The Pinterest Project

Thursday, March 7, 2013

A Tale of Asparagus and Ducks...

So Life has been crazy lately, Ethan got laid off and so we've been seeking prayer and job hunting... Needless to say we are both stressed but I am trying to keep our humble abode as carefree as possible.. Part of that is to just keep on keeping on.. to live my life day to day one moment at a time, and that means to not give up on my hobby.. which is this pinterest project and being a good mom and wife (as best as I can be with these crazy psycho hormones running through my body) Tonight I tried a recipe that intimidated me at first, I had to read it 15 times before I decided I would finally attempt it... but let me tell you, I was just gonna X out of the link and say "screw it! we won't have a vegetable with dinner!"... but here I was with two pounds of asparagus that I needed to do something with... so I grew some balls and did the recipe... It's called Asparagus Gratin... which is just what it sounds like... it's like potatoes a gratin but with asparagus.. I guess... It consisted of like 8 preparatory parts.. one being that you boil the ends of the asparagus in water before you boil the actual asparagus in the water and then with that "asparagus water" you make a rouz/gravy type thing with different cheeses that you pour over the boiled asparagus then top with Parmesan cheese and broil for 8 minutes... and *phew* I am getting exhausted just re-tracing my steps... but the end result was DELICIOUS! My husband basically ate the whole pan... after Katarina and I got to try some helpings. and we paired it with some Trader Joes Alfredo and meat balls.... and Now my tummy is happy.. here are some photos of the end result and one photo of the "woody" "ends" of the asparagus boiling in the water in the first step of the process. :) Enjoy.

I have also been busy yarning, I made more of those peeps I showed you before, but I have a better grip on the pattern now so I was able to power through them, I also purchased some small beads for the eyes and nose to make them look more like the pattern and cleaner than my attempt at making black yarn eyes and noses... I think they turned out pretty cute! :) I am selling a four pack (pink, yellow, blue, and purple) for $10.. I have two sets if anyone is interested :)

I had a baby shower to go to last weekend so I was searching through my yarn board for a pattern to do that was quick and cute for a present for her... She didn't know the gender of her baby so it had to be unisex and the only thing I really knew about the baby was that she was doing a classic winnie the pooh themed nursery... (the same that I did for Katarina) So I crocheted her a newborn sized winnie the pooh colored bear hat and gave her the bedding set Katarina had that was classic winnie the pooh. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of that so I can only give you the pattern I used, but just imagine a hat that looks exactly like the one in the picture of the pattern but a lighter hue of brown :) Newborn Bear Hat Pattern

And then of course I had a "just because" yarn pattern I took on, to brush up on my amurgurmi. (sp?).. So I made this TOY DUCK! I named him Henry..

I also attempted a couple other "recipes" My husband really likes Orange Dreamsicles so I pinned a recipe for them on pinterest.. the consensus though.. not good.. Ethan said they tasted like frozen heavy cream and that's it.. so perhaps the recipe needs adjusting.. more orange juice and orange extract and less heavy cream.... perhaps... Or I Can find another recipe... unfortunately our grocery store doesn't carry creamsicles or else I would just buy him some...

And announcing my new board on pinterest: CRESCENT MADNESS..

There are so many fun "recipes" to be done with those Pillsbury crescent rolls.. The one I attempted this time was a pizza roll up, which we paired with some whole grain pasta and four cheese sauce :) My husband and daughter seemed to enjoy them, I on the other hand didn't... guess they weren't my thing.. and the cheese stick didn't melt to my liking... but ce'est la vie; that's life.. here are some photos:

I really wish I had a camera that took decent photos instead of my phone and instagram... it is so challenging to get an aesthetic photo and to get my photos all in one place... but I make due.. Hope you enjoyed this entry.
and as always.
Until next time, keep on pinning. Erin.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

A PinteRECIPE Taco Thursday and PEEPS

So I told you in my last post that I was gonna try a pinterest recipe on some friends.. well I did and the overall consensus was that it was AMAZING.. What was it? You ask.. well none other than SLOW COOKER CHICKEN TACOS... My house smelled amazing all day, and the flavor knocked this dish out of the park! My husband complimented it saying it was better than his mother's chicken and my friends couldn't stop raving about it. The recipe says it serves 12 and I just so happened to have 12 of my friends over and let's just say NOBODY left hungry... It also helps that my friend David brought over pies for dessert! Can't go wrong there!! here's some pictures of the event.

Earlier in the day I invited my friend Kari over for a Crochet date.. and the project I took on was spring inspired... I decided to make crochet bunny peeps, despite the fact I think the candy peeps are nasty... they are still pretty cute! What do you think??

Crochet Bunny Peeps Amirugurumi Pattern

Well that's all of my pin tests today.. Keep on Pinning.
Until Next Time-Erin

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Helloooo Stranger

Well hullo there, it's been awhile...

here are the following reasons:
~I got lazy
~I got a job
~I got pregnant and ended up sick for the first 4 months

I just got out of the hospital on valentines day after being in the hospital for a cummulative 2 months... I lost my job while I was sick so I have free time now.. for this...

Here are the pins I have done within the last week, followed by the pins I did in October but never posted about.. prepare to be blown away.

RECIPES: from my "favorite recipes" and "crockpot-y goodness" boards.

My inlaws were in town for president's day weekend and my husband mentioned making a slow cooker meal one of the nights.. since I have soooooo many slow cooker recipes I jumped right on that. I chose a pin that said it was the "best slow cooker meal ever tried".. a creamy tortellini dish....it didn't make the house fill up with food smell, and we used fresh tortellini instead of frozen, which made the noodles extra squishy... (stick with frozen like the recipe calls for) but overall it was DELICIOUS.

everyone enjoyed it and my niece Katie who never tries new foods ate all of her helping to her mother's surprise.. So this recipe gets an A-.

creamy crock pot tortellini

my sister-in-law found the same recipe but she believes it to be improved here: http://realmomkitchen.com/14514/slow-cooker-creamy-tortellini-soup/

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Today I prepared a 7hour long slow cooker meal.. DELICIOUS parmesan, basil tomato soup, and paired it with one of my all time favorite pin recipes. CAPRESE GRILLED CHEESE... the cook time was long, and the process was somewhat grueling, making the soup, and then the roux and going back and forth back and forth and dirtying A LOT of dishes... but the result was delicious and even my daughter the self-proclaimed Soup hater ate her entire bowl and said she loved it! It makes A LOT so be prepared to have leftovers.. I put some in a tupperware container for tomorrow and put the rest in a ziplock bag and froze it for a later date.

Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup

sooooo YESTERDAY was my husband's birthday, and so in a last minute scheme I decided to make him a sleeve for his game pad for his Wii U... I wanted it to be original and the idea came to me when I was dropping my daughter off at school.. so I combined two pins and made him this:
Green Power Up Mushroom Applique
Universal electronics sleeve pattern

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Now close your eyes and imagine yourself floating back to October... I did a lot of pinning then and testing, but no blogging so this will have to suffice to catch up...LOTS OF RECIPES so let's start there.

RECIPES:

First things first... Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos...

I have done this TWICE now at my husband's request.. they don't photograph well, but man do they taste amazing!

#2 Crispy Cheddar Chicken

one word "UH-MAZING" the cheese and the sauce... Just omg.. try this one:

#3 Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread

sounds disgusting.. Tastes amazing! Imagine all the flavors of buffalo wings wrapped up in one giant flaky bread! Messy, Spicy, Delicious! this one was a winner, but it was a very ungraceful process and not that high on the "this is healthy"-line... but if you ever want to spoil yourself.. give this a try.

#4 Lasagna Soup

all the flavors of Lasagna wrapped up in one AMAZING soup.. again serves many.. so prepare for leftovers.. My husband ate some for lunch at work for a couple days...

#5 Creamy Garlic Pasta

Doesn't garlic make everything amazing... add cheese and "creamy" and "pasta" and it's a dish that's out of this world.. MMMM.

#6 Skinny Chicken Enchiladas

You heard that right... Enchiladas that are Skinny (meaning for the lighter fare).... I HAD to give this a try and the result?? My husband begged me to make them again... so I did.. Serves more than 3 so if you're a smaller family prepare again for leftovers.. but even the leftovers are delicious.

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SOOO now on to the arts and crafts... I got a sewing machine for my bridal shower (it was on the registry) and I finally got brave enough to take it out of it's box and attempt to figure out how to use the fanfangled thing.... the motivation?? a cute stuffed bunny tutorial... but I switched it up and tried to make a cat out of my baby blanket from when I was an infant... the result?? Kinda Ugly, Kinda Cute... it just sits on my craft desk now... maybe I will get brave and attempt this again.

Mooshy Belly Bunny Pattern

THEN of course comes my love of YARN... thus my YARNTASTIC pinboard:

here are some projects I attempted

#1 The "PERFECT" Purse

I have made bags before, but this was my first go at a purse... I tried crocheting my own button which kinda made it look tacky in my opinion.. eventually I will master the art of applying buttons to yarn projects for aesthetic and functional purposes.

#2 The EASY "genius" headband
Ok I love this pattern, I went a little hay crazy with it. It really is Easy and Genius and the result is stupendous! I even made one for my daughter's build-a-bear bunny with a scrap of some yarn I had littering my yarn caddy.

#3 I had a Sister born in September (yes you read that right.. I am 24 years old with a 5 month old sister... AND a 2 year old brother while we're at it) and I wanted to make her something cute to wear.. it's always fun to make things for infants because even if the project ends up flawed, you put it on a baby and it instantly becomes adorable.. can't go wrong there!.. My brother really likes birds so I found a few "pinspirations" of a blue bird hat I could make for her..

Baby blue bird inspiration pattern

Well folks on that note I am ALL caught up... tomorrow night stay tuned I am trying another slow cooker recipe and testing it out on 10 of my closest friends! SURE TO BE A GOOD TIME.

in the meantime KEEP ON PINNING and I will Catch ya later.
STAY CLASSY -Erin.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Wedding Madness

Soooo.. I may be the worst blogger ever.. because I said I would update one a week and let's just be real... it hasn't happened...

update: got married, went on my honeymoon, moved to a new town... busy busy busy change change change.... soooo this hasn't been my priority BUT I have been doing TONS of pinterest projects and I am sure you will enjoy this entry.

A wedding inspired by Pinterest: