(dinner last night, also known as #5 on the list below)
If you’re anything like me, you have approximately 314 mouth-watering recipes pinned on Pinterest, just waiting for a perfect day when all the stars align and your toddler naps for three hours and your pantry is fully stocked and wouldn’t it be so awesome to instagram a picture of that strawberry cheesecake with the graham cracker crust?
Riiiiight.
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Guilty as charged. Anytime I’m on Pinterest, I’m pinning food. It’s a sickness, really. I will probably never make 80% of those recipes, but they are really pretty to look at, yes?
I have to be in the mood to cook from scratch. I don’t have to be in the mood to make spaghetti, but I have to be in the mood to cut vegetables and use things like Hoisin sauce. It happens once in a blue moon. Usually on a day when Brett is working from home or comes home early, because let’s be real: cooking extravagantly is dang hard with a toddler whining on the floor next to you.
So, once in a blue moon, the stars do align, and I hop on my handy Pinterest board and surf all the possibilities (waffle ice cream sandwiches! crockpot cinnamon rolls! nutella cookie tart! why do I love sugar so much?!) before landing on a realistic possibility.
In order for a recipe to be considered realistic, it needs to fit the following criteria:
1. I have 75% of the ingredients already.
2. I know what 95% of the ingredients are.
3. I think Brett will eat it.
4. No fancy cooking tools required.
5. I can make it in 30 minutes, give or take.
Also worth mentioning: we tend to eat a lot of chicken. Other meats scare me.
With all that being said, you can happily consider me to be your Pinterest guinea pig because I have PRE-TESTED all of these recipes for you and they are ALL DELICIOUS. You’re welcome.
1. Grilled Ginger-Sesame Chicken Chopped Salad. Holy yum, Batman. This was good. Refreshing, filling, and has a little bite to it. Also: we had a lot leftover and I ate it the next day for lunch. I normally hate salad leftovers because they get so soggy, but this one stayed surprisingly crisp.
2. Garlic Lemon and Parmesan Oven Roasted Zucchini. Confession: I don’t really love vegetables. If you do, good for you. If you don’t, this is a simple way to dress up what I consider to be an otherwise bland veggie. We served on the side of a rotisserie chicken and pasta salad. Boom.
3. Parmesan Spinach Quinoa. Confession: I don’t really love quinoa either. But I do love cheese. This was easy to whip up, I had all the ingredients on hand, and was served perfectly alongside—what else? Chicken.
4. Crockpot Mini Turkey Quinoa Meatballs. Again, I don’t really love quinoa, but I do love meatballs. These were shockingly good, and one batch lasted FOREVER. We froze half right off the bat and probably got close to eight whole meals out of them.
5. Peach and Roasted Vegetable Salad. If you only make one thing off this whole list, MAKE THIS (pictured above). I could eat this salad every single night. I add grilled chicken (pre-cooked from Trader Joe’s to keep it easy), and we skip the beets because, well, who likes beets? Besides Dwight Schrute? This recipe is a summer staple in our house and I make it once a week, always with enough leftovers for the next night. If you come over to my house for dinner, this is what I will make you. If you have a baby, this is what I will bring you. It’s my go-to, easy-peasy, refreshing-but-filling, covers-all-the-food-groups, must-make recipe of the year. OF THE YEAR. Make it. Love it. You won’t regret it.
Okay, I showed you mine. Your turn. What was the last recipe you made from Pinterest that was actually good? And satisfy my curiosity: do people really make things like waffle ice cream sandwiches in real life?
