Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Pinterest Recipes

(I started writing this post more than a month ago ... finally getting around to posting it. Sheesh.)

My husband recently told someone that every dinner at our house was highly experimental. Experimental sounds bad to me. Experimental leaves things too open ended. Experiments can go wrong.

There are a few recipes that are in regular rotation around our house, but I do like to cook different things and try new recipes. I feel like I cook enough to discern whether or not I will like a recipe before I put in the effort to prepare it. Perhaps I have the gift of discernment because things typically turn out OK.

Pinterest has become a great resource for me. I can't resist beautiful food photography! It looks so good that I have to prepare it and taste it myself. So, here's a run down of my recent Pinterest successes ... and one flop. But one out of six ain't bad!

Angel Chicken


I would have seasoned this a little more, but this was delicious served over linguine. The recipe says to pour the mushrooms in the bottom of the crock pot and then top with chicken. Problem is, once you do that, the mushrooms adhere to the chicken like barnacles on a boat hull. Stir it all together and you'll have barnacle-free chicken.

Baked Spaghetti


We never make spaghetti at our house. Just not one of my favorites. But this baked spaghetti takes classic spaghetti to the next level. It's creamy and crunch and hearty, not runny like my spaghetti always turns out. So, so good, and it freezes well.

Lasagna Soup


I loved this recipe as well. It's very filling and has great Italian flavor. However, if you don't like fennel, I would avoid this soup. The Italian sausage has a lot of fennel flavor. Also, I would sub the broken lasagna noodles for a simple spiral noodle, just for attractiveness.

Pesto, Plum Tomato and Mozzarella Grilled Cheese


This is one good sammy. The rich, stringy mozzarella is amazing paired with the nutty pesto and fresh tomato. As a card-carrying cheese lover, I could only eat half of my sandwich because it was so rich and filling.

Southwest Chicken Corn Chowder


I saw this photo and wanted to make it immediately. But somewhere my chowder went terribly wrong. It was water and bland and therefore sat on the stove untouched for two days until it became putrid. Skip this one.

Tuscan Pasta


I'm not typically a fan of jarred alfredo sauce. It always tastes a little off. But this jarred sauce is wonderful when you jazz it up a little bit. This was an easy meal after getting home late from working out. You literally throw it together.

White Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas


It's rare that I meet an enchilada I don't love. These are spectacular. Ty ate on them for a few days until he'd polished off the dish. That's saying something since leftovers often go untouched around our house. We'll be making these again, soon.

Now, hopefully, I can start blogging as much as I cook.