Thanks Pinterest

and Nikki.... and Val.

Thanks to Nikki, via Pinterest, we made this gem of a meal. Chicken Marsala was delicious, and although our mushrooms ended up being too old and too gross to eat, the chicken and sauce alone over the pasta was so good. We now have a bottle of Marsala sitting in our fridge so this will be made a lot :)

Taste of Home

Val suggested Mel's Kitchen Café to find some new recipes, and I'm so glad she did. So I technically didn't find this on Pinterest, but it's on my board now! These enchiladas use pretty much the same red sauce that I normally make so I knew these would be a winner, and they definitely were. I can't wait to try some more recipes from her site.


Mel's Kitchen Café

I've had this pinned since forever and never actually tried it. I love making popcorn on the stove top, it's cheaper and way tastier. But... my pot was dirty and I was feeling super lazy and not wanting to wash it so I tried this little trick. Who wants to shake a pot around on a stove or spend a bunch of money on the microwave version when all it takes is a brown paper bag!? I'm sold.

One Good Thing

Workout stations on Pandora. Found this pin quite a while ago but it's was a gem, so glad I have these stations for my run/walks.

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What have you pinned and tried lately?



Pinspired: Sugar High

 

Mmmmm Easter, the best excuse to eat as much sugar as you possibly can.

Challenge Accepted.

We made this lovely Lemon Pull Apart Bread for breakfast. It's basically lemon monkey bread and it's basically delicious.

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Later that afternoon I started to whip up some Strawberry Cake, then decided to practice the tiniest bit of self control and halved the recipe to make cupcakes instead. By the end I was licking the bowl - both batter and frosting :)

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Of course there was the required Cadbury mini eggs that Chad somehow doesn't like?! Which is a-ok in my book because the 2 bags I snatched up at the store are barely enough for me. There were also some brownie sundaes involved too.

So if your in the mood for some lemony and strawberry deliciousness check these two recipes out. They don't disappoint!

Five Things {Pinterest got right} Friday

It's waaaay hit or miss on Pinterest if you ask me. You don't have to take my word for it, check out Pintester, I laugh out loud every single time I read it. While I have had a LOT of flops, there have been a few successes, so I thought I'd share.

1. Use Vinegar as the rinse aid in your dishwasher. Our glasses aren't as filmy looking and everything looks much better in general. Super easy, super awesome.

2. Wrap up celery in tin foil to help it keep longer. By longer, I mean weeks people! We got 2 bunches of celery in one of our Bountiful Baskets a couple weeks ago. There was no way we could go through that much celery before it got all limpy and gross. Tin foil to the rescue! Wrap it up and it stays fresh and very crisp!

As a side note, who the heck needs this much celery?
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 3. Zig Zag paper streamers. Easy, Fast, and they actually look cute. Score.

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4. The easiest, tastiest, PB cookies ever. Seriously. Make them right now. No lie, the internet will be here when you get back. While your at it, throw in some chocolate chips ;)

Last but not least...

Because if nothing else, I can usually find something to make me laugh, and sometimes that's what you need to make it through the day!

Happy Friday everyone, Have a rockin' weekend!

What Pinterest successes have you had?

Cleaning with Pinterest

I L-O-V-E Pinterest. Just like everyone else. I have a board full of clothes that I will never own, desserts that I will (hopefully) never eat, at least not all of them, and one for the baby that is no where near existence.

I also have a board for cleaning. I hate that I'm supposed to have a cleaner for everything. One for the windows, one for the kitchen, one for the counters, and so on. I never seemed to have any of them and ended up cleaning everything with windex.

So I started pinning cleaning tips and how to make your own cleaners. Sooo much easier I thought. Except that they all called for things that I didn't have or really want to try to find. People said they were expensive but worth it because it made so much, and really cheaper in the long run. I'm looking for cheaper in the short run folks. At this point I'll just stick with my windex thank you very much.

Then I found my solution! Check it out! Vinegar. Hydrogen Peroxide. Baking Soda. Olive Oil. Done. I already have it all and it's cheap. Bonus.

I've got my vinegar solution that will clean anything, my hydrogen peroxide for the bathrooms, along with the Baking Soda if I need some extra scrubby power, and Olive Oil to polish up the few wooden pieces that we have. They work awesome!

So if you are looking for a way to cut chemicals or cut costs or just simplify the number of bottles hiding under your sink, give these a try!

Vinegar

          For 3 cups of water I put in 4 Tablespoons of Vinegar. This solution is fantastic, It cut through   and cleaned things up that other chemicals we've got hadn't touched. Who knew? I even sprayed it all over the floor and went over it with my Swiffer, sparkling clean floors!

Hydrogen Peroxide

 Buy a bottle of regular ol' Hydrogen Peroxide and replace the cap with a spray cap. I've used this on mirrors, the bathtub, and toilet. I wasn't so sure this would work as well as my beloved Windex on my mirrors but it's a champ and worked great!

The only thing that I couldn't get clean was the toilet. We have been cursed with gunky, gross, dirty apartment toilets. Hydrogen Peroxide just ain't gonna cut it. It your toilet hasn't been used and abused by dirty apartment folk it will probably do the trick though. 

Baking Soda

When the Hydrogen Peroxide just isn't cutting it use this! Sprinkle this around and scrub away. It'll help to get rid of any stuck on stains or problem spots!

Olive Oil

I was most impressed by this trick. I put a little Olive Oil on a rag and used it to polish up our coffee table and desk. They look great. All shiny and beautiful. Super easy. Who doesn't have this already in their pantry? Just remember that a little goes a long way! 

What about you? Help us all out and share any tricks you've picked up along the way!