Saturday, May 10, 2014

Pinterest Favorite Food Finds - Part 2

I'm going to let you in on a little secret...I love to eat! Okay, that's probably not much of a secret. But I do. And that means I constantly have my eye out for new recipes to try. Last year, I wrote a post about a few of my favorite food finds on Pinterest. I don't make everything I pin, and not everything I try is successful, but I've tried a few things that have made the cut into our regular rotation of things we like, so I thought I'd write a Part 2 to my Pinterest Favorite Food Finds!

First up is breakfast! Or if you're anything like us, dinner as often as once a week sometimes! I used to always make pancakes from a box mix that you just add water to. But I'm trying to reduce chemicals and prepackaged foods from our diet one thing at a time, so I was on the lookout for a pancake recipe. When I found and tried this recipe for Greek Yogurt Pancakes, I never turned back and this is our tried-and-true, go-to pancake recipe now!
Photo from favoritefamilyfoods.wordpress.com
And then there's dinner. Like most households, dinner is often a struggle for us. I ask the infamous, "What do you want for dinner?" and get the ever-dreaded, even more infamous, "I don't care," or "Whatever you want," responses! Ugh! Not to mention trying to cook something that everyone enjoys so I'm not making 3 different things for dinner. So when I try something new that we all love, I'm ecstatic! These Mini Chicken Parmesan Meatloaf Cupcakes were an instant hit! We call them Chicken Parm Meatballs and I serve them with spaghetti for dinner, but they're great reheated in the toaster oven for lunch the next day too! The only change I make is that I use half the panko bread crumbs that it calls for. Half a cup is plenty!
Photo from tablespoon.com
I also love finding recipes that are both healthy and delicious! These next two recipes live up to that! First, One Pan Mexican Quinoa! We just had this for the first time the other night, but it was delicious and most definitely will be a regular! And the little tiny bit that was leftover was even more delicious cold for lunch!
Photo from Damn Delicious
The next recipe even I was skeptical about! I am not a cauliflower fan. But Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipes are floating all over Pinterest, so I decided to give it a shot! And I was more than pleasantly surprised! YUM! I did add about a handful of Parmesan cheese in also, but otherwise kept the recipe the same. Mine TOTALLY stuck to the foil. (Turns out that regular foil is not the same as non-stick foil. Who knew?!) It was more work to peel it off than it was worth, but what I did eat was worth making again. Next time, I may try parchment paper or just spray a cookie sheet.
Photo from One Good Thing By Jillee
And finally, dessert! I first tried this recipe when we had lots of carrots and zucchini from the garden last summer. I made a few modifications, but these Carrot Cake Cookies became an instant hit! I skip the frosting because I don't think they need it, but they'd probably be even better with it! I use 1/2 cup of coconut oil and 1/4 cup of softened butter instead of the shortening. I also do 1 cup of shredded carrots and 1/2 cup of shredded zucchini instead of all carrots. And I have done both raisins and dried cranberries on separate occasions and both are yummy! They're best right out of the oven because they have some crispiness on the edges. But if you are okay with a cake texture instead of a cookie texture, they're good for a couple days (if they last that long!)
This photo is actually mine. :)
That's it for some of my tried-and-true recipes from Pinterest today! If you try any of them, be sure to let me know what you think! And please feel free to share some of your favorite Pinterest recipe finds too!