Colored Deviled Eggs

This little "project" got me really excited. I didn't think it could fail because it sounded so easy. And it was. I just filled glasses with food coloring and water, submerged the halved boiled egg whites and let them sit for about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, I tried out an egg yolk concoction because I had no idea how to make that stuff in the middle. I got out my food processor and added the yolks, some mustard, ranch, baby pickles, paprika, salt and pepper and the stuff tasted delicious!! I'm proud of myself for that.

Now it was the moment of truth. I snatched the eggs out and VOILA!!

Ok, so they're not the muted Easter colors I was expecting but they looked really good!! And the final product was quite fantastic.

These would be SO fun for a little girl's party if you could convince them to eat deviled eggs!! I actually like mine better than the original. ---------->happy dance<----------

Here is the original from Pinterest.

Super Easy!
Pinterest

Multi-Colored Eggs

How cute would striped eggs be?! As a grandma would say, "Just darling!".

Due to Baby getting sick right before going out of town, the roles had to be reversed and Ma came into town instead. It was Easter weekend so I decided to get into the Easter spirit and dye some eggs. When I clicked on the link from Pinterest to get the instructions, it took me to a page that didn't have this picture on it. It had other Easter stuff but not this activity. Therefore I had to wing it and we all know what happens when I wing it...

First of all, from the picture, I couldn't tell if the eggs were peeled or not. I left the shell on my eggs. I used the closest version of glasses I had of the original picture. As you can see here...

I started out by making the purple, orange, mint green and rose red colors from the directions on the  food coloring box. 26red 14 blue, etc. and did the last two glasses red and green. After getting the color in the glass, I added 1 tablespoon of water and let it sit for about 10 minutes. After each 10 minute interval, I added a tablespoon of water until the whole egg was submerged. This took about 4 "layers" of water so I was hoping for 4 beautiful layers.

The first problem I encountered was the egg not wanting to stay upright. As you can see in the front left glass, the egg just gave up and fell over. Quick death. The more water I added, the less the eggs stood up. The second problem was in the middle of my experiment, I looked at the box of food coloring and noticed that I was using the increments for white cake mix. The next column on the box was for white frosting and lo and behold, the last column had increments for "egg dye" and the amount needed was waaaaaaay different from cake mix. Obviously.

Wonderful. Just another reason I messed this up. I had that failure instinct before I was even done with this. Shall we see what the final outcome was?

Pretty right?! The one on the left even looks like JUPITER!! And the cracks? Beautiful. Not at all what they were supposed to look like.

And you know, there are days where I think I'm inbred. I knew I was going to be doing 2 boiled egg Pinterest experiments. This was one, and the second was colored deviled eggs. I was thinking that I will need eggs for this, and more eggs for the deviled eggs so I bought a ton of eggs. I'm sure any other lawfully conceived person would have thought that I could just use the boiled eggs from THIS project. Duh.

So I decided to go ahead and use these eggs. I started peeling them and was in for a wonderful surprise! The underneath was like finding a diamond in the rough!! Check it out...

The purple one is so veiny!! 

I thought that even though this Pinterest experiment failed on the outside, it turned out to be pretty sweet on the inside. But as pretty and cool as these were, I wasn't able to use them for my colored deviled eggs so lucky for me, I had backup eggs :)

And my colored deviled eggs are worth the view, so come back soon and I'll have that post up!! Happy Easter everyone!

I tried...
http://pinterest.com/pin/123004633545087415/

8 Can Taco Soup

Quite possibly the easiest recipe ever. Also quite possibly the most boring.

But that's just my opinion. First off, I don't like soup. I don't like to sit there with my pinky out and slightly sip some thick juice. That won't feed me. I like to chomp on my food, get full, and beat my chest like a gorilla when I'm done.

So basically this tastes like beans, tomato, corn and chicken in liquid form. And if it matters, Husband loved it.

http://www.highheelsandgrills.com/2012/09/8-can-taco-soup.html

Potentially Life Changing Mac and Cheese

Ummmm, I don't know where to start with this one.

I've had this ready to write about forever but could never find the right words. I still can't but baby is being entertained so I'm trying to blow through recipes.

This is probably TOP 5 WORST THINGS TO EVER ENTER MY MOUTH.

"No butter, no cream, no Velveeta", no wonder it's nasty. Throw in some nutmeg and good god it's disgusting.

I got through 2 bites and gave this junk the peace sign. Take it from me. Don't do it.

Unless, like these, there is someone you don't like but are forced to be nice to, you can make them a big old batch and run away extremely proud of yourself.

Ew.
http://whiteonricecouple.com/recipes/stove-top-one-pot-macaroni-cheese-recipe/

Skinny Chunky Monkey Cookies

I saw this and thought "For the love of God! A healthy cookie with chocolate and peanut butter!! Alas! My fair maiden has arrived!"

After having tried two or three recipes from the six sisters and LOVED them, I was oober excited to try these even though I had sworn off oatmeal recipes. I have yet to have a positive experience with a Pinterest oatmeal recipe.

I figured applesauce, chocolate and peanut butter could salvage this. But unfortunately, these were such a disappointment that I pouted the rest of the day. Yes, the whole day. I build my emotions up so much with recipes like this and the letdown is devastating. Baby tried to play with me and I just crossed my arms, huffed and stomped off.

Not really. I didn't stomp off. I'm not that immature.

These were so gross I didn't even take a picture.

More like skinny chunky monkey poo
http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2012/05/skinny-chunky-monkey-cookies-recipe.html

Best Steak Marinade EVER

That would be the title of this pin on Pinterest.

Before attempting to shake things up, I've stuck with my two steak marinades for the past two years and haven't budged because they were SO good.

#1- Bottle of soy sauce, cut up an onion, pepper and about a cup of vodka. I would stick thawed out steak in a bag with this mixture for about an hour and it just pure heaven.

#2- I discovered Claude's fajita marinade and that was about equal to #1. I didn't think it could get better than these two.

THIS marinade was different. It tasted different but it was still really really really good and Husband and I were both sold. I've added this one to my recipe book so let it be known that it's a keeper!

1/3 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
3 tbsp dried basil
1 1/2 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp minced garlic

Pinterest Post

This blog is Pinterest inspired. I've had another blog for a long time that was just about random stuff going on in my life but I decided to do a Pinterest inspired post over there.

I made a list of my top Ipad apps for toddlers. Hop on over to see what I've got...

AAAAARGH!!!

Grocery List Outline

I got my idea for this grocery list template from another pin on Pinterest. You can find that template here.

What I like about it is that you can write out your menu for the week, then put the ingredients that go with it (that you have to buy) right underneath it. I can't count how many times I've bought stuff and forgotten that it goes with a recipe I'm making and I use it for something else. This way I know where the stuff I bought is being used.

GENIUS!!

Her template only had 4 meals but I usually buy 5 so I added an extra box and changed some things. I added columns as far as where in the store you would find stuff. The paper folds in half perfectly with your menu items on top and the rest of the stuff on the bottom. I can't figure out how to put the file in here so if you are interested in using it, email me at thepinningpirate@gmail.com and I will send you the template!! Happy shopping!

Facebook

I created a page on Facebook!

Why? I don't know. I guess because everyone else does it :/

So come like my page HERE!

Why? I don't know. I guess because if I know people actually read this thing, then I might be a wee bit more on top of the ball when it comes to posting recipes.

Roasted Corn, Black Bean and Avocado Quesadillas

I'm going to skip over a few recipes waiting to be published and go straight to last night's "fiasco".

Thesaurus.com synonyms: blunder, botched situation, disaster, embarrassment, error, failure, farce, flop, mess...

Any of those would be appropriate.

I chose this recipe for ease. It's so easy to make quesadillas. And with no meat, this recipe should have taken 2 seconds. After all, the website said "only takes a few minutes to make". SOLD!!

I had been doing research with my students for the second day in a row and by the end of the day I was brain dead so this was the night for this recipe.

1. Spray a large skillet over medium, medium-high heat with non-stick spray . DONE. (I chose medium)
2. Add one tortilla to the skillet and layer it with cheese, black beans, salsa, avocado and more cheese. OK.
3. Allow the tortilla to cook two to three minutes, until the cheese begins to melt. EASY.
4. Add a second tortilla to the top of the mixture and carefully flip it over. ALRIGHTY THEN...

This step is where things started to go waaaaay down hill. Upon the flipping action, half the stuff fell out. I tried my darnedest to stuff it back in. While the other side "cooked" (aka got stuck to the bottom of the pan despite my spraying of the so called "non-stick spray"), I was telling Husband that this might not turn out right and I'll cook another one. As I predicted, here is attempt #1...

Poor thing. It left behind half of its innards. Here they are!!

As promised, I started another one but before I could do that, I had to try to clean this guy off. I scraped my heart out and then poured water in there to try and loosen up what was left, I'm sure warping my freaking expensive Saladmaster skillet in the process. But we were hungry so I gave it another shot.

Here is attempt #2...

Defeat. I haven't felt this in a while. And when it rains, it pours. I burned the rice and was left with this mess to clean up...

Sacrebleu!!

In the end, this is what I've decided. 

-I would not use the skillet again because it was quite difficult to get the spatula in there to flip. I would use my flat grill thing next time. 

-I suppose I would double the amount of spray I use because only one side benefited from the amount I used.

-Instead of medium, perhaps medium LOW would have worked out better.

-As far as preventing the guts from falling out, I have no idea. Perhaps smaller tortillas.

Despite the failure, I sure did cut that quesadilla up, serve it to Husband, smile and say

 "BON APPETIT!"

It actually didn't taste that bad, folks.

Think you can do better?

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/964263/sunday-dinner-roasted-corn-black-bean-and-avocado-quesadillas

Ranch Chicken Enchiladas

It's Sunday, the last day of spring break, I just attempted to put my child down for a nap for a third time and he's in there wailing like a banshee, I stink, so I will make this short and sweet and then go put some cookies in the oven...

These enchiladas are amazing and you need to make them.

Too lazy to take my own picture.

Arriba...
http://www.therecipecritic.com/2012/12/ranch-chicken-enchiladas.html

Zucchini Boats

I pinned this one a long time ago but never looked at it again because without actually clicking on the picture, it looks like zucchini with pepperoni's on it. I'm not a huge fan of pepperoni so I always wondered why I pinned it, yet I never deleted it.

One day, I actually clicked on it and to my amazement, they were not pepperoni's at all. They were tomatoes.I guess the Pinterest god's knew one day that I would need to make this.

Am I glad I made this? Eh. It was super easy to make, directions were simple, but the taste was just ok. As Jim Carrey in Liar Liar says, "I've had better."

I won't be saving this recipe in my book :(

Original pin...
http://pinterest.com/pin/123004633542310073/

Double Chocolate Loaf with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Spread

Feeling a little depressed? Growing a bit of a sweet tooth? Want to gain weight and have fun doing it?

I have the thing for you right here! The name says it all. DOUBLE CHOCOLATE loaf with PEANUT BUTTER cream cheese spread! Oh wow.

This was easy to make, if you follow the directions. Luckily, the directions are very easy to follow and with the excitement of getting to use my fancy Kitchenaid mixer, all went better than expected.

This loaf is like a super dense cake/brownie hybrid. I can't put into words how good it is. I love chocolate cake, I love chocolate brownies, I love peanut butter, and I love cream cheese. I LOVED this. I only had a few slices because there is no way I could have eaten the whole loaf and lived with myself. I would have gone on a banana diet and nobody wants to do that.

Hop on the wagon!!
http://www.cookincanuck.com/2011/08/double-chocolate-loaf-with-peanut-butter-cream-cheese-spread-recipe/

Spaghetti Squash with Grilled Chicken and Tomatoes

I tackled spaghetti squash. I've been wanting to do it for months and I finally did it. The selling point for me was how much healthier it is than regular pasta.

Spaghetti squash: 40 calories and 8 carbs per cup
Pasta: 200 calories and 40 carbs per cup.

First off, there are two ways to get your squash ready for stringing. I got those instructions here.

1. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.
Yeah right. What kind of working mom has this kind of time at night for healthy spaghetti? I chose the lazy   way, method 2.

2. Microwave 5-10 minutes, or until soft. And as usual, I didn't read it all the way. "Be sure to pierce with a knife before microwaving to release steam." Oops. I set the microwave for 10 minutes and soon after heard a nice boom. The top exploded off. Now I had a hole to release steam.

"Split the squash into two even halves. Be careful, it's hot!"<-------learned that the hard way too.

The step that's missing is to let cool. I personally would have added that step because I was burning my fingers trying to string the stuff that was lava hot. But I needed to get dinner made so I toughed it out, cursing the whole time.

It was extremely easy to string, as far as getting the fork after it. The heat slowed me down but I'm sure if it was cooled, it would take just a few minutes.

I started following the directions as far as putting this meal together. On the first link, it says to cook the spaghetti squash in the skillet but my second recipe with the meal I was making never said to so I didn't. Afterwards, I'm assuming I should have. I think the pasta is supposed to be soft and mine was all kinds of crunchy :(

That was problem #1. Problem #2 was the meal was super dry. Problem #3 was that it just wasn't that great and it was NOT worth the effort of burning my hands to get the strands. I'm a poet and didn't know it.

Maybe you can do better...
http://tastykitchen.com/recipes/special-dietary-needs/spaghetti-squash-with-grilled-chicken-and-sun-dried-tomatoes/

Rainbow Cake

It's spring break!! That means I have no science to teach, no getting up early, no fixing my hair (because THAT'S fun), and baby went to daycare so I'M FREEEEEE!!! So my question is....are you ready for this?

I decided to dig into my Pinterest board titled "Fun looking FOOD!", which you can follow here to see what I might come up with next. Also, I created a new board about what I'll be blogging about soon so if you want to see what I've been up to, you can follow that here.

I've had the rainbow cake on there since about day 1 of Pinterest and thought I would give it a try to celebrate having a life for a week. Totally worthy of rainbows!! I checked out the ingredients....

1. white cake
2. sprite
3. vanilla pudding
4. food coloring
5. whipped icing

I thought "Sprite and pudding! Wow! This will be an awesome recipe!!". When I went to the store, I decided to buy two cakes because the picture just looked like more than one box of cake and since I apparently like to do things my way, instead of what I should do, I used two.

I tried really hard to follow the directions word for word. I learned from the cake box that hey, pudding was already in it! Awesome. What about the Sprite? I couldn't find anywhere in the directions where Sprite would be used in the recipe. I couldn't find how much batter to separate into separate bowls to color. I couldn't find how much food coloring to put into each bowl.

Basically I couldn't figure out anything. That's probably because the directions were in Chinese.

Since I was winging it, I decided to use 1 and a half boxes of cake batter, because that's what it LOOKED like. I scooped a cup and a half of batter into each of the six bowls and followed the directions on the food color box about how to get all the colors.

At this point in the day, it was 5:45 and baby hadn't taken a nap earlier and he was being quite grumpy and had fallen asleep at 5:30. So I was thinking "Well, wonderful. If I'm going to have to be up until midnight with him, I'll sure be glad I have a whole cake to myself to stay happy."

I took great care to layer all the colors in the cakes pans. And since I wasn't going to use the Sprite, I drank it. In order to layer, I just scooped half the batter into the pan, then scooped another half of another color right on top of it.

I had some cake batter left so I decided to make little mini cupcakes for my wonderful child for when he woke up. I had seen on Pinterest a marbling technique so I decided to dab some green on top and marble them before cooking. They turned out kinda cute!

When the cakes were done, I pulled them out and realized that I probably shouldn't have used so much batter. They were raised quite high in the middle but one of them was just obnoxiously tall. So I got creative and squished it as it cooled with one of my sweet trivets from World Market.

In the meantime, I cooked dinner. Not a Pinterest recipe, but delicious anyway. At this point, I had tried two things I had seen on Pinterest. But I wasn't done!!!! I had seen where someone took a cookie cutter and filled it with sprinkles to make a shape out of sprinkles. I thought I would try this. I didn't have any good defining shapes as good as a number two so I used a heart. Actually, I DID have a good defining shape but once again, I got it at my bachelorette party and that's all I need to say about that...

http://littlelifeofmine.com/2011/04/birthday-cake.html

This has potential! Great idea. Ok, so the cake was done and frosted and now I just needed to cut into it to see if this would be a disaster or a miracle. I am thrilled to say that it was a...

MIRACLE!!!

I was so proud of myself! Husband was giving baby a bath and I flew in there with my piece of cake and said "LOOK!! HOW COOL IS THIS!!" only to be rewarded with a semi sarcastic "WHOA!". 

Three successful Pinterest ideas in one night. Now I just have a whole freaking cake sitting around the house with only one person to eat it. 

Pictures are universal...
http://www.duitang.com/people/mblog/11750037/detail/

Mexican Sour Cream Rice

I know I said I would start posting tomorrow, but Hell has frozen over and my child is occupied.

THIS recipe needs to be on your menu soon!! Although this recipe comes with a sad story, it was still delicious.

Once upon a time, there was a family. They would be together every night, hang out and keep each other company while mom cooked dinner. Mom could focus all her attention on the cooking (minus the times baby was pinching her thighs, scratching her legs to be held, wiping snot on her legs, throwing a fit to have a bite of what's cooking, pointing and mumbling and getting mad when mommy didn't understand, etc) while daddy played with baby (minus the times he was in the kitchen pinching mommy's thighs, scratching her legs to be held, wiping snot on her legs, throwing a fit to have a bite of what's cooking, pointing and mumbling and getting mad when mommy didn't understand, etc).

One night, daddy had a softball game so mommy was home alone with baby. She had a recipe planned and she would not let the absence of another adult get in the way of her cooking a tasty meal. Yet in reality, she knew cooking would be near impossible and she was right (as always).

On the menu were quesadillas and a new Pinterest recipe, mexican rice. Mommy put together the rice mixture and stuck it in the oven to cook. While putting together the quesadillas, baby wanted the chicken, cheese, salsa and tortillas. Mommy gave in and let him have some, spreading it all over the kitchen floor. Cooking the quesadillas didn't take long and by the time she was done, the rice was done.

On to a plate the food went. Mommy sat down to try to eat and it began. "Momma!! Momma!!" followed by the sign for "please" and "eat". It took mommy about 30 minutes to eat and the food was cold. Baby had about half of mommy's food.

Cold or not, mommy realized that this new rice was the BOMB!!


Did you like my story? By the time I was done eating, I was way too tired to walk 20 feet into the next room to get the camera to take a picture. My rice looked exactly like the picture.

I give this one a 9 out of 10 and hope that your cooking experience will be easier than mine. The good news is that daddy won't be going to anymore softball games because he got kicked out.

Enjoy!!
http://tasteofhomecooking.blogspot.com/2009/02/texas-bbq-chicken-quesadillas-and.html

Good news...

It's spring break!! So that means that I will have a life for ONE WHOLE WEEK! I can't believe it.

Therefore, I will be posting. I have quite a few recipes I need to share and some of them need to be on your menu for the week so it starts tomorrow.

Prepare yourself...