Pinterest wins and losses

Jake and I recently attended a bbq at a friends house and needed an appetizer to bring so I decided on these brie bites.  They were super easy to make and a big hit. The only issue I had with them is that they would be best served right out of the oven. Melted warm brie is delicious but melted cold brie while tasty is not the same as the warm version.





If you are looking for an appetizer that is both classy and easy, this is the one for you! Definitely a win.











And now a loss......

I am often intrigued by the many pins for make your own dressings and creamers and I thought I would give it shot. Thinking it might be more healthy and maybe save me some money. I was wrong on both fronts. I made the ranch dressing which included using buttermilk and mayo, so there went the calorie saving. Plus I had to buy herbs, many of the ingredients for this recipe are not items I would keep in my pantry at home. The final result was OK but I have a tough enough time eating salads, I need a tasty salad dressing to entice me to go for the salad. This is another one that I will stick to letting someone else prepare and I will gladly pay for.

On the bright side I have some recipes that will stay in my recipe collection

birthday cake cookies - When Jake couldn't stop eating these I knew it was a win. The man that doesn't eat sweet devouring cookies - I call that a major baking win. These are a simple mixture of cake mix and sprinkles. If you need a fun sweet to take to a party. I fully recommend this recipe.

magic muffin mix - this was a semi-win. I happened to have whole wheat flour in my pantry leftover from a previous recipe, but we don't really use whole wheat flour all that much so I was excited to find a recipe where I could use this flour up. It's basically a base recipe and you had a few more ingredients depending on what type of muffin you want. Not bad to have around in a pinch or if you have left over whole wheat flour but I think I can find better muffin recipes.

Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter- In an effort to take the cooking burden off of Jake I am trying to work in some Pinterest recipes (that I make) into the rotation. I am a big fan asparagus and Jake really likes balsamic so I gave this recipe a shot. It was a homerun and pretty simple to make. I did cut down on the amount of butter listed in the recipe. A whole stick of butter and pasta = yikes! This will be one that we keep in our rotation and it's one I can make without of burning the house down! This isn't just a win it's a super win.

But with every couple of wins you will get a few losses...

chichi petits fours- I decided to give these a shot when I saw that they were no bake. Just a little mixing and stirring to make icing and the cutting of your store bought pound cake into pieces. Then you pour the icing over the pound cake and you are supposed to get these cute little petit fours. Mine turned into slightly green (the color of my icing) pound cake squares. Even after letting the icing set for an hour as instructed I never got the nice icing coated pieces the picture shows. While they tasted pretty good, aesthetically they looked like moldy pieces of pound cake. I think I will stick to letting the bakery supply petit fours for my next party.

 strawberry candy- this is a do over. I had posted about how I tried this and it dried the strawberries up into things I could barely scrap off the pan. I gave it another shot and this time just cut the tops off of the strawberries. I followed the instructions for cooking and in the end decided that these don't stand up to twizzlers. The pinner compared them to twizzlers - but healthy. Not so much. I found they just tasted like chewy strawberries that took 3 hours to make. Next time I need a strawberry candy fix you will see me in the candy aisle at the grocery store.

Cinnamon Quinoa Bake - this was a gluten free recipe that I thought I would try. All the articles I have been reading on diets for runners have mentioned the advantages of quinoa. From the picture I thought this might kind of be like granola. Which I could then add to yogurt. Nope it was basically mush, Jake tasted it and said it reminded him of oatmeal. I am not an oatmeal fan so I am putting this recipe in the delete file! If you like oatmeal you might like this one.

 So there you have it some wins some losses. One of these days I will get back to actual crafting. The next Pinterest party is June 30 if you are interested let me know! Happy Pinning!

~E