Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Baked Brie Bites

One of the reasons I love this little recipe is the fact that I can make as many as I want. If I'm craving a little snack, I can make just a couple of these at a time. If I have company coming over and want to make a quick appetizer, I can whip up a whole batch of these in no time to keep guests busy until dinner. The ease of making these is also why they can be dangerous. You might find yourself making two or three of these bites before dinner, every day for a week. Not that I would do any such thing....

Though I came across this recipe on Pinterest here, this recipe and many variations can be found...adding jams or fruit preserves, varying the types of nuts or cheese used...around the Internet (links to some follow).

I not only liked the flavor of these but I loved the texture...the crunch of the shell and nuts, the creaminess of the cheese and honey. Great little snack that also looked pretty good presentation wise.

Except for the mini phyllo shells I usually have all the ingredients for the Baked Brie Bites on hand which makes this a quick appetizer or snack to put together.  And since these can be so addicting, I may just start keeping those phyllo shells in the freezer for quick ideas like this.

 

BAKED BRIE BITES

Mini Phyllo Tarts
Brie
Dark Brown Sugar
Chopped Pecans
Honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Directions are for one brie bite:

Put a cube of brie (or a good melting cheese of your choice) in the middle of each phyllo tart. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar over the cheese in the tart. Top with the pecans. Drizzle some honey over the top of everything. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until cheese has melted.

Note: I used Athens Mini Fillo Shells (there were 15 shells in the box), Small Bees Pure Raw Unfiltered Wildflower Honey US grade B (local from Los Gatos).

Note: The cheese kind of melts down a bit so you can see in my photos that the bites weren't as filled as most you'll see. I've tried to put in more cheese but then there wasn't room for the nuts and such. And I liked lots of nuts and sugar and honey in mine.

Really like this recipe and looking forward to trying all it's little variations.

More Baked Brie Bites Recipes:

Baked Brie Bites from Plain Chicken

Raspberry Brie Bites from Food.com

Mini Brie Bites from She Wears Many Hats

Brie and Honeyed Pear Tarts  from Athens Foods and Weight Watchers

Hot Brie Kisses from Recipe Girl

 

Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Like everyone else I get cravings. The other day I was craving a grilled cheese sandwich. Like, really craving, can't think of anything else, must have a grilled cheese sandwich. The thing was I was also craving pizza.  Like, if I don't have pizza now I'm going to go running in the streets screaming for the pizza man. But I thought making a grilled cheese sammie and getting a large pepperoni pizza probably wouldn't make my arteries very happy. And running through the streets screaming for the pizza guy (visions of me chasing after the Round Table delivery guy comes to mind) would probably get me committed. It was then that I remembered seeing this on Pinterest. A Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

Still...my arteries kinda cringed in horror at the thought of all the calories and fat in a sandwich like that. And I could hear the disapproving voice of the Wii lady going "ohhhh" when I stepped on the scale (she's such an annoying beeotch isn't she?). So I compromised. Along with a regular package of pepperoni, I picked up a package of turkey pepperoni at the grocery store (I know, there are those of you who swear that this is just wrong on so many levels but sometimes you gotta fake it to make it). I also used some sourdough bread I had on hand to make the sandwich and instead of real butter, I used Land O Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil (half the calories!).

And you know what? The sandwich didn't turn out half bad. I still got some of the pepperoni flavor in my grilled cheese and I didn't notice the lower caloric butter at all (sorry but I just refuse to use margarine or that fake butter stuff). Mr. L loved his Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwich...which I made with regular pepperoni (he didn't seem to notice the low cal canola butter).

So for my friends out there that are trying to watch calories and such, try making this with whole wheat bread, turkey pepperoni and some low cal cheese and butter. The rest of you can use all the fattening foods you want...just be ready to be addicted. This is one tasty sandwich!

PIZZA GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH

Four slices of bread (whatever kind you prefer)
Butter
4 slices of mozzarella cheese
pepperoni (regular or turkey)
Italian Seasoning
PIzza Sauce for dipping

Make a grilled cheese sandwich (at this point I could give you directions on how to do this but I'm pretty sure you can figure that out for yourself). Add a dash of the italian seasoning to the inside of the sandwich before cooking. Serve with some pizza sauce for dipping.

NOTE: I made two sandwiches, one with regular pepperoni and one with turkey pepperoni.

NOTE: I used Francisco Sourdough Bread, Contadina Canned Tomato Sauce, Hormel Pepperoni (both regular and turkey), Precious Mozzarella, Land O Lakes Light Butter with Canola Oil

NOTE: I didn't have pizza sauce so I just used a can of tomato sauce and doctored it up with some more Italian Seasoning to make my pizza sauce.

Though I've run across this recipe many times over the years, it was the pin of Forkfull of Comfort that brought it back on my radar. You can see her post here.

Obviously this can be changed up in many ways. Adding different cheeses, using different breads, changing the pizza sauce up by adding more garlic etc. If you look up Pizza Grilled Cheese Sandwich you can find recipes for many variations on the interwebs.

Thankfully my cravings were satisfied, the Wii lady didn't complain to much and the pizza man was saved from the crazy stalker.

 

Apple Pie Baked In Apples

This is one of the first recipes I saw on Pinterest and thought "awesome idea"!  So it ended up being one of the first dishes I made during my "must create stuff from Pinterest" phase I went through last month (and, ahem, am still going through).

I did cheat a bit though. This also fulfilled my Operation Pantry Project as my Mom's niece had sent us some wonderful jarred homemade apple pie filling. To say it went perfectly in this dish was an understatement. The filling was so flavorful and it made putting this creation together quick and easy.

I did have a bit of trouble with the pie dough staying at the top of the apple while cooking (you can see how some of it slide down the side to the bottom). I think next time I need to make the dough strips smaller?

This was a fun dish to make and also made quite a nice impression for dessert. And I'd suggest showing folks your "before" cooking apple as that really does look impressive!

Not sure where the original idea came from as there seem to be pins from many different sources.

APPLE PIE BAKED IN APPLES

4 Baking Apples
Apple Pie Filling (your own or premade)
Pie Crust (Homemade or Pre-Made)

Pre-heat over to 375 degrees.

Cut off the top of the apples and discard. Cut slivers off the bottom of the apple (be careful not to cut too much) so that the apple sits squarely. Carefully remove the inside of each of the four apples with a spoon or melon baller so that you don't puncture the peel (you want to make a bowl for the filling to reside in).

Spoon your apple pie filling into the apple bowls.

Roll out pie crust and cut into strips. Cover top of the apple in a lattice pattern with the pie crust strips.

Place apples in an 8x8 pan. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the apples are soft. Serves 4

Note: I used granny smith apples. I set them on the counter at the grocery store to make sure that they were almost flat. People gave me looks. They were just a "bit" tough, so I may experiment with other types of apples or longer cooking times.

Note: Some of the recipes talk about using the innards from the apples you've scooped out and cutting up additional apples to make your own pie filling. Since I already had pie filling, I didn't use the inards of the apples. I threw that away. I know, wasteful. You are a better person than I if you can use it.

Note: I actually had a bit of leftover pie filling after filling the two apples so I took the leftover dough, pieced it together and made a free form tart. I'm thinking you could do the reverse...make these if you find you've made too much pie filling for your apple pie.

Note: I used pre-made pie dough. I bought a "natural" brand instead of my regular Pillsbury brand. It was dry and immediately cracked when I unrolled it. Next time I'll  either make my own dough or use Pillsbury.

Note: I made the lattice a bit thick and the ones on the end actually slide down the side of the apple. On one of the apples, I had used a bit of the sticky apple pie filling, smeared it around the top of the apple thinking this would hold the pie dough in place but no deal. Not sure what I can do to keep the dough from sliding down?

Note: Though I saw longer cooking times for the recipe, my pie crust was done way before these longer times. I think the apple would have benefited from a longer cooking time but I also didn't want the apple to be mush.

We really enjoy these and I suspect a good deal of that was the awesome apple pie filling from my Mom's niece. I need to make these again. Which mean someone needs to send me some more pie filling (hint hint :)

 

 

Blueberry Cheese Rolls

This Blueberry Cheese Roll was a very quick, flavorful way to get breakfast on the table. Though there were far too many calories in this for me to make on a regular basis this was a great way to use up some leftover fresh blueberries and put a warm breakfast on the table.

I originally pinned this on Pinterest (where the link no longer seems to work)  but it can be found on the Kraft Foods site here. It's simply crescent rolls, cream cheese, sugar and blueberries, but together they made something a little decadent.

I did not "form" these the way they showed on Pinterest or the Kraft site. Those took all four edges of the dough and brought them together. As I was rushing to get this in the oven so that I wasn't the woman who took an hour to get ready in the morning and made everyone late, I just brought two edges together. I think I saved 2.4 seconds of cooking time by doing this. I don't think it made a difference in anything but how quick we made it out the door that day.

I have made some exchanges to the original recipe they posted here.

BLUEBERRY CHEESE ROLLS
(Kraft Foods)

1 pkg. (8 oz.) Pillsbury Original Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
4 oz (1/2 of 8-oz pkg.) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup (or more) blueberries, divided

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Unroll dough into four rectangles; firmly press perforations together to seal.

Combine cream cheese and brown sugar; spread onto dough rectangles to within 1/2 inch of edges. Top evenly with blueberries. Bring opposite corners of rectangles together; press together to seal. Place on un-greased baking sheet.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves 4

Note: Their original recipe used Neufchatel Cheese, I used full fat cream cheese. Original recipe used regular sugar and I substituted brown sugar.

Note: I would spread the cream cheese closer to the edge of the dough next time and maybe put a few more blueberries closer to the points. This might not have been an issue if I had brought all four ends of the dough together.

Note: Calories listed for just one of these puppies was 350 with 19 grams of fat and 34 grams of carbs. Since I used full fat cream cheese, the calorie count will be more.

Note: Original recipe states you can substitute 1/2 cup chopped red or green apples and 2 Tbsp. raisins for the blueberries.

Note: You can sprinkle 1 tsp sifted powdered sugar just before serving to make this over the top.

Note: I probably overcooked these a bit. I blame the cat Tiggher who was screaming to be fed before I was.

Nice sweet little breakfast that is also easy to transport if one is running late and has to carry it out the door while trying to get a jacket on and grabbing keys from purse.

My Pinterest Boards - Part 2

Please check out the I PIN THEREFORE I AM post here and the MY PINTEREST BOARDS PART 1 post here as this is the third in a series about me and Pinterest.

I warned you that I had way to many boards on Pinterest. The remainder of my boards are explained here:

JUST A GEEK AT HEART: I am a geek at heart, one who never learned to play video or role-playing games but one who watches sci-fi and can play Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock. This should really be divided out with separate boards for Star Wars, Star Trek, Firefly, and Dr. Who. And maybe one for Wil Wheaton because I have such a fan crush on him. I could probably spend all day pinning photos of him in his Wesley Crusher uniform, or those photos of him he posted when he went on a recent cruise, oh wait, there are all those photos of Wil he and his wife Anne sent to all us Twitter followers just last week when they were in Australia and...wait...did I just write all that? Ignore any stalking talk on any geek board, really, it's not what it seems, hahaha. No separate board for Wil, I'll just ahem, keep that one private. So yeah, this board has all the nerdy geeky comic book sci-fi kinda stuff in it.

JUST BECAUSE: Just because I refuse to put a board that's titled "miscellaneous". Where else would I pin Money Folding Techniques or a photo of the Statue of Liberty doing an Angelina Jolie Legbomb? Yes, some of these pins might work better in other boards but the whole point of Just Because is just because.

LAMB LIES DOWN: You'll only get the title if you are a Genesis fan. This has nothing to do with music or cute little cuddly animals but does have to do with all things regarding eating wonderful lamb dishes which there seems to be not many recipes floating around on blogs for. Thus a lack of pinning in this board. But not for lack of lamb recipe looking.

LAYOUT ENVY: A place where I pin all the scrapbooking layouts I want to scraplift or take inspiration from. If I actually scrapped. If I actually used the gazillion supplies I have in the entire room I have dedicated to scrapping that I rarely step foot in. Men have cars and electronics...I have scrap supplies. But with my Layout Envy board I now also have layouts that I can use for inspiration. Just ignore the pile of scrapbooking magazines in that corner that I also keep for inspiration. Or that box of scrap ideas I've pulled from scrap magazines that I plan to scraplift. I'll promise to create a layout. Tomorrow. Once I find space in my scraproom that looks nothing like any in the Creating Spaces board. Vicious circle I tell yah.

LET IT BEE: This board is strictly for my heart. It reminds me of my Grandfather who was an apiarist (beekeeper) at UCDavis. I do not collect bee things, I do not make bee things, but this board warms my heart with it's beeness.

LET ME ENTERTAIN THEM: Because in my soul I am the hostess with the mostest and if I had time, talent, money and a giant house, I would be entertaining my friends and family on a weekly basis. This board is full of ideas for when I finally invite folks over for dinner and drinks.

LET THEM EAT CAKE: Cakes I can actually make like simple bundt cakes or layer cakes and photos of cakes I wish people would have at weddings and parties I go to.

LET THEM EAT CUPCAKES: See above, just in smaller form.

MY BEDROOM: Ideas on how to decorate my bedroom. Which if I used all the ideas in one room would mean I probably couldn't find the bed and Mr. L would probably not set foot in. Which means I need at least a twenty bedroom house to decorate twenty different bedrooms.

MY DINING ROOM: See above but with dining room tables instead of beds.

NEED ON MY NIGHTSTAND: Though you would think this would be full of books that I'd like to read, it would be impossible to import the twenty-two page Amazon wish list I currently have or enter in the hundreds of books I have in stacks at home waiting to be read. This board has a few books I've pinned here and there but is mostly filled with beautiful libraries or book places I wish were available to me.

NEVER ENOUGH SHOES: Because one never has enough shoes. And because someday there will be a miracle and my foot will no longer be wide and will fit in cute little designer shoes that will miraculously cost only about $20.

NEW YEARS EVE and NEW YEARS: Not sure why I have two boards...I can see having a New Years Eve board because there are parties and decorations and drinks that could be pinned. I'm afraid the only thing to pin to the New Years Day board will be recipes for hangover cures and vomit buckets. Don't be surprised if that second board goes away.

OUTSIDE LIVING: All things that have to do with a back yard that is much much bigger than the postage stamp sized one I currently have. Pools. Backyard dining rooms. Backyard kitchens. Cute little areas to curl up and read a book amid the lush greenery. Waterfalls. Anything that gives me that "Calgon take me away" moment in my own back yard.

PAGES PUCKS AND PANTRY: Where I am slowly entering some of the old recipes I've made. Yes, I pin stuff that I've posted on my blog. I love when others do that (and I love those that have named theirs something like "shameless personal promotion"). Pinterest is almost like my RSS feed these days...helps me know when those I follow have posted something new to their blog by them pinning it, so please, feel free to pin your posts and toot your own horn. There are those of us out there that get it and like it.

PAPERCRAFTING ENVY: Paper crafts that don't fit in Card Envy or Layout Envy.

PASTA MY HEART: All things pasta.

PEARLS SPARKLE BLING: Jewelry both affordable and that I can't even afford to look at along with things that don't necessarily sparkle and bling. This board is an equal opportunity board so things like rubies and emeralds can be found here, not just pearls. Watches too.

PIE, PIE, PIE AND TARTS: All things pies, hand pies, tarts etc. I'm slowly migrating pies and tarts from the dessert boards here.

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD: All cute little ideas transforming food into shapes and things that would make kids eat them. I need to borrow your kids so I can make some of these things, though I think Mr. L would get a kick out of me making his pancakes in the shapes of animals and not blobs.

PORKAPALOOZA: About five years ago I planned on having a food blog event where everyone would send me links to their blog posts about the most important food group, pork, and it was going to be a yearly Porkapalooza event. The name has stuck to mean pretty much any drool worthy dish that is made from pork. We have Porkapalooza events quite regularly in my house even if it's just Mr. L and I. See also BACON-EVERYTHINGS BETTER WITH.

POULTRY: All things chicken, turkey, partridge, dove, pheasant or pretty much anything that flys and can be eaten. Don't freak, I have no dove recipes pinned. Though I have eaten dove and quite liked it so now you can freak out.

PRODUCTS I LOVE: Items I wish I owned or currently own and can't live without. This is where row upon row of bacon items would be pinned if bacon didn't have it's own board.

PROJECT LIFE SCRAPBOOK: Because I've started Project Life at least three times and have never finished. I'm hoping this board gets me going and gives me ideas.

PURSES...I DIE: Feel free to use this as my Christmas/Anniversary/Birthday/Just Because You Love Me wish list.

RED WHITE AND BLUE: All things patriotic and that have to do with Independence Day aka The 4th of July.

ROMANTICALLY SHABBY: Because someday I will figure out how to make things look shabby and romantic and cool and not look like they are old and used and broken and like they should be in the dump and not decorating my home.

SECRET GARDEN: At some point I do hope I live somewhere that has Gods Green Earth for me to plant and kill some plants. I do not have a green thumb. Not even close. Nor do I currently have any earth to plant anything. All I have is a brick patio. Where I tend to plants that die. I want a nice garden so that when I find snails I can fling them over the fence into someone elses yard. And a spot where I can dump all the plants I've killed and make them into mulch.

SOUPS SANDWICHES AND PIZZAS: Another board that needs to be divided. Who knew I would find so many recipes for pizza's to pin, a food I have never actually made myself?

ST. PATRICK'S DAY: There are a whole lotta foods that shouldn't be green that are made green for this holiday and I must pin them all.

STEAMPUNK: In my mind I live in a Steampunk world and I dress Steampunk. And I look hot. In the real world I just pin Steampunk stuff. Because it's hot. And it's an obsession. Though if truth be told I own not one item of clothing or piece of jewelry or artifact that would be considered Steampunk. At least nothing I would admit to anyway.

TABLESCAPES: For all those dinner parties I don't have.

THANKSGIVING AND FALL: Lots of turkey stuff in here. Lots of brown too.

THE KITCHEN IS THE HEART: Which is under 'T' because that's the way Pinterest rolls. Word to those assigning board names...leave out "the". Anyway this is where I put photos of all those gourmet kitchens I wish I had to cook in along with some great ideas for storage, aprons and anything kitcheny.

THE LADIES ROOM: Bathroom. John. Commode. Water closet. Head. The Loo. Restroom. The Can. Lavatory. Crapper. Washroom. What they are commonly called. But I don't pin those types....I pin LADIES ROOMS. There is a difference. Trust me.

VALENTINES DAY: Anything to do with the holiday, foods in the shape of hearts, pink or red foods and ideas to make Mr. L smile since he always treats me well on Valentines Day and I need to give some of that love back.

WHAT WAS SHE THINKING: Because we all have a bit of a "Joan Ranger" in us and there are celebrities out there that really just don't look at themselves in a mirror before they walk out the door. Or they have the worst stylists ever. And yes, posting these photos makes me feel better about my fat pant days. Because wearing a pair of black fat pants is heads and tails better than these outfits!

WORTH A 1000 WORDS: Photos that I find interesting along with some camera and photography information.

WRAPPING AND PACKAGING IDEAS: Because some day I'm actually going to get birthday and Christmas packages wrapped before the actual day and time they need to be opened. So I'll have time to wrap things in all these pretty packaging ideas instead of stuffing them in gift bags with a piece of tissue paper. And because I truly wish to channel Martha Stewart at times.

Herein ends my Pinterest Board list. Which will change within weeks as I add more boards. Because Pinterest is an addiction. And I just shared mine so feel free to share yours. And because years from now I'll probably not remember why I started these boards so I'll need something to reference. Be calm and Pin on....

 

 

 

 

Sautéed Shrimp with Chardonnay-Dijon Cream Sauce

This Sauteed Shrimp with Chardonnay-Dijon Cream Sauce is one of the first dishes that I pinned that I actually made. I needed something quick last summer to make while we were on vacation, something that was tasty but wouldn't require too much effort (I mean really, after sleeping in, sitting on the deck all day reading, and watching movies I was just too tired to want to cook LOL).

I have no idea how I came across this recipe but I found it on a blog (that no longer seems active) called Cook By Your Wits. The recipe though, comes from Wolfgang Puck and has been written up in newspapers and such since 2006 (to coincide with the 78th Annual Oscars back then).

Mr. L and I really liked the sauce in this dish. Quick to put together, this makes a great weeknight meal and is a good way to use up any leftover Chardonnay you might have. Though the sauce is awesome, there really wasn't enough for us, especially since we had this as a main dish. We ended up with too much pasta (I used angel hair). Next time I would double the sauce.

 

SAUTEED SHRIMP WITH CHARDONNAY-DIJON CREAM SAUCE
(Wolfgang Puck)

1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
Salt and White Pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup Chardonnay
1/2 cup cream
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Italian parsley, chopped
Pasta or rice, cooked

Pat shrimp dry and sprinkle with salt and white pepper. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add oil. Add shrimp to pan in single layer. Let cook for about 2 minutes on one side. Turn over and cook about 2 minutes more. Do not overcook. Remove from pan and set aside, covered with foil to keep warm.

Raise heat under pan to high. Add wine and let reduce by half. Reduce heat and add cream. Reduce slightly and add mustard. Simmer about 5 minutes. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning.

Add the shrimp and parsley to the sauce and simmer briefly to heat up the shrimp. Serve with rice or pasta as entree, or by itself as a starter.

Serves 4.

Note: I of course used Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard.

Note: I didn't add the parsley to the sauce. It didn't state how much parsley so I didn't want to use too much and then completely forgot to put some in.

Note: We served this over angel hair pasta.

Note: To cut down calories in this dish, make the shrimp and sauce and then serve it over a bed of wilted spinach.

Again, loved the taste of the dish, but wished there had been more sauce. We plan on making this often. We tend not to be big white wine drinkers so there is usually some leftover Chardonnay when we open a bottle which will gladly be put to use in this dish.

This recipe came from my I SEAFOOD I EAT IT Pinterest Board.

 

My Pinterest Boards - Part 1

Please check out the I PIN THEREFORE I AM post here as this is the second in a series about me and Pinterest.

I did wait quite a  while before setting up my boards on Pinterest. I was a bit intimidated and didn't want to start pinning things to boards until I figured out exactly what boards I wanted to set up. I went through my hobbies, the foods I ate, anything I could think of that I might want to pin and created boards. Like a lot of folks, I got cute when I named my Pinterest boards. Not such a good idea.

My boards are arranged by "type" (all food boards together, all scrapbook related boards together) on my main Pinterest site. The Pinterest drop down menu lists everything alphabetically...which means "I Seafood I Eat It" is filed by the "I" on the drop down menu while I file it under "S" for seafood. Only makes a difference to the one pinning which would be me. And some of the creative names don't necessarily mean anything to anyone but me. So my one hint to anyone starting out and setting up boards on Pinterest, is to check out many different pinners to see what boards they may have and make as many boards as you can! And if you want folks to be able to find things on your board, don't get cutesy, tell them exactly what it is you're pinning.

NOTE: If I make a new board (say split Halloween into three boards) and you followed the original Halloween board, it will not automatically have you following those spin off boards...you'll have to know that there is a new board and follow it too.

NOTE: I am slowing dividing my "holiday" boards into decorations and food. Halloween will be also include costumes.

NOTE: You can now choose what photo you want to be on the cover of your boards. You can change this daily, weekly, or leave it be. I change mine periodically. In a perfect world, the cover of the Get In My Closet board would have the cover of the next outfit I plan on buying. The cover of the Pasta My Heart board would have the next dish I plan on making for dinner. I don't live in a perfect world.

For those interested in my boards, what they contain, why I pin to them, here is a quick rundown (but don't be surprised if they change in the next month as I try to diversify my boards). Hopefully it might help anyone trying to set up boards of their own. I arrange my boards in kind of an order on my Pinterest page, that way if I'm trying to find scrapbooking stuff, all the boards that deal with scrapbooking are near each other. All food boards are together, scrapbooking together, hockey together, holidays together, clothing together etc. Of course I do have some boards that are stand alone...they either are in the top row of my boards (things that are near and dear to my heart) or at the end of all my boards (things that don't really go together). Here, in alphabetical order, are my current boards (the first half of the gazzillion I have, the next half will come later):

ADVENTURES IN DRINK: A mixture of alcoholic drinks, summer floats, milkshakes, coffee, tea, hot chocolate recipes and sayings that pertain to drinking of any sort. Don't be surprised to find bottles of tequila pictured. This board will probably get divided into alcoholic and non alcoholic drinks at some point.

ANIMAL KINGDOM: Because gosh darn, animals are so cute! And it's much better to look at pictures of them being cute than having to clean up their poop.

ARE WE THERE YET?: Incredible photos of places I'd love to visit in my lifetime that don't show the expensive cost of flying there, finding a decent hotel room without bedbugs, getting taken for a ride by some unscrupulous taxi driver, nor killing my feet trying to walk around the entire area to see everything in the one day I'm actually there. Still, places I'd like to visit.

BACON-EVERYTHINGS BETTER WITH: Because it's bacon!

BEACHY KEEN: No I do not have a beach house, nor do I ever plan on buying one. Nor is my current home in any way shape or form "beachy". But I do have one small bathroom that is kinda beach colored with some shell decorations here and there so of course there has to be an entire Pinterest board devoted to that small bathroom I may or may not ever get around to decorating "beachy".

BEEF - IT'S WHATS FOR DINNER: I thought about separating this out by types of beef (hamburger, roasts etc), but at this time, I'm just gonna leave it as is with everything beef included.

BEEN TO GO AGAIN: Basically just places I've been to that I want to go back and visit again. I need to be careful that I don't pin a thousand photos of Bora Bora as I wish I was there daily. I will not be pinning that place near the boarder where we got sick and feared for our lives as I'm trying to erase that from my memory.

BREAKFAST: All things breakfast or brunch that includes pancakes, eggs, toasts and pretty much anything that you'd eat in the morning. Except bacon...because it has it's own board. And pizza...because I'm too old to eat leftover pizza for breakfast any more so I don't. Honest. Well not on a regular basis anyway so you won't find it here.

CARD ENVY: All things about scrapbooking your own cards and using Copic markers. I really should pin Copic stuff into their own board as I own an obscene amount of Copic pens...which I bought to make cards...which I rarely do...thus devoting a whole Pinterest board to cards that I will probably never make. It's a vicious circle but I'm hoping it squashes the guilt from buying more Copic markers.

CATAHOLIC: Because cats are IT. And because it's much safer to Pin cats that it is to rescue yet another cat and become that cat lady people are always talking about.

CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS-FOOD: Still migrating the food out of the basic Christmas board which will just be decorations. This board also contains all things snow and winter. I promise to stop pinning food that is served in the shape of Christmas trees.

CLOSETS WORTHY OF CARRIE BRADSHAW: Because every girl deserves a huge closet so they can see all the clothes that they have and plenty of space for all those shoes and purses and a special jewelry cabinet and a space to hang your dogs clothes because if you had a closet that big you'd have a cute little doggy that you would need to dress for every occasion.

COLORTASTIC: Color combinations I might want to paint rooms with, scrapbook with, or just use for inspiration. Amazingly colorful photos (that have usually been photo-shopped) of things are also pinned here. This is just a basic color inspiration board.

COMPLETED PINS-FOOD: Yes I actually do cook or create from the pins I've pinned, though I seriously doubt this pin happy cook will ever get through even an iota of the stuff I've pinned. But if I've cooked it and found the pin on Pinterest, I'll post it here along with comments. That's if I liked said dish. If the item completely sucked it will probably just disappear from my boards hopefully never to be seen again.

COOKIES, CANDIES, BROWNIES OH MY: I thought I was being so smart by separating these desserts from my regular dessert board. Oh fool me. I will eventually separate out all three to their own individual boards...I may even have to make a separate board just for marshmallows.

CREATING SPACES: Pins of scrap or craft rooms or items that I wish to get ideas from. Either that or this board was just made as a reminder that I really really need to get my scrap room organized.

DAY OF THE DEAD: Currently empty as I need to migrate Day Of The Dead stuff from my Halloween boards into this board.

DESSERT IS MY DOWNFALL: This is one of the two boards that drive me crazy. I had no idea that I would be pinning so many desserts considering how rarely I make them. But bloggers out there seem to find great joy in cooking and then pinning their concoctions that I drool over so my dessert board is overloaded. I figured I'd put anything that wasn't in the Cookies, Candies, Brownies or Let Them Eat Cake/Cupcakes board into this dessert board. I now need this separated into a board for Pies, one for Ice Cream, one for anything S'mores (there really seems to be a plethora of desserts that you can make taste like S'mores!) and one for Nutella (which seems to be a favorite of mine). I was also thinking I need to make one for fruit desserts. Never ending. Peruse this board at your own risk.

DREAMY DRESSES: Somewhere inside me is a 1950's Grace Kelly in the movie Rear Window. There is a body inside me that can pull off a Badgley Mischka gown. There is an attitude inside me that can wear an Alexander McQueen couture dress without fear. And somewhere there is a pocketbook that can afford all these expensive dreamy dresses. So I dream.

EASTER AND SPRING: All things Easter and Spring though this will be divided at some point for decorations and food.

EATS FOR ME: Pretty much a catch all for food or food related pins I had no idea what to do with.

EATS TO START THE FEAST: Appetizers. Contains salads too. Finger foods. Soups have their own board. Lots of fried stuff for some reason.

FISH FOOD: Probably will be the least populated food board, but anything made with fishies.

FOOD ON THE SIDE:  What was supposed to be simply veggies and salads really needs to be divided into Salads; Potatoes; Rice and Grains, Breads, among others. I had no idea that I'd find so many side dishes so interesting. I'm a complete idiot for not realizing my love of potatoes would quickly get out of hand.

FOR MY HOME: Sort of a catch all for home items that don't fit in the Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen etc boards. Also contains photos of houses with twenty rooms, twenty two bathrooms, 65,000 square feet of living space that I wish I could afford. So there would be a place for you to stay when you visit. And so I'd have room to buy all the things I pin to the For My Home board.

GET IN MY CLOSET: Well yes I would love to wear all the clothes I pin to this board. Of course they more than likely would only fit and be appropriate for my 20 year old self...so no I will never fit into about 90% of the outfits I've pinned, but that's not the point. I do get inspiration from this board, as much as I do from reading Vogue or InStyle. It may be the color combination or the shape of a skirt etc. I know you are looking at my butt and saying that clothing item I pinned will never work on my body, but in my mind, at some point, maybe it will. Don't judge, we all have dreams.

HALLOWEEN IS MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY; HALLOWEEN-COSTUMES, CLOTHES AND MAKEUP; HALLOWEEN FOOD: My favorite holiday and if you've read my blog over the years, you know that I go Halloween crazy during October. These boards will absolutely be my inspiration for my annual Halloween countdown and I love love love that I have a place to keep all the great ideas I come across. Currently migrating items to the correct boards.

I BLEED TEAL: A mixture of all things hockey, San Jose Sharks, sharks in general and my favorite hockey color-teal. Though a teal bowl might not seem hockey related, I remember the days when finding anything in my hockey teams color was difficult. Please note: Just because I pin a hockey related item that might have, say, a Detroit Red Wings logo on it in no way shape or form means I root for said team, only that the item would be awesome should it contain a San Jose Sharks logo. I would probably be tarred and feathered should I own and display Red Wings stuff.

I SEAFOOD I EAT IT:  Ah yes, me trying to be cute while naming this board. You find it alphabetically under seafood in the food section of my boards. All things shrimp, crab, and lobster though I admit lobster dishes are woefully underrepresented on food blogs.

ICE CREAM AND SORBET: I own several different types of ice cream making machines. I need to use them. I now have recipes. Which really isn't an excuse because I own entire cookbooks dealing with making ice cream. I've always had recipes. But I now have pins. So ice cream making machines must be dug out of their hiding place in the garage and put to use this summer. Because there are recipes that need to be pinned to the Completed Pins board. It's a challenge now.

That concludes Part 1 of my Pinterest boards rundown and the fact that Mrs. L has way to much time on her hands and spends time she should be cooking pinning recipes and such on Pinterest. The addiction continues in Part 2, coming to a theater near you. Or this blog depending on what I find out there to pin....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Pin Therefore I Am

Hi, my name is Mrs. L and I'm addicted to Pinterest.

Of course it's not my fault. Because though I say I'm addicted to Pinterest, I'm actually addicted to recipes. Which made me addicted to Pinterest. It's a vicious circle, I know. Pinterest is just a way for me to easily keep track of the recipes I want to make while also sharing them with friends...or complete strangers.

I had planned on starting a "Cooking with Pinterest" series on April 1st. But then I figured you would all think it was some sort of April Fools joke.  Though I had most of the posts written all I really needed to do was some spell checking, adding some links and cleaning up a bit of the talkies. So I started to finish that chore when, gees this shouldn't be too hard to figure out, I got lost looking at stuff on Pinterest. It was there that I found my post about Pinterest...well, not my post, but the post I was attempting to write about my addiction, Pinterest and how to use it. Only Taste and Tell had done a much better job with much better photos. So I went back to the drawing board, scrapped most of what I was going to say and kinda started over. (You can read Taste and Tell's 12 Things to Avoid When Pinning here. Full disclosure, I'm a huge fan of Deborahs food blog and pretty much pin anything she makes!).

The next few days of posts are pretty much me centric...cuz what you really need to do to understand how to properly pin on Pinterest is check out Taste and Tells post here. I will divulge some of my rantings and ravings though, mostly because it was already written and I hate to waste the writing time. And I really am cooking things I've found on Pinterest (or pinned from the various blogs I follow) so that will be coming up soon too.

The thing is I've been doing my own version of Pinterest for a long time with much less success. Which is why I was so completely taken by Pinterest once I started to use it. So, let me first explain why I'm so addicted.

I collect recipes. When they are in cookbooks, said cookbooks are easy to organize in bookcases. When they are in magazines, they are easy to stack on the floor (for example all Gourmet magazines, lined up, chronologically-lacking floor space you will find them all boxed up in the garage). If they are recipes pulled out of a magazine, they are put in binders by type of food (or would be if I was Martha Stewart which, because I'm not, those pages are basically piled in boxes). But keeping track of recipes that I find online on blogs or manufactures websites? That gets a bit tricky.

At first, I started bookmarking on my computer, all the recipes I found that I thought looked interesting. That started pretty much once I figured how to bookmark things oh so many years ago. In a short time I had a very long list of bookmarked recipes with no way to figure out which one was which. Then I tried putting the bookmarks on my computer in folders by foods. That lasted about a year before again, way way to many bookmarks. Somewhere along the line I was actually writing the web links into a memo book...yeah, that didn't last long either. I then, in a very OCD moment, concocted an excel file, divided it into different foods groups, made columns for the recipe title, what blog it came from, the date of the post and then the url (warned you it was a bit OCD). Since that filled up quickly I ended up with an excel file for each year. So I now have many different excel folders by year, full of recipes by type. Up until Pinterest, that's how I organized recipes I found on blogs or the interwebs.

But it was still hard to really find a recipe. If I wanted to make that noodle dish that had some shrimp and barbecued pork in it, was it under shrimp? Pork? Noodles? And then I would have to go through all the shrimp dishes, hoping that the name of the dish was something like Shrimp and Pork and Noodle Dish. If the name of the dish didn't jump out at me, well then I had to click on a gazillion urls, hoping to find that specific dish that I was looking for. And of course go through each year's excel file unless I could remember what year I had found the recipe. Which of course was never the first excel file I would look through.

Pinterest is a way to bookmark the recipes I'm enamored with and organize them quite easily. Pinterest also lets me organize these recipes by using photos of the dish, instead of the recipe name or the sometimes completely worthless web link. I found that it's much easier for me to look at a photo and remember a recipe and be intrigued enough to try the recipe out than it was just by looking at the name of said recipe (probably why I relate to cookbooks with photos).

Pinterest is just like having a bunch of cork idea boards (bulletin boards) on the walls of your kitchen. You come across a recipe in a magazine for Strawberry Shortcake on a Stick. You cut it out and take a thumbtack (or pushpin) and pin it to the cork board you have designated for food. You might have a separate bulletin board up where you tack up photos of kitchens remodels you'd love to do, or a board where you tack up photos of places you'd like to visit someday. Pinterest just does all that on the computer for you so that your kitchen has more room for all those gadgets you seem to pick up at Sur La Table.

So for me, having a place where I can "bookmark" all these recipes I want to try is like the best organizational gift ever. Now if I'm trying to find that stupid recipe that has shrimp and pork and noodles I can quickly scan the photos on any of the boards that I think I might have pinned it and find the recipe*. If I want to make a chicken dish this weekend, I can scan the photos of the recipes I've "pinned" to my Poultry board and see which recipe fits the bill. And I, along with most "pinners" don't just use Pinterest for recipes. Homeschoolers use it to pin interesting projects to do with their kids. Women getting married might have different boards for dresses they might want to try along with different invitations they've found on the net they might use. I have a friend who collects batman images because he's such a fan, a friend who pins books she wants to read, one who pins scrapbook layouts to use as sketches, and even the friend who pins hot guys that she hopes to meet some day. You can pretty much pin whatever strikes your fancy.

Pinterest is a virtual bulletin board, where you can keep all the ideas that make you laugh, ideas that inspire you or feed your creativity, in one place and Pinterest lets you share all those ideas with friends and strangers. Your favorite blog (be it food or something else) might have a link to their pins, so next time your surfing around, you can find some awesome ideas by checking their Pinterest boards.

You can check out my Pinterest boards here. (and yes, I need to figure out how to get that Pinterest link in the sidelines on my own blog!). I do plan on a few more posts explaining my boards, why and how I pin and what I'm cooking from Pinterest in the next couple of days.

But more importantly, to learn how to use Pinterest correctly, please check out Taste and Tells post here. To learn more about Pinterest in general go here. Need an invitation, just let me know.

Now excuse me while I go see if there are any new ideas to pin on my friends Pinterest boards!

 *As an FYI, that recipe is called Singapore Rice Noodles and can be found here.

 

Blueberry Mousse from Sandra's Easy Cooking

Valentines Day found Mr. L and I getting home late and having a late dinner. We had decided to stay home and cook not only because it was less expensive and less of a hassle, but because we could watch our diets and not over do. Mr. L fixed me a wonderful dinner of sauteed scallops and his spicy string beans, a dish he first made for me when we started dating.

And then we both collapsed on the couch to watch some tv completely forgetting about dessert. There might have been some champagne involved in this forgetfulness.

So I didn't do my part of our Valentines dinner until several days later when I made this little Blueberry Mousse I found on Pinterest. When I saw this I figured it would be the perfect dessert for Valentines Day (or an anniversary, special occasion, etc). Because I knew I'd have limited time that evening to make something fancy this seemed like a quick and easy dessert to put on the table. The fact that it wasn't full of calories and wouldn't interfere with some pieces of dark chocolate that might have been received on said Valentines Day was also a plus. Oh and I figured it would go well with champagne.

I had found these small, heart, spring-form pans at Target which I used for the mold. The original recipe from Sandra's Easy Cooking blog just had hollow heart molds. Though my mold turned out perfect, it did have that spring-form pan at the bottom which was impossible to get the mousse off of without destroying the shape. No matter, we just ate off that!

The ingredients for this were pretty simple...heavy cream, blueberries, a bit of vanilla flavored yogurt and some stevia. You can find the recipe here:

BLUEBERRY MOUSSE

This was so simple that I'm sure it's going to become a regular dessert and not just be brought out on special occasions. Thanks to Sandra's Easy Cooking for this wonderful idea (and many more, check out her blog for some great recipes).

Photo from Mr. L's iPhone.

 

Zucchini Pizza

I admit, when I first saw this on Pinterest I passed right on by. I just didn't think it would taste that good. But as everyone and their Mother's Uncle seemed to be pinning it, I took a closer look. Seems the original recipe came from one of my favorite bloggers...Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen so I pinned it thinking I'd probably never use it.

Fast forward about a week to a co-worker giving me some extra zucchini that had been growing in his yard. One of them was those nice round, ball like zucchini that I've actually never cooked with before. The Pizza Zucchini recipe was still stuck in my mind so I decided to give it a try.

I was actually very surprised by how good this turned out. The zucchini didn't turn mushy as I had feared and even though it was pretty simple to put together it had great flavor. I didn't exactly follow Kayln's directions (she grilled hers, I used my broiler) but this will definitely be something I make again.

ZUCCHINI PIZZA
(Kalyn's Kitchen)

For Kalyn's recipe go here.

You will need the following:

Globe zucchini
Pizza Sauce (or doctored tomato sauce)
Cheese
Pepperoni
Olive Oil

Note: My zucchini was larger than the one shown on Kalyns blog. I cut a bit off the top and bottom of the globe zucchini and then sliced it making four rounds. I brushed both sides with olive oil and then broiled the slices until tender (I did turn them over once).

Note: I didn't have any pizza sauce but I did have a bit of leftover tomato sauce. I added some oregano and a bit of this and that to make my own pizza type sauce. I just spooned some on top of the broiled zucchini.

Note: I used some pre-shredded four cheese mix that I had in the fridge. I probably added more than normal on top of the sauce as I like things cheesy. I also added a bit of cheese on top of the pepperoni.

Note: I used presliced rounds of pepperoni (Hormel brand). You can also use turkey pepperoni to make this a "meatless" meal.

Note: Once I'd added the toppings, I broiled for only a few minutes to melt the cheese and heat up the toppings.

Since we had a big zucchini, we had this as dinner with a salad. I can see using smaller rounds of zucchini and making this as an appetizer.

For a detailed recipe go to Kalyn's blog here. As she states in her post, this is one of those recipes that once you have the basic idea you can just wing it. Loved that it helped me use some leftover tomato sauce I had no idea what to do with!