Week Three - Days # 13-17

Day #13 - Salsa Chicken (Crockpot) - http://pinterest.com/pin/284219426454620467/
This was a super easy, yummy fill-in for dinner. It's not a star entree, it definitely needs plenty of toppings/addition to make it into a full-blown meal; but, it's a simple way to make a Mexican-flavored protein for a meal. I only did two chicken breasts and we ate off of it for dinner, lunch the next day, and another small meal for one of us.

Day #14 - Colored Ice Bath Melts - http://www.ivillage.com/how-save-money-baby-stuff-40-tips/6-b-290042
This was chosen because frankly, I hadn't planned something to do for the day and needed a quick thing. My daughter sure did appreciate it though! The only thing I would've changed is to make larger and more ice cubes because they melted way too fast. She was chasing them around the bathtub yelling "come back! come back!" They melted in just a minute or two. The food coloring was fun in a tub and I would add more next time to see if I could get the bathwater to change colors. This was a quick way to entertain my daughter, I would do it again, but on a larger scale.

Wednesday - None
I didn't get to one this day! I tried to decide on one to do, but life kept getting in the way and people needing things from me, and so, alas, the day ended and I hadn't tried a pin. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! And boy, was the next day's pin yummy!

Day #15 - Restaurant Style Queso Blanco Dip - http://penniesonaplatter.com/2011/11/30/queso-blanco-dip-the-second-and-final-attempt/
I can't help but try the most pins for cooking dinner. Dinner is something that I HAVE to make every day and sometimes you just need something to tell you what to do for it when you're exhausted. Choosing pins for dinner gives you instant inspiration! This recipe was unbelievable! It was definitely inspired - it is a recipe from a Mexican restaurant for the white cheese dip we all know and love and it was SO yummy! I would want to make this for dinner three (maybe four) nights a week. I was really surprised that this recipe didn't call for the blocks of white queso cheeses with Spanish written all over them I've seen at the grocery store, but just plain old White American cheese! I have tried to make this cheese with the more exotic Mexican cheeses, but this was so much more simple and only required a microwave. Definitely a delicious addition to any Mexican dinner or just as an appetizer for a party. I'm not posting a picture because I forgot to take a picture until we had leftovers the next day and it's just not pretty in a plastic Tupperware container.

Day #16 - Three Ingredient Slow Cooker Chicken & Gravy -
http://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/2012/08/recipe-for-3-ingredient-slow-cooker.html
The first thing I'll say about this recipe is that it was way too salty. I also think it would've been better with some sort of cut of beef instead of chicken. I paired it with rice like in the photo on the website, but I was left wishing I had made mashed potatoes instead (because mashed potatoes is one of my comfort foods). This recipe called for a packet of onion soup mix, but if I was making this dish again, I would only use half of the onion soup mix instead of the whole packet. It could've been more salty because I only used two chicken breasts instead of the 4-6 chicken thighs it called for. I wasn't left wanting more of this, so this is something I would probably make if I didn't have the ingredients for something else and needed something to throw in the crockpot. It might be fun to do some experimenting with it since it is so simple. Maybe add some new flavors or some vegetables for extra nutrition and color. As you can see, the meal didn't look so appealing.

Day #17 - Good Eats Meatloaf - http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-meat-loaf-recipe/index.html
I was craving meatloaf the night I made this and I needed a recipe that called for ingredients I had on hand as I started thinking about dinner just an hour before we usually eat. This recipe fell in that category and instead of cooking the meatloaf in a loaf shape, I followed suit with something I have done in the past to cook it quicker - using a muffin pan. If you set it at 350 degrees and put them in a muffin pan, you can cook them in 10-15 minutes. The only complaint I had for this recipe was it used too much onion and the sauce topping tasted like sloppy joes. I don't really like the idea of a well thought out meat loaf being combined with something like a sloppy joe and my husband called me a "ketchup purist" after I said it just didn't taste right. So, I would not include the cumin or honey in the topping and probably would also cut out the cumin and chili powder out of the meatloaf as well. I thought I took a picture of this one as well, but didn't. I've got to get better at that! I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl, so getting on the table and eaten is priority number one. I'll try to think ahead and have a camera ready.

Happy Pinning to those reading! Try some of these and make your own changes/additions! Good luck!

Ashley

Second week - Days #7-12 - Dinner and Breakfast Recipes/Teaching Kids about Prayer

Day # 7 -Monday, 9/10 - Slow Cooker Cheesy Chicken and Rice - http://www.southernplate.com/2010/09/slow-cooker-cheesy-chicken-and-rice-the-downside-of-being-a-swan-princess.html
This was super yummy and super easy! The only downside is that you couldn't include the rice in the crock pot. It would've been nice to include when to add rice and in what measurements to add it so that it would've been done at the same time as the meal in the crock pot. Other than that, it was a meal where I had all the ingredients on hand and was simple to toss in the crock pot and let it cook. I did though, make my own mistake, and going off of memory (wrongful memory), added the cheese in the beginning, which ended up in cheese clumps randomly throughout the meal. But, I like cheese, so it wasn't so bad to get a big bite full of it occasionally.

Day #8 - Tuesday, 9/11 - Jalapeno Salsa - http://allrecipes.com/recipe/jalapeno-salsa/#
This was not a great salsa - don't make it. I am not a huge fan of lime juice and so didn't prefer this recipe. But I had to find a recipe where I had all of the ingredients already. Enough said. You might make it if you have some ideas to better it.

Day #9 - Wednesday, 9/12 - French Toast Muffins - http://velvetlava.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-am-now-in-muffin-loop.html
I made these for breakfast one morning when I couldn't find something that sounded good to me. I didn't have any eggs and so found that you can substitute cornstarch for eggs in recipes. I did that, but I'm afraid it might have made it too dry. I wanted more comfort out it as well and double dipped the butter/sugar & cinnamon. I would make these again, but I think the egg would be much better. You can also see that I only got 10 muffins out of the recipe. My husband and daughter loved them though and they were a nice easy snack for a few days after.

Just out of the oven - not as dark as I thought they would be.

Day #10 - Thursday, 9/13, http://www.greensnchocolate.com/2012/04/southwestern-chopped-chicken-salad.html#, Corn Shucking Technique - http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-never-shuck-corn-again/step3/Sliding/

I used TWO pins on this evening to make dinner and it was YUMMY! I made the salad, but left out a few ingredients (cilantro, green peppers, green onions) that I didn't have already and added cheese. Because Mexican food always needs more cheese! I cooked the chicken in taco seasoning before adding to the salad. I also used sour cream instead of greek yogurt for the dressing becaue I didn't have any greek yogurt. The sour cream was in the reader's comments of the recipe and I just happened to have just bought some. It tasted awesome and I said that I would make it again for sure.

Day #11 - Friday, 9/14, 5 minute bread, http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/making-artisan-yeast-bread-from-scratch/

This was a total flop. My husband said, "You're a true blogger now, you've had your first flop." But, he likes everything I make, even when I don't. However, even though we agreed it wasn't the best bread, he still ate it (we just slathered it in butter to get rid of the mostly floury taste). He's pretty amazing. I'm not sure what went wrong, except that I split the recipe in a third - it called for three loaves to be made at once, but I didn't want to make three and so only made one. I actually used a calculator to determine how much of the ingredients I needed, so I know my math wasn't off. I don't know, except to make three loaves next time. I'll try it again and just go for it.

Day #12 - Saturday, 9/15, Prayer Pail, http://www.lubirdbaby.com/2009/07/prayer-pail.html

I loved this pin and had been wanting to find a way to incorporate prayer into our daily routine. I decided to start with dinner. We let my daughter choose someone to pray for and she chose Mimi & Granddaddy. She doesn't completely understand prayer, but that's what this exercise is for right? So, I prayed for them out loud and it was pretty great to start the process of teaching her to talk to God on a really personal level for things that she loves and cares about. I will admit it has been hard to remember to do this every night, but I hope it will at least happen often at our dinner table. I would recommend this as it is an easy thing to do to incorporate daily prayer into your children's lives.

First week! Not so bad!

Okay, so I'm a few days late (already? on my first post?), but at least I'm posting, right? I might find a better format to do this in, but for now a week at a time -Monday-Saturday - seems to work best for me. Also, please forgive me as I make all of this into a habit - I didn't take pictures of everything and every step. I will include the original link as well as I can find it and give a review/opinion on what I thought worked/didn't work, how I used it, and/or what I changed about it or what I would do differently next time.



Day #1 - Monday, Sept 3rd - Jewelry cleaner - http://www.food.com/recipe/jewelry-cleaner-180133
The description on Pinterest said that someone who used this ended up with "blinding" rings... I did not get that big of a change, but they are much cleaner and a little shiny. I loved that as I dropped the rings in you could see the baking soda's reaction to the yuckiness on the rings in the form of bubbles and an acid sound coming from the bowl. I could literally see the dirt and stuff fall off of the rings. Try it! It's better than trying to take it to the jeweler to get it cleaned - much quicker and just as good!

Day #2 - Tuesday, Sept 4th - Birthday banner - http://www.thegirlinspired.com/2012/06/fabric-strip-banner.html
I'm making this for my daughter's Elmo birthday party. I'm planning on using it as a background for both the food table and present table. I chose the colors for the party first then took 4 coupons to Joanne's and used them all. I spent around $30 for all of the fabric and the ribbon and I'm going to get at least two huge banners out of it, possibly a few smaller ones to use around the house to add more color. I am using a 1/2 yard of 6 colors - pink, red, aqua, orange - in ginghams, polka dots, and solids with a dark pink ribbon. I just cut a vertical slit in the top section of the ribbon, wrapped the ribbon around and slid the opposite end of the ribbon through the hole, creating a simple knot.

Day #3 - Wednesday, Sept 5th - Copy Cat Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits -http://www.saltnturmeric.com/2008/11/cheesy-garlic-biscuits.html
These were very close to the real thing, garlicky, cheesy, and salty. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, but they still came out great. I didn't have garlic salt but I did have garlic powder so I added that to the bisquick mix and used sea salt instead of garlic salt for the butter mixture that goes on top. I struggled with what to pair these with as I didn't have any seafood or any type of alfredo/cheesy sauce and I didn't want to double up on the bread and do a sandwich, so we ate these with chicken salad lettuce wraps.

Day #4 - Thursday, Sept 6th - Sidewalk Chalk Paint - http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/07/sidewalk-chalk-paint.html
This was really fun for my daughter (almost two). We made aqua and purple (winging this one so I didn't have enough cornstarch for more colors). The colors weren't very bold, but they stood out really well (read, white with a hint of color) in contrast to the cement when they dried. I noticed that when we did it in the shade it brightened up quicker than when we did it direct, not sure why that happened, but the chalk seemed to dry with the ability to see more detail in the shade, weird. I wish I would've added more food coloring so that it didn't just dry mostly white, would've been a great color teaching tool.

Day #5 - Friday - hide-a-key - http://www.savvyhousekeeping.com/house-key-holder/
I didn't have an empty pill bottle. I'm known to throw things away immediately after we don't need them anymore. But, I did have mint container from a few Christmases ago that still had mints in it. They were old, so I tossed them and repurposed the tin for the hide-a-key. Tada, instant hiding spot for a key! I used a regular old glue gun and put it somewhere that I'm not telling!

 

Day #6 - Saturday - Pancake/sausage muffins - http://indulgy.com/post/fbnogAQJM1/any-favorite-pancake-mix-pour-over-fully-cooke
I made these for dinner one night - you know, that old trick, breakfast for dinner when you can't think of anything else. Although, this was a new twist on it and we all enjoyed them. I don't like sausage, so I did half with sausage and I wanted to do the other half with chocolate chips. Except, I allowed my two year old to help put chocolate chips in the pancakes (and her mouth as she was helping) and we ended up with too many chocolate chips in both kinds. It was fun and she loved helping, so all in all, it was a fun experience and a fun way to eat your breakfast! I scrambled eggs with cheese on the side as well, yummy!

Actually using Pinterest

I'm starting this blog to post my experiementing with Pinterest. I've been pinning and pinning without doing - so I'm going to try one a day to not only use up those pins but to force myself to be creative, to try new things, and to be consistent. I am a new stay-at-home Mom and so I need to take advantage of the time I have (it's not a lot, but it's some) and I don't want to become stagnant, but to continue to push myself.

My rules are:
1.) It has to be found on Pinterest and pinned in my "365 Pinterest Projects" folder.

2.) It doesn't matter how easy that day's project is. I have a toddler now and a baby on the way, so yes, easy is good some (most) (all) days.

3.) I have to post process/results/pics if possible on my blog within a week - again, I have a toddler and will have a newborn in February so I need a week to be on top of this.

4.) I'm taking Sunday's off as it is my away from home longer work day and I need the time to rest for the week.


Okay, here's to starting this on September 1st, 2012. Hopefully on September 1st, 2013 - there will be reviews of almost 365 projects that I've posted about on here! It's exciting to think of all the things I might accomplish between now and then!