As a busy mom who has likely made more than a bazillion dinners by now, I am always looking to mix it up. Combine that with being a Pinterest-lover who has pinned delicious looking recipes to my board, but up until now never actually made any of them, well, I decided it was time to tackle some recipes.
This week, I challenged myself to make an entire meal from my collection of pinned ideas to see if they were, in fact, as good as they looked. With my taste-testing family hungry and happy to eat, here’s what happened:
Friday morning I made a huge list of the items I would need and shopped for the myriad of veggies and off-items (like Sriracha sauce) that I did not have floating around my pantry. I designed a kid-friendly menu complete with vegetables and dessert.
Appetizer
Mango-Avocado-Macadamia nut salad
Main Meal
Balsamic Glazed Cauliflower Wings
Dessert
I typically cook a large Friday night family dinner anyway, so I was okay with the work ahead. Most of these recipes required very little prep and came together to create a really fun meal.
The review:
My kids adored the honey-lime chicken skewers and spiraled hot dogs, and gobbled up both. They were both a cinch to make and will definitely make the dinner repertoire.
My husband and I really loved the meaty tasting cauliflower. It would be an amazing vegetarian night dinner on its own, maybe with couscous or something. The mango avocado macadamia nut salad was super light and the dressing was perfect for a summer day. Sadly, we ate this so fast I didn’t have time to catch a picture! The oven-roasted corn was nothing special. Not worth a repeat. The peanut butter balls were very rich, I would definitely make them again but much tinier than the size suggested in the recipe.
Overall, this was a delicious, successful attempt to recreate some fantastic food that really held up to the pics. I was really happy to finally tackle some of these Pinterest inspired foods. I look forward to our next recipe challenge!!
Here are some photos for you to see the real thing against the Pinterest photo. I did omit sticks for the hot dogs (didn’t have them) and we did not cilantro-sprinkle our chicken.
For full recipes and more Pinterest-inspired projects and recipes, please visit my boards http://www.pinterest.com/kutlirs/