Pin that Piece!

Do you guys out there on the internet know about Pinterest? [Of course you do, who am I kidding]. 

When I first learned about Pinterest I was determined not to join. Why? I knew I would like it, but I HATED the name. I know that may seem like a silly reason, but you know me and words. And "PINTEREST"? Really? I mean, I get it people, it's a PIN board that shows my INTERESTS… pINTEREST…but seriously? I hate it. 

But never the less, I bucked up and got on the bandwagon. [But I still try to avoid the word as much as possible].

Brent has come to appreciate this site as well, as he has gotten to try out a lot of its creations with me. Once I was cruising around and he looked over my shoulder and saw a recipe and said, "Pin that piece!!!" 

I try to only pin things that I think I will really try out. I see some people with thousands of pins and I know they will never get to everything :-). 

Here are the things I have tried so far:

I'm not going to take the time to link up pictures as well, but if you click on the link it will take you to the website and there will be a picture there-- for you visual learners ;-) 

FOOD [Brent's favorite]

Made THIS WILD RICE CASSEROLE last night. We loved it. It made a lot, and I always like recipes that do that because we aren't too good for left overs around here. 

PIZZA PINWHEELS.  I made ours with ham and pepperoni. Brent was wanting Stromboli, and I didn't have time to make it, and this was a nice alternative. I think kids would like it. 

CROCK POT BAKED POTATO SOUP- I literally threw ingredients in crock pot in less than 15 minutes. I didn't have a food processor, but used my immersion blender to mix in cream cheese at end. It was delicious and makes PLENTY if you like to freeze soup. We didn't add the toppings and it was just as good.

COWBOY CASSEROLE-  If you can get past the look of it dished up on your plate…it is quite tasty! Brent LOVED this one, and I thought it was okay. I'm not a huge fan of the texture of corn in casseroles, but I did like the taste. Brent liked it even better as leftovers, whereas I liked it straight out of oven because the tots were crispy.

CROCK POT CHICKEN PARM-  I wasn't super impressed with this one. I've posted THIS RECIPE awhile back that I like much better and is really just as simple. 

JOHN WAYNE CASSEROLE-  I was a little skeptical of this, but thought I'd give it a whirl since it looked fairly simple: Brent LOVED it and I thought it was quite tasty as well. I substituted a can of Rotel instead of tomatoes and jalepenos.

LASAGNA ROLL UPS-   Yes, yes, and YES! These were awesome. They are made with chicken instead of traditional beef, and for that reason I think they would even be delicious with a white sauce if you have anyone who can't have tomato sauce [like my dad]. They served up really pretty also. I didn't have any feta cheese on hand, so I used mozzarella. 

PARMESAN BAKED POTATOE HALVES-  Mine didn't look as pretty as the picture but they still were pretty tasty. Brent liked taking them for lunches. The smaller potatoes will work best for this. 

SAUSAGE CHEESE MUFFINS-  I have made these multiple times and we LOVE THEM! I made them when we had friends over one time and they thought they sort of tasted like Red Lobster's Cheddar biscuits plus sausage plus a little kick…and I think that's a pretty great description. We've had them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! They reheat wonderfully. 

LOADED POTATO BUFFALO CHICKEN CASSEROLE-  Another I was a bit skeptical of but we really liked it. I didn't use hot sauce, as I usually tame the heat in recipes like this. Instead I used the same amount of water [as it called for hot sauce], and added a little southwestern seasoning to the water before I added to the rest. It was still plenty "warm" for us but still tasty!

CROCK POT ITALIAN CHICKEN- I just realized the link is wrong right now, but here is the recipe:  Crockpot Italian Chicken: 4 chicken breasts, 1 packet Zesty Italian dressing seasoning, 1 8 oz. cream cheese (softened), 2 cans cream of chicken soup; Cook on low for 4 hours. If sauce is too thick, add a little milk. Serve over pasta. We liked this! I used 1/2-3/4 of the packet because a friend had made it and said it was too strong otherwise. Very creamy and delicious [I'm not saying any of these recipes are HEALTHY…:)]

CHICKEN ROLL UPS- I made these one night because I thought they looked easy. They were easy, but not very tasty. At least we didn't think so. I think I threw most of them away :-( Hate when that happens. 

FROZEN CHOCOLATE BANANA BITES-   I skipped the coconut. These were tasty but almost too cold to eat!

ANDES MINT COOKIES:  These were the cookies that inspired Brent's "Pin that piece!" quote. They were very good and super, super, super easy. 

CRAFTY THINGS I'VE TRIED:

YEAR OF DATE NIGHTS BINDER:  I made this as a wedding gift for some good friends. I modified a few of the dates/ created some new ones that fit them better, but used this as a template.  It took quite a bit of time and got a little spendy [apparently my aunt Lois loves that term?] by the end, but I think it beats giving a 30-40 dollar gift card.

GRATITUDE CHART: I made a variation of this with my niece, Caroline. We put it on poster board, and it worked really well. I also simply cut regular envelopes in half, and used index cards for inserts. It looked super cute and she loved it. I will post a picture when I write about my recent visit. 

SALT DOUGH FOOTPRINTS:   This isn't modeling clay quality, but it works really well. I hope to post a picture of this creation sometime soon as well. 

LEAF CROWN: I took Caroline for a walk and we picked up "cool" leaves, then returned home and made this crown. She loved it. It was later something she wanted to add to her gratitude chart as something she was thankful for. 

MESS FREE ART:   Again, this was a great craft with Caroline [age 3]. I modified this a bit though- we didn't cute anything out for the insert, and I used a gallon ziplock bag instead of the page protector. It was fun!

TODDLER SCRIBBLE ART CANVAS: This was really fun for me to make. I took old picture that Caroline had created and cut them up and applied them to a canvas like in the tutorial. Kali liked it a lot, and it's a fun way to display your kids' drawings…Caroline, however, didn't understand that it was her artwork too!

COVERED LIGHT SWITCHES AND OUTLETS: This was simple and I love how it turned out. In the tutorial they use scrapbook paper, but I used left over fabric from the curtains and crib skirt and bumper pad so it matched B's nursery. Really added something fun to the room AND covered up outdated outlets :-) 

LITTLE GIRL'S BOW HOLDER:   I wanted a place in the nursery to keep Blythe's headbands and bows, and found this tutorial. I had an old frame I'd snatched at a garage sale for about 25 cents, painted it to match the trim, used cute ribbon that wrapped a gift I'd received, and spent  less than $2 on the hooks. So for under 3 bucks I made a pretty cute, practical piece of art of Blythe's room! You can sort of see it  in this picture [remember when I was PREGNANT?!], but this was before I attached the hooks on the bottom. This was also 6 days before Blythe's birth :-) 

FRAMED NAME: This link wasn't working currently, but I posted a picture of this in my  LAST POST at the bottom, and here. I again found the frame cheap at a garage sale and then painted the letters however I wanted them.

LETTERS ON CANVAS:    I modified this one quite a bit, I used cheap letter stickers from the dollar section at target. They didn't peel off as easily but the result was still great. I made several canvases for Blythe's room this way. 

GRAPHIC ARTWORK: [Again link isn't working] This is essentially the same idea as the last one, but with masking tape/painters tape to create a design. I liked the result but ended up needing the canvas for another project so I had to paint over it.

FABRIC HANGING BOOK SHELF:     This is the most recent addition to the nursery and I LOVE THEM. I asked Joan, Brent's super talented mom, if she would make these for us. She used left over fabric from the bedding and curtains my grandma made and whipped them right up!  I will try to get pictures up of these soon!

CLEANING/ORGANIZING TIPS I'VE TRIED:

REPURPOSED WIPES CONTAINER: Because who doesn't want to find a more convenient way to store all those grocery store bags! 

CLEANING MY WASHING MACHINE: I should probably do this more often. It did clean it very well. I also used her method of cleaning the dishwasher.

I've also used some FREE PRINTABLES as well as TIPS FOR CURLY HAIR.

So….even though it has a silly name, I think I'll keep coming back to Pinterest to try more fun projects, recipes, and tips! 

What about you? Anything fun or delicious you've discovered? Share the link in the comment section please :-)