Taste Testing Foods Found Through Pinterest

So I am a bit addicted to Pinterest as many of you can relate.  Recipes tend to be the number one thing I think most of us pin often "hoping" to go back and try them out.  I have made a point to actually try out some of these recipes and will plan to update my opinion on the ones I try.  Today I tried a couple of food items that turned out really well.  I am also including the links to them so that you can easily find them.  I will try to use this post to continue to update additional meals I have tried so everything is kept in a fairly neat and organized place.

Crock Pot Lasagna
http://www.creatingthroughlife.com/2011/10/crock-pot-lasagna.html

This meal was very good.  I put the prep work together the night before and it was very easy and very quick to put it all together.  In this recipe I browned the ground beef with a little garlic, oregano and basil.  Then added the Food Lion brand of traditional pasta sauce that comes in a can (one of our favorites and very inexpensive).  I stored this in the refrigerator over night.  I also put together the cottage cheese and mozzarella cheese and stored them in a separate container in the refrigerator.

When I got up the next morning, I was able to get all of this in the crock pot in literally 5 minutes, layering the meat mixture (I did not spray down my crock pot first as the recipe recommends), the dried lasagna noodles and then the cheese mixture and doing this one more time finishing with a top layer of meat sauce.  I put the crock pot on high while I got myself ready for church and just before I left I turned it down to low (although I meant to just turn it to warm which would have worked just as well if not better).  When we got home this meal was actually already completely cooked and could have been eaten, however I turned it down to warm and we had it for dinner.  This meal was a winner!  I am often very short on time and not only was it quick to make, the clean up afterwards was also pretty simple.  This will certainly be on my "will do again" list.

1-2-3 Cake
http://thehiddenpantry.blogspot.com/2011/11/aunt-bettys-1-2-3-cake.html

Of course, by nightfall a little sweet tooth tends to develop, however, trying to keep the calories low can be a bit difficult. After I put my kids to bed, the sweet tooth set in and I couldn't resist trying another recipe found on Pinterest.  This one for 1-2-3 cake.

This cake simply is made from a box of Angel Food cake mix (has to be angel food) and any other type of cake mix plus a little water.  Basically you mix the two boxes of mix together to create the base of your mix. You then take the new mix, add a little water, mix to moisten (but not too much)  and cook in the microwave for one minute.

For mine I had on hand the angel food cake and yellow cake.  I put all the ingredients in a mug and mixed as directed above then dropped 3 hershey kisses to sweeten it up just a bit.  The caked turned out perfect and easily fell out of the mug when turned upside down.  The texture was a cross between the Angel Food cake and regular cake.  As an extra note the kisses did not really melt in this but it still seemed to be a very nice addition to this cake.  If you had a container of frosting or wanted to mix your own by taking a little powdered sugar, plus cocoa powder, a touch of melted butter, a dash of vanilla and a drop or two of milk then mix together you can use that to frost as well, but if you are watching calories or sugar intake you could skip all together.

After trying this recipe I was very impressed and I like this better than the mug cake that seemed to make it around the internet a while back. The mug cake is a bit heavier and you have more ingredients to pull out to make it and seems a bit more of a hassle.  I also found it difficult to clean the mug afterwards which I did not find true of this recipe for the 1-2-3 cake.  I do think this recipe is a must try for anyone who wants to take the edge off of their sweet tooth but doesn't want the hassle of going to the lengths of baking.


Quinoa Mac and Cheese
http://monicanelsonfitness.com/blog/meals/quinoa-mac-n-cheese/

I love quinoa and usually cook it up then add saute'd veggies in olive oil such as green pepper, onion and carrots.  Even my kids enjoy quinoa when I prepare it.  This recipe caught my eye because cheese seems to make anything taste even better!  After trying this recipe several weeks ago it was really good but it would be more of something I would make as a side dish.  It had pretty good flavor but it was more of a 4 recipe instead of a 5 if you were to rate it on a scale of a 1-5.  I did encourage my kids to try it and they were not as fond, however this is more of a baked quinoa and cheese and my kids are not very fond of even macaroni and cheese.  It is a recipe that is at least worth giving a try as I think this one is more based on what your tastes are.  This recipe could also be modified and you could even make it using a traditional macaroni and cheese style which may be more appealing to some.  This is one of those recipes that is what I would consider a more "upscale recipe" so if your family is more of a traditional meat and potatoes family that tends to stick with the same similar type foods then this may not be for you, but if you are less of a picky eater and enjoy venturing out this may be one you will enjoy.