[food] Pinterest Recipe Round-Up #1

Alright, we should preface this post with the fact that I am not a baker nor chef. I enjoy the concept of cooking, but sometimes it doesn't translate to my fingertips. But I am trying to get better, thanks to the likes of Pinterest!

The past month, I have declared my commitment to try out new (easy) recipes to easily incorporate into our eating menu or to make a fun/new dessert for us to enjoy throughout the week or to take when visiting friends.

Today, I am sharing three EASY recipes I found through Pinterest. I will link the original sources, so if you want the recipe, check it out there. The pictures below are all my own creations/interpretations of the recipe. Enjoy!

one//Easy Potato Skins from I Heart Naptime: Y'ALL. These are delicious. I am a bit impatient when it comes to preparing baked potatoes, but these were so incredibly easy. Slice potatoes. Butter. Season. Bake. Top. Bake. So easy, so good! Nate and I may have devoured this entire pan...

two// S'mores on a Stick from Cupcakepedia: The Wednesday before Easter, our church had an evening service and fellowship afterwards. My contribution were these bite-sized s'mores on a stick. Oh my HEAVENS. Simple to make: Toothpick. Melted chocolate. Crushed graham crackers. Refrigerate. Easy peasy! They were a huge hit: next time I think I'll use more chocolate, but overall... divine! And I am all about bite-sized things (see above, ha!).

 

three// Hot Milk Cake from Lynn's Kitchen Adventures: Nate and I aren't big into sweet cakes with tons of sugar and frosting, so when I was perusing Pinterest for a simple cake that had everyday ingredients in it, I was stunned to find this recipe. This is an old recipe dating back to the Depression Era. How cool is that?! It is a bit more technical than the two prior recipes I shared, but you guyssss.... It uses warm milk in the batter! It tasted SCRUMPTIOUS. Firm, but moist. Filling. A perfect treat to end your night. The hardest part was getting it out of the dang bundt pan! I highly recommend this cake if you're looking to use simple ingredients you already have on hand.

Do you use Pinterest for your weekly/monthly/special occasion meals? I feel like my personal cookbook needs a shake-up every now and then, so I like to check out how to make the same things in new ways (hence the potato recipe above, or a new way to present a sweet at a social gathering, or an enhanced recipe on ingredients I already have at home). If you have any go-to recipes, leave a link and I will check it out!

Have a great week!

[make] BBQ Chicken and Citrus Angel Food Cake

Confession. We do not own a grill.

I know. And we call ourselves Texans...

We are actually holding out to buy a nice, substantial grill: we used to have one of those rinky dink charcoal grills until we left it outside for three years and it became rusted. Seeing as Memorial Day, a traditional day for grilling, was yesterday, Nate was not a very happy camper... to be without a grill on a grilling day left him feeling down in the cooking dumps.

Not until he found a recipe for BBQ Chicken. Baked.

We are huge fans of BBQ chicken and always wonder why we don't make it more often. It's so easy and relatively cheap. I'm not sure where he found the exact recipe, but this is what we did:

Four chicken quarters (legs and breasts are what we had, I believe)
1 bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ sauce
Cilantro

Pan sear your chicken quarters. Wrap a sheet pan in foil, place your chicken quarters on the foil and generously coat with the BBQ sauce. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, taking the chicken out every 15 minutes to re-coat with BBQ sauce. Once they look nice and flavorful, and your meat thermometer says 165 degrees (the desired temperature of poultry), you're done! Finely chop cilantro and sprinkle on top.

We served with sauteed squash and pickles (both picked fresh earlier in the day by our neighbors).

Oh my, YUM, was it good!

For dessert, I whipped up a box of Angel Food cake (Duncan Hines box). However, there was a recipe on the side for Citrus Angel Food Cake with Fresh Citrus Sauce. Um, yes please. I followed the directions on the box, adding orange and lemon zest to the cake batter. The only other ingredient for boxed Angel Food cake mix is water: why have I never made it before?! It is so easy and delicious.

The sauce called for sugar, corn starch, orange juice, lemon rind (I used zest), and salt. Mix together until it gently boils. Put on top of your sliced cake... wow!!!

So, even though we didn't have a grill, our Memorial Day dinner did not disappoint. What were your Memorial Day plans? Swimming? Grilling? Do tell.

Happy Tuesday! My first "official" day of summer and I am at home with a stuffy nose. Ready to be able to breathe again, but at least my cough is gone, for the most part! It was suggested to me to not go to the doctor since I am not running a fever. Just let it run its course... but I am so impatient! So prayers for a quick recovery so I can breathe (and taste/hear) again would be greatly appreciated!

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

[make] Two Mexican Favorites

*Sorry I've been MIA this week: I've had sinus congestion like no other this week and have been crashing as soon as I get home from work due to pressure headaches, sore throat, and nasal congestion.... UGH! Hoping to kick it soon...

Our church holds monthly luncheons following the morning worship service as a time of fellowship for our congregation. A theme is set and everyone is invited to bring a dish, potluck-style, to go with the theme. This past Sunday, we had a Mexican theme: a few members brought enchiladas, dips, beans, and rice, but we opted to go another route with two Mexican favorites... well, one is a favorite of Nate's (I don't eat it because it has beans and I don't like beans... Or olives... Or sour cream... Ha!) and the other was a Pinterest find from here.

This casserole dish uses the following:
2 lbs. ground beef
Rice (I used one package of the Taco Rice made by Fiesta Sides... I think)
Onions (1 cup)
Enchilada sauce (1 can)
Doritos Nacho Cheese chips (1 bag, depending on how much you like)
Grated cheese (There's is no such thing as too much cheese!)
(it also has beans, but I don't like beans, so feel free to add them!)

Saute the onions with the beef. After it's done cooking, combine, in a bowl, the meat, onions, rice, sauce, chips, and cheese. Put mixture in a baking dish: top with more chips and cheese. 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes! See the Pinterest link above for more details.

This is Nate's favoriteee thing. Layer refried beans, black beans, sour cream, salsa, grated cheese, olives, green onions. You can also add guacamole but we didn't have any avocados at the time. Easy peasy!

And Nate and I like to pose with our creations... Yep, we're those people.

Who loves Mexican food? Favorite dish?

Happy Thursday! TOMORROW'S THE LAST DAY OF SCHOOL! 10am and it's HELLOOO SUMMER TIME! Can't believe it!

"I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul." Psalm 31:7

[make] My Favorite Go-To Dinner

There are some nights when Nate and I don't see eye-to-eye on dinner, so we will fix our own meals to fill our own cravings. Ever since I saw this recipe on Pinterest via famfriendsfood, it has become a staple for our, well- at least my, meal times. I've modified it a bit, so here is my very similar version:

 Use these ingredients...

And it's really just a matter of taste on how much you want. On this certain day, I added a bit too much olive oil, so try to limit your use of that so it doesn't get so oily. I also used two lemons this day, juiced them both and also used some zest. You can't have too much lemon! Same with Parmesan cheese. There is no such thing as too much Parmesan. A sprinkle of the seasonings, and I used one clove of garlic. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and more cheese on top after you've mixed everything with the pasta... voila!

 And P.S. do you own one of these?

Best citrus (lemon/lime) juicer of all time. And it's adorable!

Happy Monday: sorry for the late post, I crashed after school today until 7:45pm!!! Life of a teacher. I have two more "recipes", er, Pinterest finds that I copied, to share with you this week. We were cooking fools this weekend!

"Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction." 2 Timothy 4:2

[life] Happy Birthday....

... dear Oliver, happy birthday to you!

Yep. Little Man turned three on Monday.
Yep. I made him a homemade party hat with elastic.
Yep. He received frozen, homemade birthday treats.
Yep. We are THOSE pet owners.

Would anyone like the frozen pet treat recipe? I found it on Pinterest from here. Here's what I did, and don't worry, humans can eat it too (although I didn't try it) so if you don't have a pup, maybe you just want this snack for yourself? To each his own!

Mix these ingredients together: 32oz plain yogurt, 1 mashed ripe banana, 2 tablespoons peanut butter, 2 tablespoons honey...

Drop in an egg carton or ice tray...

Tempt your dog...

Store the rest in a freezable container... tempt your dog some more...

Place in freezer...

Get your pups excited when the time has come to taste...

Take blurry pictures because the sweet treat was gobbled up in an instant! Happy birthday!

I know, I know. I need a kid. Ha! But until that moment comes, my pups will suit me just fine!

Happy Wednesday!

"A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." Proverbs 17:17

[photoaday] Week Forty Two

Bad blogger, bad blogger! Didn't post as much as I would have liked to this past week. However, surprise-surprise, I DID GET SICK. I jinxed myself and everything last week saying I haven't gotten sick in a while, and then boom: fever. So now I know to just keep my mouth shut! It only lasted for a day, but ugh, fevers just make you feel terrible, don't they? Glad to be up and at 'em!

[psst: if you take photos this week, use my button on your blog post and leave me a comment on THIS post with the link to YOUR blog post with your photos.... that's not confusing at all, is it? once you do that (and assuming you're a follower of mine), I will feature your blog one time with a few of your photos! remember, sharing is caring :)]

[monday] I was able to Skype with my mom and dad this evening! We do this weekly, but it is always so neat to actually see them while I talk to them. Living four hours away can be difficult at times (I know people live a lot further away from their family, but four hours is too far for this family girl)!

[tuesday] Someone got a bath tonight... Not too happy about it.

[wednesday] This is the day I left school sick (I didn't get to leave early: there was no one available to cover my class). Around 3pm, during our pep rally, is when I started feeling t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e. Glad to have a hubs who will leave Wednesday night church to buy and cook me soup while I'm in bed!

[thursday] In bed on a weekday morning (when the sun is up) is foreign to me during the school year. However, I had two excellent doctors who took care of me while Nate went to work!

[friday] Since I felt much better this day, I traveled 50 minutes to the nearest Hobby Lobby and Target (that would be a one-way trip, ladies... feel my pain, I know!!!) for some retail therapy. Hey- Nate was gone to the coast on a fishing trip with some men from our church for the day, so I needed something to preoccupy my time. This worked out quite nicely!

[saturday] Saturday afternoons equal projects and experiments from Pinterest... experiments in cooking! I had pinned this copy-cat recipe for Chili's queso from The Blonde Can Cook and it was pretty good. It uses Velveeta, which I am not that big of a fan of... but it was okay.

Did everyone have a good weekend? I hope no one was sick like I was! I have 21 Kindergarteners and at least half of them have been sick during the past two weeks: fever, vomiting, and/or coughing/sore throat symptoms. And every child that has been absent has missed at least two days of school. Gotta love teaching! I am excited though because tomorrow I am getting a new student: she visited our school a couple of weeks ago and my students are so excited to make a new friend!

Have a wonderful week!

One of the verses from Nate's sermon this week (we are doing a verse-by-verse study through Hebrews: awesome things from God's word)!

"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone." Hebrews 2:9

[taste] Mini Apple Pies

Y'all.

(I can say that, I'm from Texas)

I found this recipe for mini apple pies from Little Bit Funky and I immediately knew I wanted to try it. Now I am not a chef/baker at all. That would be a hugeee stretch to say that! But since I'm home for the summers, I figured why not.

We used Granny Smith apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon for the apples (the recipe calls for nutmeg but we didn't have any nor do I like nutmeg). My favorite part is using refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts (semi-homemade baking, my favorite).

I used a Mason jar as my cookie cutter for the bottoms of the pie, used my mini muffin pan, and assembled. 400 degrees 18-20 minutes later and you have a delicious mini apple pie! They were divine. DIVINE.

Click on the link above to visit Little Bit Funky to get the full recipe. You won't regret it! And if I (a non-baker) can make them taste yummy, you definitely can too!

Happy Tuesday!

Oven Roasted S'Mores

One of these days, we would really like to get a fire pit of some sort for the backyard. Not only would it look fantastic, but it would also serve a purpose... S'MORES!

For the 4th of July this year, we didn't have any exciting plans (sad, I know), so we cooked a steak and potatoes dinner at home and then decided we would make s'mores. Oven roasted s'mores. Boom.

Super easy: I found the "recipe" (if you'd call it that) from Merriment Design via Pinterest:

Source: merrimentdesign.com via Chrissy on Pinterest

Here's ours!

We purchased the graham cracker "squares" which were very efficient in this endeavor... We split the marshmallows in half and put them on half of the squares *under the broiler at LOW and you will have to watch them so they don't get burned*

Pull them out when they are slightly brown and add your chocolates to the other graham crackers and put them back in the oven... Be verryyy careful to watch these when you put them back under the broiler because the chocolates only need to be melted slightly.

Take out your yummy ingredients and smash 'em together like a sandwich... Oh man, they were s-o good.

Nate seems to think so!

And I do too (photo via Instagram @chrissydj)!

So what yummy treats did you conjure up for the 4th? I've seen yummy fruit cakes, strawberries with white chocolate and blue sprinkles... Mmmmm. Have a great Friday!

See where I link up: Tips & Tricks @ Stringtown Home, What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar and Dots, Craft-O-Manic Monday @ Craft-O-Manic, Link Party @ Uncommon, Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts, Show Me What Ya Got Linky Party @ Not JUST A Housewife, {Wow Me Wednesday} @ Ginger Snap Crafts, Link Party @ Destination: Craft, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick, Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello, What I Wore Wednesday @ The Pleated Poppy

Cupcake Toppers

A few weeks ago, I hosted a wedding shower for my cousin and his bride-to-be. I was recruited to make cupcake toppers with an "S" (monogram for their last name), so now I'm going to share with you how you can make your very own!

I used my Silhouette to cut out various "bubble" shapes (circles, flowers, etc) in their wedding colors and also to cut out my "S"s.

I also cut out small, white circles to be the background for the "S". Use Mod Podge to adhere your pieces together.

(the tan zebra paper was just scrap paper I had for the toppers to dry on)

Use double sided tape to stick your toothpick on and then use another white circle to cover the toothpick up so you don't see it from the back.

Voila! Stick 'em in some cute cupcakes and you're done!

Has anyone else ever made cupcake toppers? Or any other "craft" project to enhance your food's appearance?

Happy Friday, wahoo! We have a wedding rehearsal and dinner to attend tonight. Have a great evening!

See where I link up: What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar and Dots, Craft-O-Manic Monday @ Craft-O-Manic, Link Party @ Uncommon, Whatever Goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts, Show Me What Ya Got Linky Party @ Not JUST A Housewife, {Wow Me Wednesday} @ Ginger Snap Crafts, Link Party @ Destination: Craft, The Creative Spark @ Clean & Scentsible, Before & After Party @ Thrifty Decor Chick, Weekend Wrap-Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello, What I Wore Wednesday @ The Pleated Poppy