September 22, 2011

Cooking with Pinterest

in addition to the occasional crafty inspiration from pinterest, i've been cooking up a storm after pinning delicious-looking recipes left & right to my food board. i really enjoy cooking (even if i'm not really that great at it - i definitely am the type of person to Need A Recipe) and feel much more virtuous about myself if i cook dinner from scratch rather than eating out or relying on something processed from the freezer section.

it's been a bit harder since starting this job back in april though - only because i now metro to work, and i didn't realize how convenient it was to be able to swing by a grocery store on my way home to pick up whatever ingredients i lack for that day's recipe inspiration. but with some meal planning (and subsequent targeted weekend shopping) i've managed to pull together several home-cooked meals to try out new recipes in the past few days. some poor quality phone-pics of those meals? don't mind if i do!

first up, 2 dips i had been dying to try out:
artichoke dip (originally from my man's belly) and beet hummus (originally from simplyrecipes). the verdict: the beet hummus is... interesting. i'm really not sure if i like it or not, but it's definitely interesting. i'm not sure it's worth the hassle of preparing / cooking / peeling beets for, but it's certainly a striking, gorgeous color. it went much better with the plain cucumber slices than the pita chips i'd made - i can envision making this as individual-sized apps, with a spoonful of the hummus on top of a cucumber slice, all laid out on a platter.

the artichoke dip is deeeelicious. the only problem i had with that one was that it called for 1 clove of garlic... and i used the biggest clove of garlic known to man, assuming that more garlic is always better, because duh. unfortunately, Gigantor Garlic completely overwhelmed the other flavors and very quickly became too much for me to handle. i'm definitely going to try this again - it's really quick/easy to make - but with a more reasonably sized garlic clove (or maybe saute the garlic first to take off some of the bite?).

next up: bacon & egg toast cups (originally from annie's eats).

these were a big hit - chris described them as "like egg mcmuffins.. but.. like.. real." they were a little trickier to put together than i'd expected, but just LOOK at the result! they're freaking ADORABLE. also: tasty as heck. a definite make-again.

and then last night, i pinterest-mined for a side dish: these parmesan potatoes (originally from foodlush).
(the rest of the meal is just italian sausages in red wine and sugar snaps steamed in the microwave.) holy cow, were these some tasty potatoes. i mean, of course they were: they're sprinkled in parmesan and garlic powder and then cooked in butter. YES PLEASE.

some other recent finds that were worth note (although i took no crappy phonepics):
do you have any other good recipes for me? please share!

12 comments:

  1. So um, you're making me dinner tomorrow night we agreed yes? Yes.

    Also there's no such thing as too much garlic. Garlic = YUM!

    If my mom comes back in December, I believe she'll be teaching you a couple of recipes. :)

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  2. I LOVE artichoke dip. I bet yours was deligh!

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  3. yum yum yum!!!
    I want to try those egg and bacon cups - I think the kids would like them too!

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  4. I've been avoiding the Pinterest craze on purpose since I haven't had enough time to catch up on all the blogs in my feed reader, but these recipes are making me think about reconsidering. Or maybe I'll let you make stuff and then I can get the recipe after you have already deemed it delicious!

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  5. I want those bacon and egg toast cups. I'm pretty sure they'd be a big hit in my apartment, too.

    Or that the bacon would be gone before I could figure out how to wrap it like that. Either way.

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  6. Holy crap-cakes. Those egg and bacon cups are the most amazing things I've ever seen. Which makes me sad, because I don't eat bacon anymore. Sweet delicious bacon. The best meat in the universe. Now I'm going to crawl under my desk and weep quietly until my brain forgets what I've just seen.

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  7. Every recipe I have tried from Kalyn's Kitchen is SO GOOD. And she's a South Beach-er which means they are healthy. LOVE.

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  8. YUMMMMMMM.

    I love to cook, but I actually hate following recipes. Even if I see a recipe that looks good, I'll modify it as I go along just to change it up a bit.

    Some of my favorite things to cook are spaghetti, a Thai curry soup that I made up, and when I want something easy, I'll throw a bunch of lentils, veggies, and spices like curry and masala into a pot and cook it all together.

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  9. That reminds me, I'm suppose to be going through my mother's cooking magazines and copying down recipes that I think I'll like.

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  10. I think you're comparing yourself with your mom's professional cooking skills (that is you, right?)... but it looks to me like you're a VERY good cook, yourself!

    Mongolian beef is our fave, too. I'm going to have to try this. Thx!

    I haven't had time to get sucked into Pinterest yet. I want to, but... just haven't!

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  11. Feed me, PLEASE!!! :)

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  12. Thanks for linking to my artichoke dip and I'm so happy to hear that you liked it.

    It's one of those easy "go to" recipes that I make a lot. The best part is it's really healthy and no one has any idea. Everyone thinks it's a guilty pleasure.

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