Pinteresting Recipes & Reviews

So the last week or two I have endeavored to actually make some of the recipes I have pinned on my Pinterest food board.  I have made bread, dessert, and a couple main dishes that I'd like to share with you.

FYI: I have included the links to the original recipes because I believe it is important to help fellow bloggers with their traffic and credit should go to whom credit is due for recipes!

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread

Though I have made quick breads before, this was the first yeast bread I have ever made.  It was quite tasty!  The reason I haven't made bread before is because I was afraid of failure.  And I saw success!  I was so nervous about making bread that I forgot to put the egg wash on until the last five minutes.  I realize now how silly I was to be afraid of making bread.  I encourage you to find something in the food world you've been hesitant to try, and go for it!

As for the recipe review... I was a teeny bit disappointed because the Pinterest user I found the recipe from said it was like the bread at Macaroni Grill.  I did think the flavor was better than Macaroni Grill, but it didn't have a hard crust on it.  Now, being a brand new bread maker, I don't know why the bread did not turn out crusty (perhaps from forgetting the egg whites)...and it certainly did NOT keep me from eating the bread.   :)  Also, I thought it needed more salt.  Perhaps sprinkling sea salt on top before baking would help.  I just put some salted butter on it which was really good.  I think you could dip it in olive oil with a little salt and pepper; and that would work, too.  I used fresh rosemary in the bread and dried rosemary on top.  I will make this again!

Beer Crockpot Chicken

The recipe will be found here.  Let me preface this review with a disclaimer (?) I started this early in the day, before I go volunteer at church for a few hours in the morning.  I don't know if I set my crock pot wrong or it malfunctioned or what happened but when I got home the crockpot was off.  I had no idea how long the chicken had already cooked but it didn't look cooked.  I needed dinner to be ready in a few hours so I re-set the crockpot for 4 hours on high.

So, I found this dry and tasteless.  I shredded two chicken breasts and mixed the meat with black beans and brown rice.  Then served it with tortillas, sour cream, cheese and taco sauce.  Once it was fixed up it tasted fine, good actually.  I saved the rest of the meat, in the freezer, to make chicken salad and maybe some sort of chicken casserole later.  I will try this recipe again because I don't know if the crock pot situation is what made it not taste as good as the reviews.

Main Dish #2: Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers
You can find this yummy recipe here.  This was so delicious!!  For people who are low-carbing, this is a great meal.  This is easy as well.  One word of warning, though it is a simple recipe, it takes a while.  I thought it would be a thirty minutes or less meal (the danger of not reading through a recipe).  It actually says to cook the onions and mushrooms for about 25-30 minutes to get them caramelized then you cook the actual stuffed peppers for about 20 more minutes.  But, seriously, don't let the time keep you from making these.  They are delicious.  I will definitely be making these again.


Dessert!:  Apple Enchiladas
This recipe is so good!  Another easy recipe.  We had this as part of my dad's birthday dinner.  We had Dawn's Chicken Tortillas soup.  I'm not sure we have posted that here but if we haven't we need to do that :)  It was fun to have a main dish and a dessert with a spanish/mexican flair.  I served vanilla ice cream along side the enchiladas.  The sauce that you make so pour over the enchiladas before baking is so good, I have thought about making it just as an ice cream topper.  I will make this again, but I think next time I may try it with cherries, since that is my Honey's preferred cooked fruit.

Let us know if you try any of these and what you think of them.  Remember Pinterest is only a worth while thing if you actually USE/DO the ideas that you pin...otherwise it is simply a time waster.

Update: Why update you ask? Well I actually typed this a while ago and forgot to publish it :P  I have another one that I did the same thing with that I will post in a day or so :)

Pinteresting Successes: Hard "Baked" Eggs and Hairstyle

Remember, Pinterest is a time waster unless you USE what you pin!  Don't be an idea hoarder.  Be an idea implementer!  Then you can maybe justify the silly boards that don't have actual ideas pinned... ;-)  Self control!

Alton Brown's Hard "Baked" Eggs

I love hard boiled eggs.  I don't love heating up and messing with an entire pot of boiling water and a bowl of ice and peeling the eggs and... It's just not worth it to me.  But I saw this idea someone posted that Alton Brown (a Food Network chef/food scientist...talk about a cool job!) bakes his eggs.  Now, this is near and dear to me as I also learned from Alton to bake yer bacon.  That transformed my chef life.  Really and truly.  Anyway, bake eggs too!  Preheat oven to 325, place eggs straight on your mid-level oven rack to fit with the wires so they are cradled, and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove with spring-loaded tongs or a hot pad.  Submerge in ice water 10 minutes.  Peel under lukewarm running water (if desired) and ice them until cool.  These eggs were definitely easier to peel than boiled eggs AND they have a softer texture, less dry.  I'm sold.  :-)

Greek Goddess Hairstyle

Our church recently had it's annual Sweetheart Dinner.  Such a lovely time with the Hubz having a meal with friends and then dancing.  Because of my health and current arm jewelry (an IV line!), I really didn't feel up to getting all decked out like I usually do.  I admit, it's been nice to not care as much!  :-)  So we went nice casual, and I decided that I would try to play up my hair to fit my semi-Grecian cotton oh-so-comfy maxi dress.  I found a Pin, watched the YouTube video...and attempted.  :-)  I got as far as the "lace braids" which were easier than I anticipated...and then gave up and did my own thing.  My hair is SOOO much longer than hers, and it just didn't work for me to do it by myself with an IV hooked to my arm.  :-P  So this is a half-success but success kind of Pinterest trial.  If you watch the video...

1) Like her, I side parted the front sections and did put up the rest to keep it out of the way for the lace braid part.

2) I did the lace braid on BOTH sides of my part towards the back of my head rather than doing one all the way around and pinning.  Once I got to my ear, my hands had no idea how on earth to hold the braid and keep going.  :-P  So, at each of my ears, I just braided the tail by itself and tied it off.  It looked pretty funny.  Pippy, anyone?

3) This is where I abandoned her tutorial.  It ended up looking fine after I took all the rest of my hair and finished it with a messy ponytail pinned into a messy-bun look.  Then I swept the tails of the lace braids back and pinned them under the messy bun.  Added some good ol' hair spray.  Realized later that this style would lend itself beautifully to a thin shell/beaded necklace tucked in!

The BoNuS??  When I took it out after we got home, I realized that the lace braids can simply be swept up with the rest of my hair in a regular ponytail!  Such a cute, practical, and easy summer do!  I LOVE that none of my fly aways are brushing (read: itching) my face and that it's not just another humdrum ponytail "mommy" do.  I slept on it...and didn't have to do a thing this morning.  The sad part?  I didn't get a picture of the real up-do.  Ha!  There were others taking pictures, though, so hopefully someone will email me a few!  Here are several of my around-the-house day-after do.