I HEART Pinterest Recipes

What have you been doing lately? Anything new and exciting? I'm addicted to Pinterest. This is not new. What is new is that I'm actually using it to create....exactly what the site is for!

A couple night ago I attempted Carrabba's Bread Dipping Spices. I was lazy and didn't get out the mini food processor, nor did I have all the ingredients. Attempt #2 tonight was amazing, and had more of a kick from the red pepper flakes. It was tasty (my mouth was on fire at first). In the end I realized I forgot the garlic but it was delicious anyway. I will be making this again.

Originally I wanted to make some of Mac&Cheese Balls like the ones from The Cheesecake Factory for New Years Eve. I bought all the ingredients but didn't read all the instructions. Major oops. These bad boys have a couple days of prep. Tonight I made Mac & Cheese using the same recipe but without all the frying. The Gouda made it so creamy! Unfortunately, Abigail didn't care for it. Not sure if it was due to being 3 and full of disagreement, I mean independence, or if she didn't care for the Gouda.

This Chinese Honey Chicken recipe was tasty, made on 12/30. The flavors in the sauce were tasty but I think I either need to double the measurements or cook it last next time. There didn't seem to be nearly enough sauce for the crazy amt of chicken it called for in the recipe. I'm anxious to try this one again.

For New Year's Eve I tried a few new recipes. The biggest hit was the Peanut Butter "Cheese Ball", adults and kids both enjoyed. Abigail enjoyed picking the chocolate chips off the ball the most. The other Pinterest winner of the night as the Cheddar Bacon Ranch Pulls. I probably could have made it much cheesier and I used Hormel's Peppered Bacon crumbles, it's my favorite pre-cooked bacon. I even flubbed the recipe by using an Italian dressing packet instead of Ranch (another oops) but no one complained! The Brown Sugar Fruit Dip was super tasty. It's a crazy mix of brown sugar, cream cheese, sour cream, cool whip, vanilla and Bailey's. Sadly enough, this sweet dip was next to carrots and celery so most seem turned off. It was definitely best with strawberries.

A few weeks back I made BBQ Crockpot Chicken and Oven Baked Brown Rice, both turned out excellent! I even made Brown Butter Pumpkin Spice Krispy Treats for Thanksgiving. They were tasty and everyone was a fan.

I even tried out a few new Christmas Cookie Recipes: Hot Chocolate Cookies, Peppermint Crunch Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Colorful Swirl Cookies. Overall, the Hot Chocolate Cookies seemed to be the overall favorite - they truly tasted like hot chocolate in the form of a cookie. Abigail's favorite was the Peppermint Crunch, although my version was really an Andes Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie. Instead of the peppermint crunch I used crushed Andes mint (like the free dessert you get when you pay at Olive Garden). My favorite was the Colorful Swirls. It wasn't super sweet like a sugar cookie. The recipe didn't call for egg, so it seemed more shortbread to me. I had lots of fun making them and they looked fabulous when finished.

I have lots of fun ideas for the house and Abigail's room pinned too. I hope I'll be able to get to some ideas soon. I'm very excited, tomorrow I'm making Neverending Vanilla Extract!