Pinterest Reviews: Something sweet

I've already posted more in the first 2 months of this year than I did throughout all of 2015 & 2016 and I'm loving getting back into it.

I'm still spending way to much time on Pinterest, but I am still making an effort to put that time to use and actually making some of the things I've pinned.

It was a work mates birthday recently so I took the opportunity to try out a recipe that I'd pinned a while ago that has been making me drool every time I skimmed over the picture on my boards.

The recipe is a Strawberry Chocolate cake from omgchocolatedesserts.com

It was a teensy bit fiddly with the multiple layers needing to be assembled; and taking the spring-form pan off the cake before serving was a little nerve wracking but it was so very worth it.

My version was definitely not as neat and precise as the pictures attached to the recipe, and my photography leaves a lot to be desired, but I was impressed!

To top off the visual impact this recipe has, it tasted pretty darn yummy too.

My attempt	Pinned image
My version of the Chocolate Strawberry cake	Chocolate Strawberry Cake from omgchocolatedesserts.com

A Pinterest success I think.

What have you been pinning recently?

K

Pinterest Reviews

Its time I did another pinterest review post... Sadly no crafty stuff with this update - I really must get back into posting the crafting things!

Food

I've been cooking quite a bit recently - all sorts of stuff from savoury to sweet from salads to cookies but if you were to look through my pinterest "Stuff I've Tried" board anyone would think that its all sweet and sugar-filled (some have been, but definitely not all of them).

If you want to try any of these for yourself, just click on the recipe name to go directly to it.

Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Swirl Fudgy Cookies

One word - YUMMY!

These are without a doubt some of the best chocolate biscuits I've ever made/tasted. Serious chunks of chocolate that seems to stay soft and oozey combined with the saltiness of peanut butter and a lovely, slightly crumbly biscuit base tying it all together.

I've made this a few times now and the only change I make to the recipe is mix half and half crunchy and smooth peanut butter for a tiny bit more texture (and I forgot to add the baking soda to the last batch but they turned out OK so maybe that isn't essential either).

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

Salted Caramel and Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars
Recipe and pic from www.averiecooks.com 

Decadence plus. These were a huge hit when I took them to a work morning tea. They are a bit messy to eat, but most people did not have an issue with that and they disappeared pretty quickly.

This one was surprisingly easy to make and well and truly satisfied the craving I had been having for pecan pie, while also providing a really good chocolate hit (one can never have too much chocolate). 

One thing I was pleased about with this recipe was that when cut and served carefully, my version of these bars looked almost identical to the promo pics - That doesn't happen very often and its such a nice feeling when it does all come together.

Cinnamon Rolls

24-hour Cinnamon Rolls
Recipe and pic from: www.madeitateitlovedit.com

I know cinnamon rolls are a fairly American thing, but I'm just about ready to start lobbying to make them an Australian tradition!

My latest attempt at cinnamon rolls was made using the recipe from Made it. Ate it. Loved it. and again were a huge hit at work - even with my (formerly) American boss.

A word of warning if you are going to use this recipe - it makes a LOT!

I didn't have the 10 cups of flour the recipe calls for on hand (and I don't think I have a mixing bowl big enough to handle a recipe that large anyway) so I halved the recipe and still ended up with 3 trays of cinnamon rolls.

The bonus with this recipe is that most of the work (and its not really a lot of work anyway) is done the night before so in the morning all you need to do is pop them in the oven for about 15 minutes and then glaze them.  Nothing better than a warm sticky cinnamon roll with a cup of hot, strong coffee for morning tea.

Cleaning stuff

yeah, all the boring stuff...

Shower screens 

My pinned source - a post on  askannamoseley.com 

Don't get me wrong, I'm still loving my beautiful bathroom, but I never realised just how grotty glass shower screens could get. They are not something I've had to deal with before having only ever had a curtain at most.

We were doing OK making sure that we use the squeegee fairly regularly after showers and keeping it reasonably nice, but it just doesn't give it a really good deep clean by itself so last weekend I was determined to get in there and clean the glass properly. I scrubbed and scrubbed with windex but it  wasn't getting through the hard water stains to my satisfaction. So where do I turn? My source of all things domestic - Pinterest of course! and again it delivered for me.

The secret - magic erasers... those funny little squares of dense sponge (I think they are melamine based) that are apparently good for cleaning all sorts of things.

And the results? They speak for themselves. Both doors in the pic below had been cleaned - the one on the right with just windex, the one on the left with the magic eraser and then windex. I think we have a winner!

On the right - shower screen after scrubbing with just windex

On the left - scrubbed with magic eraser, followed by a gentle wipe with windex

I probably should turn my attention towards more festive topics and crafty stuff for my next post, and with 3 weeks off work, hopefully there will be some more crafting and blogging happening.

Until next time

K

More justification of the pinterest addiction - Food!

Its been a while now since my last post like this but I am still making a conscious effort to not just browse for hours but actually use stuff I find so here's's a few more pinterest reviews. This time the focus is squarely on food.

Raw walnut brownies

Raw walnut brownies by The Wannabe Chef

This one ticks all the right boxes - dairy, egg and refined sugar free, lots of good oils from the nuts. Such a simple idea, super healthy and surprisingly really yummy.

I just processed all the ingredients together (minus the water - it wasn't necessary), rolled the mix into bite-sized balls and popped them in the fridge. I was a bit skeptical because the mix looks really crumbly but I found that as long as they are rolled/shaped firmly there is no problem with the balls holding together, especially after they've been in the fridge for a little while.

Next time I make these I might substitute half the walnuts for almonds or maybe add a smidge of vanilla just to slightly lessen that distinct bitter walnut smell that we got hit with each time we opened the sealed container I had stored them in - the walnut taste was really not that strong but the aroma could be a little bit off-putting if you are not a big walnut fan.

These are a great healthy alternative to chocolate, cake or biscuits when you have that late-afternoon or after dinner sugar craving. Because there is absolutely nothing unhealthy in these it was great not having to be constantly saying no whenever the monster asked for "just another chocolate".

Healthy Gummy Bears

These are the absolute best things ever!! I could eat these all day long.

I've made these a few times now and have tried banana, vanilla-raspberry and mixed berry flavored varieties. Sadly I don't have a mini bear shape cutter so I've had to make do with little cubes cut with a knife but I don't think that affects the taste too much :)

Its so simple

• 1 Cup  Fruit Juice 
• 2 Cups Fresh or frozen fruit 
• 5 Tbsp Unflavored gelatin 
• 1  Tbsp honey. 

Simmer the fruit and juice together in a pot until soft, let it cool a bit, add honey, puree until smooth. Add gelatin, blend/puree some more and pour into a tray.

Refrigerate until firmly set (I usually just leave overnight), cut into pieces with a sharp knife and transfer pieces to an airtight container. Store in the fridge.

Only a couple of little, but important notes with this one:

• If you use fruit with lots of little seeds eg strawberries or raspberries remember to strain the cooked fruit before adding the gelatin or your gummy things will be a bit crunchy. 
• Don't expect these to taste or feel like your traditional artificial store bought gummy bears - they can definitely get "gummy" but its not the same as a gummy bear, and the flavour is that of real fruit, not lollies. They can be as sweet as you make them, but I prefer them a bit tangy so I don't usually add a whole heap of honey to sweeten.

Herb & Citrus Chicken -  Pinned Version

Herb and Citrus Oven Roasted Chicken

I made this with skinless chicken lovely legs; other than that it was made exactly as per the recipe.

I thought it was really yummy - juicy, citrus and fresh tasting but the rest of the family didn't enjoy it as much so unfortunately this one won't become a family dinner regular.

Definitely one that is worth a try if your family isn't as fussy as mine.

Slowcooker Apple & cinnamon porridge (oatmeal)

Apple and cinnamon porridge

You remember my aversion to eating in the morning right?  I thought I'd try this recipe in my efforts to make breakfast time less stressful. The idea and the ingredients sound great but sadly this one just didn't cut it.

I set it all in the slowcooker before going to bed and woke in the morning to a heavenly cinnamon smell wafting through the house.

Perhaps I used the wrong variety of apples (I used granny smiths), or maybe the extended cooking time is just not suited to apples because despite the lovely smell this just ended up completely bland and goopy and was a nightmare to clean out of the slowcooker bowl. Great idea, not so great in practice.


Well that's it from me for now. But if you're looking for more food inspiration make sure you head over and check out my favourite new food blog "Baking with Gab" created by my gorgeous cousin Gabby. She makes me hungry just reading her posts and her photography of her delicious delights (and Norman the dog)  is infinitely better than any of the poor quality phone pics that I tend to post here.

Have fun

K

Pinned - fighting or feeding the Pinterest addiction?

I've become such a Pinterest addict over the last few months its bordering on ridiculous. I've gone from not even having heard of the site at Christmas to having 12 boards and over 2000 "pins" (check out all my boards and pins here). I could easily lose a weekend scrolling through images dreaming and scheming (with a few laughs and some drooling at pretty boys thrown in for good measure - it can't always be crafting and cooking and homey stuff!).

So I don't feel like a complete addict wasting all of my time on the silly site, I've decided to actually put some of those 2000+ pins to use - try some stuff, make some stuff, generally do something more active than just look. It could be said that its just an excuse to keep browsing the site day after day, but whatever, I'm having fun at the moment just trying stuff out.

So what have I been up to so far you ask?

Well, there was the baked oatmeal casserole that I mentioned in an earlier post.
This is what the pinned image looked like:

And this is how mine turned out (after the custard pouring and cooking obviously):

It was sooo yummy and the smell while it was cooking was just divine - cinnamon and sweet - it was making me so hungry I couldn't wait to try it as soon as it came out of the oven.
A definite win!

Then there was the lemon sugar scrub, billed as giving you "Super Silky Summer Legs".
I really wasn't sure about this one as I mixed it up. How could anything so simple (its only got 3 ingredients)  and obviously foodstuff have this magical effect of making my super dry, nasty legs silky and summery? Well I was definitely proven wrong. My legs felt awesome after using this - it exfoliated so well and made my skin feel so nice that I ended up using it all over - legs, arms, face.

There were a couple of really minor downsides to this one:

1. The bathroom ended up kind of oily, its impossible not to slop this goopy stuff around when you're scrubbing this all over yourself. Even followed with a bit of a wipe with soapy cleany stuff  and a scalding hot water rinse down the shower walls and floor still felt a tiny bit oily - really it was barely noticeable, but I was warning everyone else in the house for the next 2 days to be very careful not to slip when they showered .
2. Although my skin felt wonderfully smooth and moisturised I felt like every time I got even slightly heated (pretty much any time I stepped out of the air-conditioning here in the tropics) that my pores, especially my legs, were oozing olive oil - they weren't, but it felt like they were.

Even with the downsides, the benefits of this one outweigh the negatives for me. I might use a bit less olive oil next time and be more careful not to slop so much around the bathroom but I'll definitely be using this again.
Another win!

As with most of my web-browsing the monster has been looking over my shoulder a lot and has gotten really interested in macramé/beading/bracelet making - I've now got a whole board dedicated to jewellery, string & rope stuff and a shopping bag full of embroidery and crochet thread in every colour of the rainbow not to mention boxes of beads all over the place. We're working through some of the different type of friendship bracelets together - no pics of these, they generally get taken to school and gifted to the monsters friends almost as fast as we can churn them out, but its keeping the monster busy. I'm stunned at how dextrous her little fingers are getting - she's a braiding whiz!

Quiet mum & daughter time creating stuff - yet another win!

There's a few other bits and pieces that I've tried over the last few weeks but most of them are just common sense or practical, boring, cleaning type things that I just needed a gentle reminder about to go and try again so I won't share them all now. There are still quite a few more things on my "To do list" pinterest board so as I get to them I'm sure I'll be writing more about them.

Have fun and beware the addictive nature of Pinterest! :)

K

Changes

We all go through stages where we consider our life, where we've been and where we're going, what is working for us and what isn't, what can we do to reach our goals and dreams... you know... the all important questions. The last month has been one of those times of concentrated contemplation for everyone in our household and there are changes afoot....

For me the major catalyst for contemplation and change has been a minor health scare. It all worked out fine, but it has prompted me to look at a my lifestyle and think about how I can change things to try and ensure a long, happy, healthy and fulfilling life. I have a huge list of things that I want/need to change so I'm going to start on the list with baby steps: set myself small achievable goals and work towards them rather than trying to do everything in one hit.

The first thing on my list of self-improvement is to change my eating habits. My diet up until now has never been really bad but its never been ideal either; its not so much the food that I was eating (although there's some room for improvement there too), but the way in which I was eating. I was routinely skipping breakfast entirely, having something light for lunch and eating the main meal of the day at dinner; I combined this with a high caffeine intake and a tendency to substitute iced-coffee for actual food and to snack between meals.

So the baby-steps plan for now to improve my diet is:

• Make an effort to eat 4 small meals a day - no skipping breakfast!
• Cut back on the caffeine - not eliminate entirely, but cut it right back
• Drink more water
• Make healthier snack choices (raw foods or home made snacks rather than packaged)

Its been a couple of weeks and so far I'm doing OK with the changes. I've had a few slip-up but that's OK, this is a lifestyle change, not a diet - there has to be some room for flexibility every now and then. I've drastically reduced the caffeine intake (wow - those caffeine withdrawal headaches for the first couple of days were a killer!), I'm now drinking at least 2 litres of water a day, and I'm eating smaller meals more frequently.

The one that I'm really struggling with is the breakfast thing. I just don't feel like eating within a few hours of getting out of bed in the morning.  I've tried toast and cereal before work and taking breakfast with me to eat once I get to work thinking that if I gave it a bit longer between getting up and eating it might be a bit easier but its still not really doing it for me.

One thing I did try, but it ended up being more a morning or afternoon tea snack than breakfast, was a  baked oatmeal casserole. Its possibly not the healthiest ever breakfast choice, but it was super yummy.

I made it as per the recipe this time but if I were to  make it again I'd probably make a few changes like reducing or omitting the sugar, omitting the chocolate, maybe add some dried apricot or peaches and some more/different nuts. It would probably also be a good idea to halve the recipe - Its supposed to be six servings but I think it should easily be 12 - we ended up throwing out more than half of the casserole because we just couldn't get through it all within a few days (although in a larger household it would probably be fine). So here's the recipe I used:

 

Baked Oatmeal Casserole

( from http://alwaysamrsforeverakidd.blogspot.com.au/2012/01/gluten-free-baked-oatmeal-casserole.html)

2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces (I also used some flaked almonds and coconut on top)
1 cup raspberries (any berries work - I used some fresh strawberries and frozen mixed berries)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
2 cups milk
1 large egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ripe banana, peeled, sliced

Preheat oven to 190Cand generously spray the inside of a 10-1/2 by 7 inch baking dish with cooking spray and place on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, half the walnuts, half the strawberries and half the chocolate. (Save the other half of strawberries, walnuts and chocolate for the top of the oatmeal).
In another large bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, butter and vanilla extract.
Add the oat mixture to prepared baking dish. Arrange the remaining strawberries, walnuts and chocolate on top. Add the banana slices to the top then pour the milk mixture over everything. Gently shake the baking dish to help the milk mixture go throughout the oats.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until the top is nicely golden brown and the milk mixture has set. For an extra tasty top, sprinkle a tablespoon or so of extra brown sugar.

This is how mine turned out:

I'll try smoothies this week and see how I go with them - there's got to be something that I can handle first thing in the morning.

Until next time
K