I am still obsessed with Pinterest, are you? I hope so! I have stopped seeing it as another way to waste time on the internet because I’ve actually used so many pins and ideas from there! Here are some that I’ve tried in the past few weeks:
I am so tired of packing lunches and thinking of new things to put in them. To be fair, my wonderful husband packs lunches too. I made two things from this website this weekend for their lunches. I made smoothies and froze them so they’ll defrost by lunch. What a good idea, right? I also made the granola bites; they are delicious! I added a scoop of peanut butter and some chia seeds. Adding the peanut butter added about 10 more minutes to the baking time. I also made them in my minimuffin tin without baking cups and they came out just fine! These muffins from Pioneer Woman are going in their lunches this week too…and they are amazing.
These pork chops were good…but not great. I’ve had better. (You’re supposed to say that like Jim Carrey in Liar, Liar. Then it’s funnier.)
Olivia loves IHOP but Matt and I would rather eat at the local mom-and-pop breakfast place…so I made these IHOP pancakes at home! They were really way more delicious than my regular pancake recipe! I topped them with whipped cream for Liv just like they do at IHOP!
At least once a week I like to try to remember to use my crockpot. I’m always so glad when I do…I get to enjoy the aroma all day long and then dinner’s ready! I tried this crockpot chicken and it was really good. I have another chicken crockpot recipe that uses a ranch packet that I like better. Here it is:
4-5 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
2 blocks cream cheese
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
2 packages powdered Hidden Valley Ranch package
1 stick butter
I cook it on high for about 4-5 hours. Then shred the chicken and serve over egg noodles or rice and top with the sauce. It is not fancy or complicated but it’s delicious!
Last night, we enjoyed these asian meatballs with rice. Everyone liked them and said it was a keeper. They are a bit spicy!!
Since we have already devoured our 8 boxes of Girl Scout cookies, I decided to make these samoas bars for us and to take to Olivia’s IEP meeting. Ah-ma-zing! I didn’t tip each bar in chocolate because that is ridiculous so I just put the chocolate on top of the shortbread layer before the coconut. Gabe was the only who noticed!
I made Minnie/Mickey mouse cupcakes for Olivia to take to school for her birthday. I used this tip to make them extra cute and yummy!
Matthew LOVES soft pretzels…and since I was looking for new ideas to spice up their lunches, I decided to make these pretzels. They are AMAZING!!! I love making bread too…watching it rise, punching it down, that whole bit. These were really fun to make. The recipe is a little tricky b/c it’s in metrics…you’ll need to do a little converting! But for this math nerd, that was fun too.
I used this recipe to make pizza and garlic bread sticks…and they were even better than the kind you get in restaurants. YUMMMY!
We, unfortunately, have glass shower doors and they are a total pain to keep clean. I used this scrub to clean the doors and the shower…and it has never been cleaner or whiter!
I’m obsessed with this website with cute ideas for girls’ hair! Her videos are awesome and, since I’m a visual learner, very helpful!
I actually made this hand cream because my hands are so dry they are cracking. I was hoping it would be a miracle-worker…but it’s not. It’s ok but not good enough that I’d go through the trouble of making it again!
We’ve never done a leprechaun traps at our house but Matthew had to make one for Kindergarten so we used this idea. By “we” I mean Gabe. He’s the best.
Last, but not least, I’ve been busy planning Gabe’s Harry Potter birthday party and have been using these websites that are full of great ideas!
http://www.hostessblog.com/2010/04/harry-potter-birthday-party-ideas-part-2/
http://www.ohdeedoh.com/ohdeedoh/entertaining/12-ways-to-throw-a-happenin-harry-potter-party-113768
What have you done from Pinterest lately??
Elastamom's Excerpts 
I’m loving pinterest too! Today the girls painted with potatoes to make rainbows and during nap time today I’m painting some empty wine bottles with chalkboard paint and writing L-O-V-E on each bottle with chalk for our master bedroom (after 5 years of living in this house with white walls and pea green 1970’s carpet we are finally making it our room! LOL)
I LOVED your Mickey and Minnie cupcakes and I’m so gonna try the crock pot chicken recipe this week for dinner.
Oh, and a Harry Potty Birthday party? That is awesome!
Tiff – just had a skating party for Kayla- Harry Potter themed. I made a Honeydukes candy store for kids to take home what they wanted – had gummi basilisks, golden chocolate quidditch balls, dragon eggs, pixie sticks (made with real Cornish Pixies) etc. – kids loved it!
Love Pinterest! I’ve used several recipes from there. I created Lego tables for the basement based on an idea from Pinterest. And… I’m planning most of Keegan’s birthday party off of ideas on Pinterest! I love, Love, LOVE it!!!