Pinterest Recipe Reviews

Everything looks delicious on Pinterest, but sometimes when you make it, it's just not as good as you were expecting it to be.  Lately I have tried out a few recipes, so I thought that I would share my thoughts so that maybe you can try them too!  (I hate the way you embed Pins now, so I'm just going to link the original website.)



Chicken Taco Bowls

 I really enjoyed this Chicken Taco Bowl.  It is basically shredded chicken, corn, salsa, black beans and some spices.  The best part?  I threw it all in the slow cooker before work and so dinner was basically done when I got home.  Ryan wrapped his up in a tortilla and ate it as a wrap, which I'm sure is also delicious!

Caprese Chicken

 This was another good recipe.  I am a huge tomato fan though.  I forgot to add the balsamic vinegar at the end, but it was still really good.  Cheese, tomato and basil = win.


Zucchini, Black Bean and Rice Skillet

Of the three recipe's I have tried recently, this was probably my least favourite.  However, I did feel that it was fairly healthy and so I still enjoyed that part of it.  It was good enough, just slightly bland. 

So there are three of my recent attempts at cooking.  I'm not sure that Ryan was thrilled with any of them, so they are maybe slightly girly meals.  But we can't have sausage, hamburgers and pizza everynight!  (Which I'm pretty sure would be his choice.)

Sugar Free Banana Bread

 So by Saturday, which was about day 5 of being sugar free, I was really just craving some carbs.  So I went on a hunt for sugar free recipes.  I found that a lot of them contained either splenda or stevia, neither of which I had.  But then I found this banana bread recipe on a friend's facebook page.  It does contain honey, but as I allow natural sugar, it's allowed!  So I realize that I'm kind of cheating and this was exactly what I was trying to avoid, but this banana bread may be preventing me from eating desserts, so I will let it go this time.

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup honey
2 eggs beaten
3 mashed bananas

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2.  In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt
3.  In a separate bow, mix applesauce and honey.  Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well moistened.
4.  Stir banana mix into flour.  Stir just to moisten
5.  Pour in loaf pan and bake 60-65 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack.

Even Ryan doesn't think that this is bad.  It was actually pretty moist and despite a still rather high calorie count it contains much healthier ingredients than regular banana bread.

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Deliciousness on a Graham Cracker

First off, my goal for the summer is to work on my photography.  I'm not taking any courses and I think that it would be a great time to really focus on learning something new.  I also want to learn how to take better photos of food.  Some people out there have such great food pics an mine are just blah.  Half of the problem is that I'm usually too impatient and want to eat it before I take pictures of it.  Oops.

For the roofing event, I made these S'more Cookies.  My mom makes them all the time and they are deliciousness.  I'm not sure where she originally got the recipe from, but I googled it and found one on the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything just to make sure that I was kind of doing it right.  On that blog, she makes the chocolate chip cookies from scratch.  We use a roll of Pillsbury cookie dough, it makes these cookies quick and easy.  What more do you want from a recipe?

What you need:
Graham Crackers
Mini marshmallows
Plain chocolate bars - I used Jersey Milk
Pillsbury Cookie Dough

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lay out the graham crackers on the cookie sheet.  Scoop tablespoons of cookie dough onto the graham crackers.  I put a bit too much on, they don't need to be large tablespoons.

Cook for 5 minutes.  Take out and press one square of chocolate into the middle of the cookie.  Add some mini marshmallows around the outside.  Cook for another 5-7 minutes or until the cookies look done.

And that's it!  Easy peasy.  One of the great things about these cookies is that they are pretty rich and so you usually only need to eat one at a time.  Which is good, because they may or may not be the most healthy treat around.

My Life is So Thrilling

I won't bore you with the details of my weekend.  Ok maybe briefly.  I worked on an assignment and that's about it.  Ryan knocked out bulkheads at my parents house in preparation for their new kitchen.  Way more fun than what I did probably. 

I also made this potato soup.  I found the recipe on Pinterest and it turned out pretty well!  It was made in the slow cooker too, so it was super easy.  And I got to use my immersion blender that we received as a wedding gift for the first time!  So much fun.  I also made fresh bread to go with it.  Delicious.  I'm a homemaker, I know.  Toot Toot.  (That's me tooting my horn). 

When potato soup is the highlight of your weekend I think that something is wrong...


{via Pinterest}



Oreo Cheesecake Deliciousness

I found this yummy looking recipe on Pinterest for little Oreo Cheesecakes.  And since I just bought a bag of Oreos I thought Mother's Day was the perfect occasion to try them out!


via
 Not my picture but mine looked the same! We just ate them up before I took pictures

The recipe is fairly straight forward and easy to make.  And the little cheesecakes are the perfect size for a treat.  Portion control people.  Except that once you eat one, eating a second is very tempting. 
I halfed the recipe and only made 15 of them.  This is the original recipe.

42 Oreos, 30 whole, 12 chopped
2 lbs cream cheese (which is slightly more than 4 packages, I used a double package plus a couple spoonfulls from another package)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs, room temperature, lightly beaten
1 cup sour cream
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Line a muffin tin with paper liners and spray with non-stick spray.  Place one whole oreo cookie in the bottom of each liner.

Beat on medium high the cream cheese until smooth.  Gradually add sugar and beat until combined.  Beat in vanilla and then beat in eggs a bit at a time.  Add in sour cream.  Beat all til combined, scraping down side of bowl as needed.  Stir in chopped Oreos by hand. 

Divide batter into muffin cups.  You can fill almost to the top.  Bake for 22 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until filling is set.  Cool completely.  Refridgerate for at least 4 hours.  I left mine in for the whole day.  Remove from tins just before serving.