Pinterst Reviews

For those of you who have pinned lots and lots of recipes (like me), but wonder if they are good or not, here is a quick review of everything I have tried from Pinterest. So if you happen to have these recipes on your boards, here is my take on it. Of course, everyone has different tastes, but I think my tastes are pretty good :) Anyway, we will start with food, then finish with desserts!

Creamy Tuscan Pasta.

Haha, this was actually the worst dish I have ever made. Ever. But it might be my fault, not the recipe. It called for white wine, and so, I looked up a substitute and I found that you can sub apple cider vinegar for white wine. Well, this recipe calls for quite a bit (over a cup) and the vinegar was just too much. It tasted like vomit. So maybe if you use something else it would be okay, but I can't imagine this dish being awesome.

White Enchiladas

These are chicken enchiladas with monteray jack cheese and a white sauce. They were good, but kind of bland. To be honest, I make a way better white enchilada :)


Chicken Fried Chicken
I love Chicken Fried Chicken, but every time I try to homemake it, it comes out just wrong. Well, this one was the best that I have made, but again, it was a bit bland. I think if I make it again, I will add more seasonings. However, my husband didn't really like it at all.

Cheddar Chicken

If you have ever made Parmesan Chicken, this is a lot like it, only you add Cheddar cheese when you are breading the chicken. This was a big winner at our house! My husband LOVED it and so did the kids. I really liked it too. The only thing is, when you are breading the chicken with the cheese, it does not stick. So I had to just kind of top the chicken with the cheese, and then dip it in breading. But it was yummy!

Curry Chicken Salad

This was okay. The flavor was kind of different. Not bad, but just not right. I liked the first sandwich, but the leftovers were kind of gross. Usually chicken salad is better as leftovers. Won't make this again.

Greek Pizza

Oh. My. Yum! This was probably the best one I have tried so far. It has artichokes and feta cheese, so if you are not a fan of those, you might not like it. My husband and I loved it though, and the kids even gobbled it up! Definitely making this again!

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

These were so so so good! Of course, I LOVE bleu cheese, so if you don't you might not like it. But you could just use Ranch like I did for my husband. We both really liked them, but they would probably be better as an appetizer, not a main dish.

Okay, now on to Desserts!!

Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

I am a huge cream cheese snob!! So I pretty much pin anything with cream cheese in it. I made these and gave them to some neighbors. They told me they LOVED them. They were good, but the cream cheese snob in me knew they could be better. The crust was made using a Lemon cake mix. Didn't love that. I think it would be better with a homemade butter/flour crust. I probably won't make them again.

Mug Cake

I love chocolate cake. (Don't you love it how I say I love every recipe? Of course I do-that's why I pin them.) Anyway, I pinned this because I always make a huge chocolate cake and hardly anyone in my family will eat it, so I end up eating the whole thing in like 2 days. So I thought this would be nice when I have a chocolate cake craving, and I can just have my own serving. This was really yummy (for a mug cake.) I put the caramels in like it said, but they just dropped to the bottom and kind of got hard. Caramel is hard to work with. So then I made one w/out the caramels, and it was great!

Red Velvet Cheesecake

This pin was a little twerp because it had no link for a recipe. So what did I do? Made up my own. I made it for some friends and we all loved it. It is really rich and time consuming to make, but worth it! You can get my recipe here.

Cheesecake Sopapilla

This so SO easy to make, and really yummy! My kids didn't really love it, but they thought it was okay. But I really really liked it. My piano students also loved it. It is just crescent roll dough, butter, cinnamon and sugar, and a cream cheese filling. So I think if you like those things, you will probably like it.

Pumpkin Roll

This site claimed it was the "best pumpkin roll." It was okay. Of course, I am not a huge fan of pumpkin, but I do like it. There was nothing really wrong with it, but it was really small. I made it for my extended family, and there wasn't quite enough for everyone.

Peanut Butter Brownie Trifle
This was really really really rich, but so so so good! I made it for a friend and myself, and we devoured it! What is not to like? Brownies, Peanut Butter/CoolWhip filling, Peanut Butter Cups, Pudding. Love it!

And there you have it! I will have to do another one of these posts after I try my next list of recipes!

Forget Me Not

You may click HERE to download it for free.

My Fashion Diary

So, apparantley, the new blog trend is to document what you wear every day.

Seriously.

Have any of you seen this out in the blogosphere? I really don't mean to offend anyone, but really? I mean, I am ALL for fashion. I have a little fettish for shopping, but it's hardly noticeable. Even my husband would agree that I should probably go shopping more. (Haha, trying to make a joke, hun.)

But, I can't not be blog-trendy, so here's my little documentation of my fashion diary for this week (sorry, forgot to take pics):

Monday ~ Big fat maternity top, is that peanut butter on my shoulder? (And I didn't notice the jelly, because it was under my belly so I couldn't see it.) "Jelly-Belly"
Tuesday ~ Pajama pants - all day - my maternity pants are getting too tight.
Wednesday ~ Dishwater splashed all over my black shirt. Good thing you can't see it :)
Thursday ~ I managed to keep my top clean, but is that ketchup in my hair?

Let me know if you want me to tell you where and how to look this good! It's a gift I'm willing to share.

The Case Of The Missing Underwear...

What the heck does this picture have to do with the post title??...

...Here's a little story.

So, last week, my oldest son was getting dressed, and he yelled to me that he was out of clean underwear! Now, he has about 10 pairs of underwear, and it was only 4 days after laundry day, so he should have had plenty in his drawer. I searched in all his drawers, but we found them all in the hamper. I couldn't tell if they were clean, and if they were- well, they weren't anymore.

[And for those of you that know my 2-year-old-NO- he is surprisingly not involved in this story!]

Well, we handled the situation and as of this morning, I think I figured out what exactly happened: So I was getting my 2-year-old dressed this morning, and at the same time, my oldest son was getting dressed. I noticed him get his clothes out, put his underwear in the hamper, and put some clean ones on. Then he proceeded to do some sort of silly dance in his underwear to make his little brother laugh. I told him to just get dressed. Then I watched him take his clean underwear off and throw it in the hamper. I just smiled and asked him to think about what he just did. It took him a minute, but he got it, finally realizing what had happened to the rest of his underwear the week before.

I've always thought my son was a genius. I know I'm a biased mother, but really- he is super smart. But maybe, in an "Einstein" sort of way, he also has his brainless moments. Mine happens 98% of the time, and I know I am where he gets it from. But who are we kidding, we ALL have our moments, right? Right???

And In This Corner...

All I hear ALL day long from my two oldest kids is,

"Don't touch me!"
"Don't look at me."
"Stop touching me."
"Mom, he's standing in my bedroom."
"Mom, she's not cleaning up."

And a million more just as annoying. They fight [almost] all day, every day. At least they don't fight in the physical way. My son is the least likely person to ever hurt a fly. Literally. It would break his heart. If he so much as steps on my toe accidentally, he freezes in fear that he's deeply wounded me. It's cute. Usually.

And my daughter...well...she might hurt her brother on purpose, but it's happened maybe 2 or 3 times ever. But they are sooooo completely different in personality that they just do not get along. Lately, I've almost given up on them trying to get along, and just tell them to spend their time in separate rooms. Like, all the time. Of course, that is impossible, but when they do- it works.

However, there have been a few times in their lives that they just stick together. They would deny ever loving each other, but I know better. As they have gotten older, they come up with ideas (on their own) to surprise me or their dad. They'll work great together for hours. Or, when we go someplace new or unfamiliar, they always hold hands and walk together, giving each other that little boost of confidence. Why can't those moments pop up more often?

But as for today, I am sticking them in separate corners of the house!

Support The Priesthood

When I was at Women's Conference, I saw this checklist about how to support the priesthood. I didn't get this in a class, so I didn't hear any specifics about it, but overall I thought it was really good. I think as women, we could ALL benefit from doing these things:

• Be happy when he goes out the door


• Smile when he comes home


• Ask for a blessing


• Concentrate on his good points


• Stand up and push


• Pray for him


• Have a listening ear


• Treat him as you want him to become


• Honor blessings


• Support bishop in callings


• Attend meetings


• Be honest in your praise


• Make chocolate chip cookies :)


• Be a counselor, when asked


• Encourage patriarchal blessings


• Refrain from criticizing priesthood leaders


• Honor our husbands as they follow the Savior

There are several on this list that jumped out at me. One of them was making chocolate chip cookies. As you know, I make plenty of cake, brownies, etc. But I never make cookies, because I really don't like them. My husband and kids loves them though, so maybe I should keep some on hand. What things can you do better?

If You Want Something To Last, You Treat It Differently

That was the title of one of the classes I went to. I loved that title, especially because it was referring to marriage.

The couple giving the class started out talking about men and women's brains. The husband talked about how men's brains have boxes or compartments in them. Each box is something like "work" or "children" or "golf" etc. And men can only open one box at a time. SO TRUE. So when talking to a man, you need to only open one box at a time, and if you want to open another box, make sure you close the first one and put it away.

Women's brains, however, have wires connecting each box and the wires are always sending signals to the other boxes at the same time. And they are fueled by emotion. Again, SO TRUE.

The couple gave a great analogy that I think every married couple should remember. They said that husbands and wives are each one pillar, and those two pillars need a foundation. The foundation is charity. Charity is SO important in marriage. Moroni 7:45-48

Some of you may have seen this picture before. It's called "The Hidden Tiger"

And surprisingly, you are supposed to find a hidden tiger in the picture. Can you see it? Take a minute and look before I tell you where it is.

Can you read the words spelled out on the tiger's stripes? "The Hidden Tiger"

The point of this was to show that it takes work to see what others see. Everyone has a different perspective, and in a marriage especially, you should try extra hard to see what your spouse sees. Just because you don't see it at first, does not mean it's not there.

There was SO much more in this class that I learned, but I don't want to make this longer than it needs to be. So I'll just leave you with this thought. I loved it and think that if everyone applies it to their marriage, it can only get better.

Show in every action that your spouse has highest priority in your life!