Winter Pinteresting Finds

Pinterest is an amazing tool! For the most part, I am really good about not getting sucked into it. I try to use it practically, especially for food. Here are some favorites and a not-so-favorite this winter:

Thumbs-up Finds:

Crusty Bread: This really was so easy and so delicious. My problem would be remembering to make it in the morning so that it's ready by supper. Also, you have to make sure that you bake it long enough or the insides will be a little undone. But it was fabulous!

Bite-sized Greek appetizers: Little bites of deliciousness. I made these for my friend Donna's 40th birthday bash and people gobbled them up. I made half with olives and half without. I am a big fan of olives, but next time I'll leave them off since the non-olive ones were devoured much faster. Very easy to make.

Gumbo: This is a fantastic gumbo recipe that I discovered when I had sausage and shrimp and not much else in the refrigerator. I didn't have chicken or okra, and I used a few tablespoons of tomato paste instead of stewed tomatoes. It was perfect.

Candle in a tea cup: My daughter and her friends always exchange Christmas gifts, and lately they've been challenging each other to make rather than buy gifts. I thought her tea-cup candles were adorable! She bought most of the tea cups at thrift stores.

Writing prompts. I am a collector of writing prompts, but this is a particularly original site filled with hundreds of ideas. I used this extensively for this semester's journal assignments.


Meh:
Boston Cream Poke Cake: I made this for myself for my birthday. I know! It really isn't as bad as it sounds. Both my husband and daughter offered to make my cake but our timing was just weird that day. It was good, but not amazing. I probably won't make it again.


Thumbs-down:

Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower. Ew. This has been all over Pinterest and Facebook, and I have no idea what everyone is raving about. We love cauliflower at our house—but not this way! Give me roasted cauliflower with olive oil and sea salt any day. The spices were overpowering, and the cauliflower was undercooked, even though I roasted it for an extra 15 or 20 minutes.

My top three most often pinned posts:
What College Profs Wish Freshmen Knew
Ultimate Guide to Creative Writing Resources for Students
 SmallWorld's WordSmithery: Free Creative Writing Lessons



Come and see how other bloggers at iHomeschool Network are using Pinterest this summer! You can link up your own flips and flops there, too. And if you don't already, be sure and follow me on Pinterest for food, homeschooling, great books, travel, and decorating stuff, too!