using pinterest as a cookbook

I really do love the usefulness of pinterest, that is if you actually USE it. I use it in many different ways from inspiration boards, diy ideas, blog promotion, classroom tools, and as a cookbook. Two weeks ago I powered through and did some honest to goodness meal planning. I hit up my pinterest board and searched for summery recipes, sorting until I found a handful that looked good, seemed easy, and shared similar ingredients.

I made a menu then circled same ingredients. I checked our pantry and fridge to see what we had on hand and went back to switch things around so that we were using what we had. I made two grocery lists, one for the farmer's market and one for the grocery store. I felt super productive. I love it when that happens. I also made a tart from the mama a-go-go's peaches (it is a happy tree).

I sent the mister to the farmers market as I had training at school to attend. The next day I hit up multiple grocery stores and picked up both the items on my list and the items the mister was not able to get at the farmers market. I brought everything home, did some chopping, made an awesome spinach and strawberry salad (w store bought strawberry poppyseed dressing) and served it up with a grocery cooked rotisserie bird and fresh baked crusty bread. We actually eat this salad a lot. It is super tasty. I use white onion or red onion, whichever I have at home. I also put the berries and the onion in this gadget and twist away. Speeds up the prep time, I love it!

The day after that I utilized half of the remaining chicken to make schwarma inspired sandwiches. I could not find lavash bread (made me miss L.A.) so made do with subpar pita (also made me miss L.A.), mixed greens, fresh tomatoes, red onion,  lemon cukes from the garden, hummus and tahini. It was really good! No photos folks. Mister gives me flack for being techy/trendylike and taking food photos so not every dish was documented. We served up the sandwiches with fresh fruit. They were super tasty.

Day three used up the remaining chicken inspired by this recipe. I mixed bbq sauce into the chicken and grilled up some sandwiches using the mixture, cheddar, and red onions. We had salad on the side using cukes and cuke blossoms from the garden.

After that, the order of what I made gets a bit hazy but we enjoyed a Greek inspired orzo salad that was best at room temperature. The recipe for the dressing was tasty but I think I need to double it up next time. The orzo salad served as the meal itself and we had leftovers for lunch and one other dinner.

I then made a white bean salad from dried beans that I had popped into the crockpot to cook over night. They got overcooked and while super tasty were also super mushy so the photos may look weird but it was really good! The white bean salad was served up with the meatballs from this recipe (which includes the white bean salad). Loved these! I never really make meatballs because it seems like too much work but when you thnk about how you can freeze them and reheat them so easily it is super worth it. Actually went really fast and these were really, really, good!  The second night we enjoyed the meatballs with the orzo salad and used the white bean salad as a lunch entree.

Next up was this salad. Oh my word! This one is so so good I ended up making it twice! I did not use romaine but used mixed greens and switched out the peppers (I'm allergic) for tomatoes, did not use jicama (mister is not a fan), and added avocado. It was the main meal. This one is a bit labor intense what with al lthe chop, chop, chopping. Keep the dressing in a jar and it keeps nicely i nthe fridge for two to three days. Also, don't go heavy on the dressing. I forgot I had already dressed my plate so I dressed it again and while I do not generally add a lot of dressing to my salads this was far too much and made it difficult to finish. When you make the tortilla strips, use a thin

We rounded out the week with this salad and it was really good even though I was worried about the mango and avocado in it. We added chicken to it the second time we ate it.The other half of the cabbage turned into slaw (I make a mean slaw) that we served up with ready made pulled pork for sandwiches. A quick, easy, tasty, dinner protocol from Ms. Za. We enjoyed ours with super not good for you curly fries courtesy of the freezer department. I get all anxious when I resort to premade meals not because I feel like I am failing my family but ore so for all sorts of environmental/moral reasons. Eeps.

So, there ya go,  more than a week's worth of easy meals to feed 2-4 people at a time. Possibly less, we tend to eat super small portions but you know your family best. I will be making all of these again...oh...one of the recipes called for sumac, I cannot remember which one, perhaps the white bean salad. Either way I did not feel I needed to go purchase a new spice that I could possibly be allergic to so I skipped it and it was fine...whatever it was. I need to plan another week now as we are being lazy and eating eggs for dinner but I am so so so lacking in inspiration at the moment. Enjoy!

scrumdilly diy: ten pretty pumpkin projects

*homemade pumpkin butter

*pumpkin spice oatmeal

*pumpkin french toast bites

*chocolate chip pumpkin butter roll-ups

*tiny pumpkin place settings

*chocolate chip pumpkin cakes

*chocolate chip pumpkin bread

*pumpkin spice magic pie

*thread wrapped decorative pumpkins

*diy pumpkin pie spice

pinterest in action: scones and pie and an observation.

 

a few weeks ago, i actually rescued the ingredients that had been sitting in the freezer FOREVER to make this bomb pie by Something Swanky. sugar overkill, maybe , but SO good with a milky iced coffee sans sweetener.

time for baking

and last week, i made these blueberry buttermilk scones by Mango and Tomato. they baked up quite nicely and were packed with flavor even though i left out the coconut. the mister, sister a-go-go and mama a-go-go loved them!

 ***i know that there are oodles of folk out there who are not exactly fans of Pinterest. i kinda understand but at the same time, i don't think Pinterest made it any easier to "steal" ideas. they just created a platform to share your favorite ideas. before Pinterest, i had a folder on the desktop full of links and people's projects. in a nutshell, my folder was full of "stolen" property. i had and still have no intention of monetary gain from all the goodness, i am just so wholly inspired by all the creativity out there just as i hope you are inspired by what i share.

that said, i see a new trend in how people respond to blogs and with Pinterest people are forgetting to leave comments and offer up thanks and encouragement to the author. instead, photos and diys are pinned as a salute but if you don't see it, you don't know how much you inspire. case in point...i average maybe 1 comment a post. yeesh. not so good for my ego . yet i know people are clicking and reading as evidenced by my stats. a LOT of people. and if i hop on over to Pinterest, i will see my projects pinned and repinned to high heaven and yet not a single person has shown up here to say "Hey, this is cool, thank you for sharing"!  (oh, i don't mean you or you or you, you know who you are) and to me...that is just bad manners. it's not Pinterest's fault, it is the poor behavour of the masses. now, i pin like a mad woman myself and if i pin something from a blog i have never visited, i leave a comment and i thank that person for sharing (if it is a blog i subscribe to i have already and continue to say thanks). sometimes i find a new blog to read in the process and sometimes i make a new friend. i'm a bit behind on my repins however, i need to finish up and go through to the original source to say thanks and yes, i totally mean it. absolutely!

enough of my mini rant but i encourage you to think about it and if yer new to my blog and actually reading not just pinning put yourself into my shoes or think about yer own blog. wouldn't a little howdy and thank you make your heart sing and connect?

pinterest: recipe round-up

I was on the ball the last few weeks regarding groceries and dinner. I am still wandering happily through pinterest-land pinning away all sorts of pretty and have been trying to weed through and actually utilize those happy boards. Here are a bunch of recipes that happened...

korean bbq tacos

Super duper tasty, I cheated and used Trader Joe's Korean BBQ and added additional ginger and garlic. The meat cooked up so much in the crock pot, it was like butter. Will definitely make these again.

thai grilled peanut butter sandwich

 

 

This is my own original recipe and still a favorite. Had some bean sprouts left over from the tacos and didn't want them to go to waste. Served with roasted green beans. Yum!

homemade falafel and quinoa tabouleh

I love me some falafel and the weather was warm enough to get a bit summery. We had a bag of dried garbanzo beans from a local farm so I soaked 'em up and went at it. The falafel fell apart even though I followed the recipe as it was. I ended up adding an egg and some flour to get it to all stick together. It was delicious. The tabouleh was awesome. The last time I made quinoa tabouleh, the recipe called for way too much parsley. This recipe was perfect. I forgot to add the mint but it was still really tasty.

quick curried chickpeas

The curry chickpeas were crazy easy and super tasty. I used a can of organic fire roasted tomato sauce and served it up with roasted curry cauliflower and homemade cucumber sauce. Will totally make this again!

This week I will be using up what we have and attempting a no-spending kind of week. We are almost out of milk and apples o there will that. Wish me luck! What have you been cooking lately?

summer eats

usually i get all grouchy hot in the summer so i don't feel like cooking much. but this summer so far, has been cool and i have a tiny casa to clean and purge so i procrastinate by cooking. lost of super yummy veggie delights though there has been some chicken here and there. there's a new farmer's market just at the end of my block and across the street. it's on wednesdays and it runs from noon to 6pm. i'm going to venture forth and check it out soon. i don't need any produce right now so here is some pics of what we a-go-gos have been eating this summer...click on the pics for more info. happy july!