacos - Now these are amazing!!! I LOVE anything that lets me use a muffin tin! I added a few diced potatoes to my taco filling to stretch the meat a bit more and I used mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar, a lot less grease and fat that way. Only suggestion I would make is to cook it for a few minutes longer in the oven than it calls for, to really get that crunch on the won ton wrapper. And hey here is a picture of the ones I made!
Peanut Butter & Garbanzo Beans Chocolate Chip cookies - I was a bit skeptical about this recipe... garbanzo beans?!?!? in cookies?!?!? But this recipe has no butter, no flour, no sugar, no oil... I had to try it. Well, this one came out a little wonky... mostly my fault though. I accidentally overcooked them, it's kind of hard to tell when they are ready. Also, usually when I use a recipe that calls for peanut butter I always use crunchy peanut butter, I just love the extra little bit your get with the added crunch. However, I would not recommend it for this recipe, it really needs the creamy stuff to make the dough softer. You don't get the crunch anyways since you make this dough in the food processor. Even with all of that, we still ate all of them! Pretty tasty.
Corinne's Rating: 4 out of 5
Pizza Muffins - Once again, does it get any better than using a muffin tin to make your meals? And this recipe calls for the mini muffin tin!!!! Awesome!! These mini muffins are more mini quiches than muffins, but who really cares. I substituted the pepperoni bites with roasted turkey, much lighter that way. I didn't serve them with sauce but used them more as dinner rolls, they are so tiny and cute! It takes absolutely no time to make the dough and they are delicious!! Definitely something to try! Oh, and I have a picture of the ones I made!
Chocolate Chip cookie in a cup - Sadly this one was not as good as the Brownie-in-a-Mug. The dough is pretty good, but once you cook it in the microwave it becomes weird and somewhere in between a cake and a cookie.. sounds good right?!? Unfortunately it's more like a super dry cake meets an overcooked cookie. Not so good. But the dough is good so it's still not a zero.
Corinne's Rating: 2 out of 5
Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins - Ok, so let me start by saying that the name of this recipe is misleading, triple implies that there are 3 different types of chocolate involved. Not so, there is only 2, the cocoa powder and the chocolate chips. That being said, this actually turned out pretty good. Mine don't look anything like the ones in the picture, and they were very pudding like. Not sure where I went wrong, however they were still super good! and strangely addicting! You definitely needed a glass of milk with them though! Oh so chocolaty!! Yeahy! I am going to try making them again soon and see what I do with them this time!! I would definitely recommend trying this recipe.
So yummy! and here is a picture of the ones I made!
Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark - This was my one failure, and it was heartbreaking because it tasted so good, it just didn't set up! I haven't tried it again but I think there is something wrong with the way the recipe tells you to make the caramel... that's not how I have made it in the past. If you get the caramel right though, this bark is fantastic!! even though it didn't turn out for us, and it was stuck to the tin foil, we toiled and toiled to get even the smallest of morsels peeled off.. it was that good!! Definitely will try this one again... it could be one of my favorite sweets ever... I just love the contrast of sweet and salty in my desserts!
Corinne's Rating: 2 out of 5 with a possible 5 out of 5 pending retry
Creamy Avocado Pasta - Two thumbs up all the way!! This sauce is super fresh, nothing cooked besides the pasta. Tangy and rich at the same time, in the healthiest way possible. The creaminess of the avocado makes for a thick irresistible sauce which is enhanced by the citrus elements. I didn't have limes so I used lemons, also skipped the basil (only because I didn't have any :( ) and the Parmesan cheese. This sauce is so awesome there are no words to describe it!! I bet it would be fantastic on grilled chicken or even grilled fish. Can't wait to make it again!!! oh and I do have a picture, not the best quality picture but hey, it's better than nothing
Corinne's Rating: 6 out of 5!
Well that's it for now, I have only made a small dent into my list but at least it's something! Next on my list you ask? On deck this week is Mini Meatloaf Cupcakes and Pancake Bites!! I can't hardly wait!!
Till Next Time...
