Monday, July 9, 2012

Pinterest Challenge: Get Cooking

The Summer Edition of the Pinterest Challenge is back and it just so happened to come the day I challenged myself to start cooking again and make a few of those recipes I'd been pinning for months, nothing like a little deadline to make things happen.

Marbled Fudge
My first challenge was the hardest - red and blue tie-dyed fudge (yes, I pulled out the patriotic dessert for Independence Day last week.) I'd never made fudge before so I was a bit worried about how this would turn out. Turns out I was right to worry, my first batch wasn't the prettiest, but by the second go round I had it down! Thankfully I found friends and family to give most of it away too, this isn't the kind of thing I want sitting around the house.

Pinterest cooking, crispy edamame
To counter the sugar rush from the fudge, I whipped up a batch of Crispy Edamame. This recipe was good, which since I ate if for four meals in a row was a good thing, next time I know to half the recipe!

Yogurt
The pin I tested the most, was one to make Greek-style yogurt by straining regular yogurt using the coffee filter method I found on this pin. This is a keeper, I eat yogurt for breakfast every day and prefer the thinker, more protein packed strained version to regular yogurt and using coffee filters to strain the yogurt rather than cheese cloth is easier and less costly.

Smashed avocado and chickpeas
My favorite of the pins I tried was the Smashed Chickpeas & Avocado Salad Sandwich, I'm pretty sure this one will become a regular at my house. My only complaint was how much work it was to take the skins off the chickpeas, next time I'm going to skip that step. I realized after I started making this that I didn't have a lime, so I made it with lemon juice and I used spinach and a sprinkle of coriander, since I didn't have any fresh cilantro in the fridge.

Sweet and salty roasted chickpeas
My final cooking attempt was a pin my sister sent me for Sweet and Salty Chickpeas (can you tell I love chickpeas?) This one made a great, low guilt snack.

Can you tell I'm playing with my new iPhone and assorted camera apps? A week's worth of play has me loving Instagram for the social aspects, but my favorite app for taking photos is Camera Awesome. The filters aren't the best I've seen, but I love the feature that allows me to pick one spot in the photo to set the exposure to and the ease with which I can send the photos to Flickr or to my Instagram Feed.

Have you tried any recipes off of Pinterest lately? What are some of your favorites?

This week's cooking was accompanied by the latest Glen Hansard album, here's the beautiful opening track You Will Become.


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12 comments:

michelle@decorandthedog said...

Pinterest hasn't been leading me astray like it did for awhile. Muffins, biscuits....I should eat something other than carbs...

Your fudge looks so pretty!!

Nicole said...

I made the delicious honey lime chicken again last night. It's by far my favorite pinterest recipe so far.

Joanne said...

good week cooking! wish I had been there.

Clinton Painter said...

I have made Orange Creamcicle Cookies, Key Lime Cake, Deep Dish Cookies, and Cookie Dough Egg Rolls. (Are you sensing a theme here?) Also Crescent Pepperoni Roll-ups. I also was inpsired by a recipe on Pinterest to create a chicken with green chiles. Next up on my list is a Brown Sugar Salmon, Slow Cooker Pork Chops and a Chicken Parmesan. Probably more than what you needed to know.

Alexa said...

How fun and festive is that fudge???

Laura lok said...

oh the fudge looks yummy. I have never been good at any candy type cooking stuff and fudge falls in that catagory. teh edamame is one I will have to try I love that stuff.

Cindy said...

i love the colors in that fudge and i'm sure it tasted good, too. i like snapseed and vsco cam for my iphone.

Rosie Grey said...

Maybe I should head over to Pinterest to get me going... ;-) I haven't been there for quite a while I must admit!

Anna said...

Hi Jamie,
Looks like you've been busy! I like the arty look of that fudge:)
No Pinterest recipes for me, but I am making fancy sweets for a baby shower.....made/ sculpted fondant roses for cupcakes and a test run of royal icing decorated cookies. All low cal - NOT.
Happy summer to you!

Jerica said...

You are amazing! That fudge looks divine! So glad you are having better luck at Pinterest recipes! My favorite recipe so far is a honey lime enchilada and a strawberry shortcake trifle dish.

Karen said...

I love chickpeas. I found a great recipe for spicy ones that I served to our book group. It got rave reviews.

h said...

I don't do the whole Pinterest thing, but pretty much any recipe from SmittenKitchen is worth your time :)

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