Pinterest Wins

Happy Made-Up Holiday!

In these parts sharing the love is limited to those age 9 and under, but I do love both my readers, so I am going to share a little Pinterest love with you, mainly in the form of recipes.  I've tried a lot of crap recipes (oatmeal muffins I am looking at you), but when I find a winner, it goes straight into the meal-planning rotation.  If it's beloved by all, it even gets its own home in my recipe binder.  Here's a few winners for you to try (sorry, no pictures.  Blogger is being difficult):

Smothered Chile Colorado Burritos.  SO EASY.  Because my crock pot is VERY hot, I don't even bother defrosting the meat first.  Stew meat + enchilada sauce + garlic salt = yum.

Lighter Tastes Like Lasagna Soup.  AWESOME.  I only use 1/4 of a green pepper, as I am a pepper-hater.  And whole-wheat lasagna noodles are not important enough to me to make a special trip to the Walmarts, so I use what I have.  Maybe not as "light", but still very tasty.

Baked Potato Soup.  I am suspicious of recipes that "hide" vegetables.  I think this is a hold over from childhood - after all, the primary veggies in our house were iceberg lettuce, baked potatoes, or corn.  So, I was skeptical of a recipe that subs in cauliflower for half the potatoes.  But it works here and is 100% delicious.  I also love that I don't have to run all over town looking for ingredients.  Another family favorite!  

Finally, a tip:  I have a panini press and have found the downside to it is the clean up.  I *think* it was Pinterest where I read about wetting paper towels and laying them on the hot surface.  Close the lid for about a minute to let it steam, then open and let it cool for another minute or so.  Wipe away the goo & toss those paper towels.  I bet this will work on my waffle maker, too!