My Favorite Pinterest Recipes (so far)!

Yes, this is an unabashedly girly post. With unabashedly INCREDIBLE recipes.

Believe it or not, I have actually MADE many of the recipes I've pinned on Pinterest. Some of them multiple times. Some fit in the category of "Eh, pretty good, but I won't make it again," others fit in the category of "Glory-hallelujah-this-is-a-go-to-recipe!!" Since none of these recipes were, in fact, invented by me, there is absolutely no point in keeping them a secret. I want to spread the deliciousness, so I thought I would share some of my favorite ones with you, in approximate order of the number of times I've made them!

1. Best Salsa Ever


Recipe here: http://www.mountainmamacooks.com/2012/01/quick-and-easy-salsa/

It would be an absolute CRIME not to share this with you. Everyone loves it. Seriously. It's the perfect, easy salsa. The only way in which I deviate from the recipe is that I use fresh diced tomatoes instead of canned ones; we can't get canned over here, and as it is I have to ask sweet people to send me Ro-tel from the States. The good news is, though, that if you can't get Ro-tel in your region, just chop up some tomatoes and green peppers and it makes a fine substitute. As it is, I substitute whatever green pepper we can get around here that looks like a jalapeno for the real thing! Really, what makes this recipe are the honey and the cumin. Cumin gives it that extra something something, and honey helps it blend to a great texture in the blender. Edit: After realizing our lemon had gone bad and making this salsa for the first time without lemon, I have to revise these statements and say that the fresh LEMON JUICE is what makes this recipe. It's not the same without it.

2. Nutella Mug Cake

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/03/15/nutella-mug-cake/

Okay, this dessert keeps Rachel and me ALIVE in winter. When it's been one of those days when your hands are frozen even through your gloves, and you slip in your rain boots and your butt is soaked the rest of the day even through your long johns, and your language teacher basically tells you you will NEVER get that 3rd tone right, this is a little cup of comfort. Eat this while watching an episode of Friends; it makes it even better. SO easy to make too, seriously takes about 15 minutes total, gathering ingredients and cooking time included. Some people say the calorie count is pretty high, but I say calorie count shmalorie count! Too delicious to care! Also, Rachel and I split it between two mugs, which makes it not quite as ridiculous. Don't forget the chocolate syrup on top though. Mm-mmmmm.

3. Nutella Donut Muffins

http://usmasala.blogspot.com/2012/05/nutella-filled-baked-donut-muffins.html

Yes, Nutella again. I don't know why you're surprised. (Nutella is another thing we have to get imported, by the way). We have made these a ridiculous amount of times recently. They're just so good and easy. The cinnamon smell really fills the house while they're baking! And I love any muffin or cake with a wonderful surprise filling in the middle!

4. Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

http://annies-eats.com/2010/10/08/pumpkin-cream-cheese-muffins/

These are the most amazing things. My mouth is watering just thinking about them, and I'm tempted to bump them up to number one RIGHT NOW just to make sure as many people see these as possible. By the way, the site in general is great. Annie's Eats is one of my favorite cooking blogs. So imagine, you've got this wonderful pumpkin pie-ish taste on the outside, with a lightly crispy cinnamon streusel topping, and warm creamy cream cheese in the middle. It is absolutely ridiculous. They're a little more work than your run-of-the-mill muffins, but TOTALLY WORTH IT.

5. Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

http://www.chiquitabananas.com/Banana-Recipes/Creamy-Peanut-Butter-Banana-Smoothie-recipe.aspx

I am a huge fan of the heavenly combination of peanut butter and banana. I make peanut butter banana oatmeal many mornings; if I'm about to do some kind of intense workout I will spread peanut butter on a banana and eat that; and now I make this smoothie. It's super easy and very nutritious. I usually half the recipe, and it's perfect for just me. I also just use plain yogurt with a splash of vanilla since I haven't found vanilla yogurt here yet. The texture is great: perfectly smooth, creamy, and thick. Yesterday morning I experimented with adding some oatmeal and I seriously wasn't even hungry until dinner. This is one powerful smoothie, my friends.

6. Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/slow-cooker-chicken-taco-soup/

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm the one who originally pinned this, but it was repinned 15 times so I don't think I'm crazy! We made this one day when we had friends' kids over in the winter, and they absolutely loved it. I paired it with some cornbread and it was a great meal. I didn't have beer, so I just used some extra water, and we also used kidney beans instead of black beans. It's so easy and tastes wonderful.

7. Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

http://pinchofyum.com/carrot-cake-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting

Carrot: goood. Cupcakes: goood. Cream cheese frosting: GOOOOD. What Joey would have said if he'd tasted these. Simple and delicious. This again comes from one of my favorite blogs, and the girl who writes it has a great personality that makes her posts really fun to read. Over here, I'm always searching for recipes that both my American and local friends will like, and this is one of them! It's not ridiculously sweet but has a perfect balance of flavors.

8. Cranberry Apple Chicken Salad

http://southernfood.about.com/od/chickensalads/r/r81002g.htm

Okay, I originally pinned this one too, but my friends and I all loved this! I just love the combo of the apple and cranberries, and the curry powder really adds something special. I left out the red onion; I'm not a huge fan of onions except when they're caramelized.

9. Self-Saucing Ginger Pudding

http://thestonesoup.com/blog/2010/06/9-things-you-should-know-about-ginger-with-self-saucing-ginger-puddings-5-ingredients-simple-baking/

I had a really bad cold in the winter, and this pudding was unbelievably comforting. I didn't have ramekins, so I just put the whole thing in a round baking dish and spooned warm gingery buttery goodness right out of the dish as I watched TV, like the bachelorette that I am. It was wonderful. The only recommendation I have is to make sure and chop the ginger REALLY FINE. Since I was sick, I was a little lazy with my chopping, so there were moments when I would take a bite and hear a "kst!" and a little too much ginger would flood my mouth. We've recently acquired a cheese grater, so maybe if I try it again now I wouldn't have the same problem. Just as an extra plus, this webpage also has some cool facts to know about ginger! Good news if you like it: ginger's really healthy!

Adventure with Eggplant

Eggplant. An egg that grows on a plant. A plant that lays eggs.

No?

Well, does it at least look like an egg?

It's bright purple.

Bright purple...so maybe an Easter egg?

Except it's long and skinny, at least over here. And even in the States it's more squash-shaped.

Oh well, who cares why it's called eggplant? Actually, it's quite pretty. In a world where things don't rot, I would add some to my Christmas tree hulu garland. It's delicious too. Eggplant is one of our favorite things to eat over here, and I eat it almost everyday. One of my absolute favorite dishes is one that has ground pork or beef and eggplant over rice. Mmm-mmm-mmm.

So the other day, I bought two for about 30 cents and decided to cook it for the first time! I actually made an Indian dish - eggplant curry. Not entirely authentic because I don't have garam masala, but it turned out pretty delish, and I had the satisfaction of knowing everything in there was good for me! I even made my own fresh ginger-garlic paste (note: DO NOT touch that stuff with your bare fingers, you will be smelling it for hours even after washing them). If you want the recipe, look up eggplant curry on allrecipes.com and it should come up. I was really proud that it was edible because it was my first time to cook eggplant and also my first time to cook Indian (unless you count rajmah, which is basically like chili, just with Indian spices...that's some good stuff too).

Here's a picture of the final product.

Depending on how much you like Indian food, that may or may not look appetizing to you, but it was a pretty good lunch! Eggplant: conquered. Now that we have obtained chili-garlic sauce and oyster sauce, my next eggplant attempt will be our favorite local ground-pork-eggplant dish. Yay!

Hulu Mian

So a couple weekends ago, I went fruit-and-vegetable picking. See my awesome hat:

I had lots of fun. Got tons of little oranges, some starfruit, cilantro, peanuts, a pumpkin...

and a calabash. Also known as a hulu, or a bottle gourd.

Wait, what?

I know.

Here's what they look like. Totally awesome, right? One of the farmers cuts one off the vine before I can say anything. I'm like the proverbial LOLCat: "I has a gourd...what I do wif it?"

My first thought was, I wish I had a vine of miniatures to string around my Christmas tree.

Then I considered turning Rastafarian when I discovered they often make bottles or instruments out of the calabash...until I realized it takes more than 6 months to dry one out. Not worth it.

So finally I decided to cook it. I found a very imprecise recipe for hulu mian, or calabash noodle soup. I thought, well, this sounds good. So I gathered all the ingredients and began to carve:

As you can see, it was a bit...stubborn. My poor little knife was not up to the task. Think how difficult it would be to carve and scoop out a pumpkin if it was not nice and round and open. That's how this was.

BRAAAAAAAAAINS

The smell, taste and texture were a lot like a potato. Tons of seeds in the middle like a pumpkin though! I didn't taste it raw because these are sometimes toxic when uncooked.

So basically I scooped out the gourd (which took FOREVER) and cut it into small strips, mixed some pork, soy sauce, corn starch, and chicken broth together and made some noodles, and this was the result:

Not bad! Nice on a cold day. But WAY too much trouble. It's much easier to just use a good old potato. Fun adventure though!

*Note: This is not about to become a cooking blog, but I thought this would be an interesting experience to share. Haha!