A whole Pinterest meal to die for

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. I have still be cooking from Pinterest every night, but haven’t had time to blog about it. Which is why this one is going to be special. I made a three course meal from Pinterest and oh my gosh, it was AMAZING. This is by far the best meal I’ve made in a long time. I made slow cooked baby back ribs, BLT Pasta salad and corn casserole. Just check out these pictures! It tasted as good as it looks.

This dinner was incredibly easy to make. Although the ribs took like 7-8 hours it wasn’t a lot of work to get them done and they were so tender. The only thing I could think when eating these were “Chilis eat your heart out.” These were better than their baby back ribs. I always think BBQ could go with some sort of pasta or potato salad which is why I made the BLT Pasta salad. It was DIVINE. The only change I made was chilling it. The recipe said serve at room temperature, but I liked it colder. And lastly, corn is a must with BBQ which made the corn casserole a great addition. I have had this recipe a thousand times, so this wasn’t new, but it was great with the ribs!

I liked this meal so much that I had the corn casserole and salad for breakfast. There were no ribs leftover. If you are looking to impress your spouse, girl/boyfriend or some guests, MAKE THIS.

Steve-o-meter: My husband actually referred to himself in the third person. He said to me, “The Steve-o-meter gives a big thumbs up.”

Kid-o-meter: My almost one year old loved the pasta salad and corn casserole. She ate tons. My two year old wouldn’t touch the pasta, but he tried ribs for the first time and loved it! He even tried the corn casserole and I won’t say he turned his nose up.

My-o-meter: Best. meal. ever. Or at least in a really long time.

Hey now, you’re an all-star potato..

Get it? Smash potatoes? Smashmouth? Dumb reference? Ok.

These were exactly what I imagined. Somewhere in the description I read “creamy.” If it says that, I am in! And creamy they were, but not in a sour cream or heavy cream way, in a baked potato goodness way.

And they were soooooo easy! They were slightly time consuming because you have to boil them first and let them cool to room temperature. Potatoes take FOREVER to cool so it took a while, but it was so worth it. Most of the ingredients which were like 3 things were already in my house.

My only variation was that I added some fresh Parmesan cheese to the top for the last 2 minutes or until melted.

My-o-meter: Nothing special about this recipe whatsoever. It’s very plain indeed, but it’s very tasty and makes a great side dish. We will definitely add this into our rotation. I just wish I would have planned ahead and boiled the potatoes this morning.

Steve-0-meter: He says I can make them again and he ate three. Oh my man of few words.

Popeyes biscuits…yummy!

Check these out! No really, check these out.

7-up Biscuits and yes, they were as amazing as they look. Here is the pin. I am NOT experienced at all in even store bought biscuit making let alone semi-from scratch, but these were totally worth the effort.

Mine did not rise as well as the picture, but it was totally my fault. My oven wasn’t preheated (I got impatient). Plus, I think in higher altitudes, you really need to lower the heat to 425. But these tasted AMAZING. They were so light and fluffy it was crazy.

My friends reading from the other side of the pond, probably have no idea what Popeyes is. At least I don’t think there is one in England. Regardless, it’s a Fried Chicken joint with some of the best biscuits ever. These were almost a complete copy of them. I think that if mine had risen better, they would be exact.

And what’s not to love about 3 ingredients, yes THREE!

They were slightly hard to make, but if you are even slightly more experienced at biscuit making, these won’t be hard. You do need quite a bit of extra bisquick because they are so sticky, but it works out. Also, don’t do them too thin or they are kind of flat. Unfortunately the recipe this pin sends you to isn’t very informative, but it works.

Steve-o-meter: He didn’t say a word. NOT. ONE. WORD. So I asked him what he thought. He said they were amazing. And then he added that there has only been one thing he has hated and asked me never to make those chicken enchiladas again.

My-o-meter: I didn’t have high hopes for these once I got into making them. It was sticky and messy, but worth it in the end. These would be a fabulous breakfast side if you feel like doing the work.

Kid-o-meter: This was all my two-year-old had to eat.

Grandma-o-meter: She ate dinner with us tonight and when I asked if she wanted the leftovers she didn’t hesitate and left with 6. I think she liked them too.

These are definitely a MUST make.

Guest Blogger: Homemade ravioli in wonton wrappers!?!?

I love that my friends are doing Pinterviews for me. This has been so much fun and my husband is definitely loving all the new recipes! My dear friend Emily is my guest blogger today. I LOVE Emily so much. I met her about 5 years ago and boy have we had some fun discussions. Mostly our discussions were about boys since we were both single when we met. I got married a few years after we met and now she’s getting married next summer. I think she’s trying to try new recipes to get ready for being a wifey to Doug. One word to Doug, you are a lucky lucky man. Emily is crafty, has a wonderful heart and is definitely going to make you a happy man! With this Pinterview, Emily decided to get creative with an old classic. Our family isn’t big into ravioli which is why guest Pinterviews are perfect. Thanks Emily!

I got to use my pastry brush! I bought this pastry brush in June, knowing that someday I would need one. Today was that day. I adore the Pioneer Woman, her recipes, her humor, so the chance to try easy Pioneer Woman ravioli from this pin had me excited. If you haven’t checked her out, look up her blog or go out and buy her cookbook! www.thepioneerwoman.com. She is so stinking cute.

The ease of using wonton wrappers made trying homemade ravioli not intimidating. The filling was a breeze to whip up, with just ricotta and romano cheese (which I happened to just buy on a sale), an egg, salt and pepper, and instead of trying the arugula, I tossed in some green onion for flavor. I didn’t follow her recipe because I wanted to just make a sample size of lunch for myself, so I more or less eyeballed the whole thing (how hard is filling, though really?).

I would say the ravioli was good. Not incredible. Not bad. Just okay. Because it’s not a true pasta dough, the shells of the ravioli turned out slimy. I don’t think there’s any way to avoid the slime texture while using wonton wrappers. I think the texture/taste improved as the ravioli cooled because they became more firm. Like she says on the blog, this is a great way to go if you want to experiment with a lot of different fillings, maybe before you venture into the homemade pasta dough, as you could ease into the whole process again. I’m glad I tried it, but I just may use the rest of the wanton wrappers for…. wontons. 🙂

I also was very curious about the egg ravioli that she mentions, so I tried three of those kind as well. Maybe I had jumbo eggs, or not enough finesse, but I broke two out of the three that I tried, so as I became increasingly frustrated with broken yolks, one egg ravioli became enough my friend and I to share. These were actually very tasty, sort of like a breakfast food. We both decided we liked this better than toast with an over-easy egg, though the wonton wrapper didn’t absorb any of the egg like toast does. We would more likely try this kind again.

Good idea, P-Dub. I’m glad I tried it once, but from now on, I’ll probably stick to frozen ravioli.

Mmmmm rolls….

I love bread.

I think most people do.

I’ve been on the lookout for a good homemade roll recipe for a while now. After making this pin, I still am. Don’t get me wrong, these were really good rolls, but not what I was looking for exactly. I don’t even know how to describe what I am looking for, but when I find it, I will post it here.

Cooking with yeast can be quite intimidating. You can’t fudge this recipe whatsoever. You need to follow it to a T. If you don’t your yeast may get messed up. My rolls rose very nicely and looked just like the picture.

My husband is a roll-a-holic. We always buy Sister Schuberts rolls. Which is probably what I am looking for in a roll recipe. We LOVE those rolls. My husband will eat a whole pan. When we have company, we have to get two pans. One for my husband and one for other people. These rolls were nice because they are SUPER cheap to make and my husband can have tons to eat leftover. Although every morning I get up after making rolls, they are mysteriously missing.

I would make these again because of how simple they were and they made a lot. They rose pretty quickly and there were a lot leftover for sandwiches the next day.

Steve-o-meter: He loved them, but he’s not roll discriminate.

My-0-meter: They were good, just missing that Sister Schubert texture.

Kid-o-meter: I can’t keep rolls from my kids. My two year old devoured two and my 11 month old thought they were pretty tasty too. She’s not picky though.

Come back sauce!? No way—it’s Get Back!

Let me preface this Pinterview by saying, I really do love this recipe, but with a tweak or two. However, I am not so sure about it’s origin. Even if this recipe really was created by the woman who blogged about it. It will FOREVER be Mrs. Sheila’s recipe. Mrs. Sheila is one of my mom’s best friends. I have known her my whole life (all 29 plus 2 years.) She’s the original Get Back sauce creator in my opinion.

My earliest memories are of my parents taking me to their friends houses for Friday or Saturday night games of Trivial Pursuit. Most nights also had something to do with yummy foods. One of which would be boiled crawfish, one of my most favorite things in the whole world. Now that I have left my southern home of Louisiana for the much colder climate of Montana, I definitely don’t get to indulge in much crawfish anymore. On those nights that we had crawfish boils Mrs. Sheila ALWAYS made Get Back sauce. This is a variation of this pin which people are calling Mississippi sauce or Come back sauce. Sorry people, Mrs. Sheila has probably been making this sauce for 35 years and it’s Get Back sauce. Okay, I admit, maybe she got the recipe from someone else. I don’t really know. But for all intensive purposes, I will die thinking this was her recipe.

Get back sauce is so good. I am not sure which I like better, the boiled Crawfish or the Get Back sauce. I bet it could go with anything. I haven’t had it in years so when I saw the pin, I had to make it. We of course didn’t have 10o pounds of live crawfish, so I made boiled shrimp instead. It was the perfect substitute.

We made the recipe just as it was, but it was way too acidic. That’s the only word I can think of. It definitely needed more mayo. I would probably double the amount as the original recipe. I really need to get Mrs. Sheila’s recipe because it’s perfect in everyway.

What to eat it with? Definitely boiled crawfish. Don’t have those? Boiled shrimp. French fries, baked potatoes, rolls, etc. The possibilities are endless.

My-o-meter: It was really good with my tweaks and definitely reminded me of home and all those nights I spend with my parents over at their friends houses.

Steve-o-meter: One thing about my husband is that he’s obsessed with shrimp. If we are having shrimp, everything else is going to be overlooked. Get back sauce wasn’t the exception. I got a “this is really good.” Just before he stacked as much shrimp on his plate as possible.

Kid-o-meter: Since the shrimp was spicy, they had pb&j and we ate after they went to bed. It was like a date. Or at least a quiet meal.

Self professed Ranch junky

Ranch dressing has got to be by far my most favorite condiment in the world. I think it’s good on EVERYTHING savory. I actually can’t think of one item I wouldn’t try Ranch with.

Some of my favorites include pizza, french fries, spaghetti, salad of course and any type of bread. To me, it’s like the ultimate comfort food.

However, this love for ranch also makes me a ranch snob. I think my family hates me for it, but I won’t eat ranch out of a bottle. In fact, I won’t eat it in a restaurant unless I know for fact they make it in house. So I mostly eat ceaser salads.

So when I saw THIS pin, I had to try it. It’s not that I hadn’t seen from scratch ranch before, but I was inspired by Pinterest. I have been for years satisfied with the powder mix you buy in the store. I still love that stuff. It doesn’t stay long in our house. This recipe was really easy to make. I bet some of you have the ingredients in your house or are just missing a few. I also used this as dip for the mozzarella cheesestick I made earlier. Yeah, that was heaven.

Here’s another thing about me, I LOVE garlic. I have a garlic problem, I really do. You could probably smell it on me half the time. And I am totally ok with that. Garlic is SUPER healthy and helps with your immune system. All that to say, the recipe calls for one clove. Anytime I see a recipe call for one, I am going to at least double it. In this recipe, it definitely make the dressing quite spicy. I loved it! It reminded me of the kick the ceaser dressing has at Outback Steakhouse. Also, it calls for parsley. Be careful measuring. I hate measuring because I am lazy so I didn’t. Well, I used too much parsley and it turned my dressing green. It didn’t affect the taste, but it was funny to look at.

My-o-meter: I thought it was wonderful. I really did. I loved the kick the extra garlic gave. I think it I would have stuck to the original recipe, it would have tasted more like traditional ranch. It was kind of “soupy,” but in the recipe it says what to do if you want thicker. I would do that next time.

Steve-o-meter: He didn’t like it. He does not share the same love of garlic as me. His exact words were, “Would it hurt your feelings if I said I like the powder stuff better.” My response. “No.”

Kid-o-meter: No salad for them today. My son didn’t even want to use it as dip.

I will definitely be making it again. Maybe to dip my tilapia in tonight!

Homemade Baby Headbands: another guest Pinterview

My next guest blogger is Sara. I met Sara a little over 2 1/2 years ago. It was right after I had my first child. I am pretty sure I brought him with me when I came to meet her. Sara was looking for a wedding photographer. I was unfortunately was already booked that weekend, but I have contract photographers I worked with that shot her wedding and did an amazing job.

Sara and I have been Facebook friends ever since. Then just over a year ago, I went and stayed with her family in Wilsall, Montana and photographed her sister and her sister’s friend. They were about to start their senior year and wanted senior portraits ASAP. My husband and I felt so blessed by Sara’s family. We kind of felt like we were on a mini-vacation. Their hospitality was so wonderful. It was like staying in a bed and breakfast.

Back to Sara…She and I keep in touch through Facebook. She’s one of those people that I wish lived closer. I feel some sort of “kindred” spirit with her. She always has amazing ideas and resources and shares them. Some people like that are annoying. It’s like they always have something to say, but Sara is totally the opposite. She’s the person that when you post a question, you hope she’s online. Sara and her Navy-man husband Joe are about to have their first baby. Sara is busy getting ready for baby girl’s arrival. Sara likes to be frugal, but creative. A girl after my own heart. So for that, she made this pin. Without further introduction, here’s Sara’s Pinterview.

I’ve had lots of time on my hands recently as I’ve just been home preparing for our little bundle of joy- Sophia Grace- due in December. Since it’s a girl it makes crafting oh so fun.  I love the idea of accessorizing a little girl, I mean isn’t that one of the biggest perks of a girl!? With that said, the biggest con is the price tag attached to these accessories… All of that brings me to this particular pin.  I found tights at TJ MAAX for 50 cents a pair on serious sale!

I first tried the instructions with the white pair and then did it with the pink. These particular tights were sized 3 months with the pink a little larger.

I cut the tights 12 inches on the first leg and about 15 on the second figuring I would have some newborn headbands and some for her as she got older also. Stitching the ends together together went smoothly but I found that the instructions to pull a thread in order to make it pucker may have been easy with some materials but definitely not this one. I got it closer to how it should look on the small pink one but had a difficult time again with the large pink one.

My first band to cover up the stitches and attach the flower etc didn’t go so well but the others went much more smoothly. The project took about 30 minutes from beginning to end. If you’ve never sewn before it wouldn’t be the project for you, however I think that with a little practice and different materials its a great easy way to accessorize the little ones!

Over all I think that it was very worthwhile especially when you find tights on sale! Can’t wait to try some more!

Thanks Kelly for hosting me!

– Sara B.

www.livinlavidabella.blogspot.com

Nobody better lay a finger…

When I first joined Pinterest, this was one of the recipes I couldn’t wait to try.

By far, my favorite candy bar is a Butterfinger. What’s not to love about the crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery Butterfinger? When I saw the recipe though, I was VERY leery. Three ingredients? Really?

The answer YES!

It’s amazing. I have tried so many copy cat recipes and this is 98% just like the real deal. The only difference is the texture. Unfortunately it’s not crispety, crunchety. But the taste is DEAD ON. Here’s my pin.

Who knew you could melt candy corn? I surely never thought of it.

My warnings: You have to be careful melting the candy corn. It’s not that easy, but I am not a very good candy maker. That said, if you can master the art of melting the candy corn, this recipe will be very easy for you. Also, once Halloween is over, you’ll be able to find tons of candy corn on clearance.

My-meter: These are definitely going to become part of our candy regime. I won’t make them a lot, but not because they aren’t good because they are THAT good. They won’t last long. We don’t need help around our mid-sections. They are also very rich, but that’s never scared me away from a dessert.

Steve-o-meter: I quote as he says with big eyes, “mmmmm these are good.” I guess he likes them.

Kid-o-meter: They were in bed, so they were all for us 🙂

Paula Dean, you’ve let me down

I never in my life thought I would say that.
The woman cooks with so much butter, I can’t help but smile when I see her name on a recipe.

Her chicken and rice casserole  and AMAZING. Let’s not even talk about her gooey butter cake. 

This woman can cook. Plus, I just simply am in love with her Southern charm and accent.

HOWEVER, her Mexican Chicken Casserole is in the trash now 😦
It was really no good. It wasn’t bad, but I thought it was bland, had soggy tortillas and lastly made my daughter throw up. Maybe that last one wasn’t the recipe’s fault, but still.

I followed the recipe, but added some spices and some of my beloved cilantro. But there were no redeeming qualities for this recipe–NOT ONE.

I am sure someone likes this type of recipe, but it’s not my taste. I have found only one recipe that’s main ingredient is cans of soup and this wasn’t it.

We won’t add this to our must make again pile.

But you can’t win them all right?

And just in case you want to see the recipe for yourself, here is the pin.