Pinterest Recipe Rundowns

Pinterest, of course, is one of my new favorite things. So many great ideas, visuals, and RECIPES! I got into Pinterest right around the same time I got married, and considering I did zero cooking before now, there is no shortage of recipes on my to-try list. As good as the pictures always make the food look...they haven't all worked out for me. On a little bit of a tangent, I've also noticed that the word "easy" is thrown around waaaay too much. And as someone on facebook clarified for me, "easy [when it comes to food] is takeout."

Back to Pinterest. Here are a few recipes I've tried, and I thought I'd give you a little bit of insight as to how they turned out. Maybe this will be helpful, or you'll get a good laugh out of my attempts at cooking. Click on the image to go to the recipe.

Recipe #1: Creamy Shrimp & Mushroom Pasta

This was...meh. It actually turned out great, and it wasn't TOO complicated to make. Problem: recipe called for 10 tablespoons of butter. The author even noted that she realized that was a ton, but that it didn't taste nearly as good without all ten tablespoons. So, I've never cooked before in my life, I listened to her! Turns out that is WAY too much butter. It was so rich, Ross and I struggled to take more than a couple bites. We love pasta, we love shrimp and mushrooms. But not ten tablespoons of butter. I might go back and try it with less. If it supposedly doesn't taste the same, then I'm wondering if there is an in-between?

Recipe #2: Easy Enchiladas

Easy? Very. Delicious? Yes. And typically, I don't care for enchiladas. Again with the over-doing-it-on-an-ingredient, though. I put almost an entire 16 oz of shredded cheddar cheese on top of these before baking. Too much cheese (not something you'll hear me say often). I guess I'll just cut back next time. But these were very tasty and so so easy. Winner!

Recipe #3: Spinach Lasagna Rolls

This recipe and I didn't get along too well. My first mistake was starting the process at 6:30pm. Actually, everything went well until the lasagna noodles came into the picture. I cooked them, and then the recipe said to "make sure they were dry." What, exactly, does that mean? Of course I drained them after cooking...but that still leaves them a little soggy, right? So I let them sit in the strainer for a few minutes. Then they were all stuck together. Not sure how this happened, unless they weren't quite cooked well enough. Rookie mistake, I'm sure, but I was a little irritated. We tried to soak the noodles in hot water again and slowly pull them apart. We ended up with six noodles (three of them double-layered) instead of the nine we were supposed to have, but that was ok. It actually turned out pretty well. Ross and I both decided we were not a big fan of the spinach. It's healthy, so that should have been a no-brainer. Final thought: the word "lasagna" is in the name, so why not just make lasagna like normal and not fool with rolling stuff up? Either way, if you like spinach, this might be worth giving a try.

I have many more recipes on my list...so there will definitely be more of this to come! Yay for cooking!*

*Trying to convince myself that I actually enjoy this.