Homemade Jewelry Cleaner?

As I looked at my wedding ring, after washing my hands for the, well I don't know how many times in the past few  ::mumbles:: since I last cleaned my ring.

Ring that desperately needs cleaning.

I had stopped cleaning it when I realized it didn't ever really seem clean from the jewelry cleaner I got from the jeweler.  Then I remembered this pin, Jewelry Cleaner Pin.  I had ALL the ingredients in my house. Yippee!  This means I don't have to try to remember to do this one later.

All the ingredients (foil is in the cup)

 It is bubbling, that means it is working, right?

After 5 min in the solution

The other side.

Cell phone pictures don't show the difference.  The main stone is MUCH clearer & the band under the stones is also clean & shiny.  I only had time for about 5 min, nap time was cut short.

Verdict: Pintastic, but won't beat a good jewelry store clean & shine.

"The World's Best Chicken"

I don't have any pictures of this chicken from what I made, but it looked just about spot-on to what the picture from the pin looked like. (Don't get all excited, though, it doesn't look particularly pretty!)

"The World's Best Chicken"

This recipe was very easy to follow, although the ingredients seemed a little odd to me. Maple syrup and dijon? On chicken? Really? Anyway, go HERE for the original pinner's blog to find the recipe.

The Verdict: Pintastic, although I would not go as far as to call it "The World's Best Chicken". It graces the pages of my recipe book under the title "Dijon Syrup Chicken". 

Banana + Egg Pancakes

All these Pinterest recipes I've been trying have been making me fat. Very, very fat. I finally gave up the idea that I could just will myself to be skinny, and started a board for non fattening recipes. One thing I pinned recently were pancakes made strictly from bananas and egg. I had ripe bananas, so I decided to try it out this morning.

The original pin:

via

I always end up burning pancakes because I tend to get very impatient. My attempt definitely didn't turn out as beautiful and fluffy as the ones pictured above:

The one on the right looks OK at least!

I tasted them and they had a very "banana-y" taste. Well, what did I expect? I do like bananas but not THAT much. I know it was supposed to be a non fattening recipe, but I decided to put syrup all over them. I tried them again and still tasted tons of banana. My husband wasn't crazy about the banana taste, either. He only took one bite. I tried to finish a whole pancake because of protein, but I couldn't and I ended up throwing them away. I hate wasting food and usually give leftovers to the dogs, but I could already imagine the banana and egg farts and I just couldn't handle that.

Final Verdict: Pintastrophe for ME, but if you're into bananas and eating healthy, you may really like it!

-Betsy

Copycat Chick-Fil-A Nuggets

So...all this Chick-Fil-A controversy lately has had me craving nuggets! I know my husband wouldn't appreciate me picking up fast food for dinner every day, so when I saw the copycat nugget recipe, you can bet I pinned it just as fast as my chubby little fingers would let me!

The original pin:

via

I am NOT good at frying things. At all. Which is a shame because I'm Southern. But thanks to the picture tutorial found in the blog linked to the pin, they turned out great! I did not make the dipping sauce, so I don't know how it tasted, but the nuggets were pretty spot on. 10/10 will cook again!

My attempt: Success!

Final Verdict: Pintastic!!

-Betsy

Chocolatey/Peanut Buttery/Marshmallowy Croissant Goodness!

I have seen several pins featuring croissants stuffed with fattening goodies, so last time I went to the grocery store I made sure to pick up a tube of croissants. I wasn't sure which pin I wanted to try, and since I had peanut butter, chocolate, and marshmallows available, I decided to use those. I guess this is really a "mash-up" of different pins, as Glee would say.

These are my "inspiration" pins:

I tried to link this pin to a blog,
but it says the blog is no longer found!

Yum! Too bad I didn't have any Nutella.

via

via

Had all these things!

I lined my cooking sheet with aluminum foil so I wouldn't have to wash it. I sprayed it really well with Pam. I rolled out the croissants, and loaded them up with peanut butter, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. I stuck them in the oven at 375 degrees for 9 minutes...the label says 10 but my oven seems to cook things quickly.

Here they are! My husband looked at them and said, "You cook the weirdest desserts." Whatever! If it were up to him we'd have meat, potatoes, and blueberry pie every night. Anyway, these croissants were delicious (I've already had three)! My favorite part was the bits of marshmallows that came out of the croissant. The oven had toasted them and it reminded me of a Smore. My least favorite part was the peanut butter--I may leave that out next time and just do the chocolate and marshmallow!

I think I'll even try variations of this pin in the future. I would like to try the Nutella ones. I wonder if I can even do banana and Nutella. I'm sure I'll stuff marshmallows in them no matter what. The possibilities are endless!


Final Verdict: Pintastic!

-Betsy

Chinese Style Sweet and Sour Chicken

http://life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.ca/2010/09/baked-sweet-and-sour-chicken-with-fried.html

This recipe is called Baked Sweet and Sour Chicken, but I actually did mine in the crockpot, since that's how a similar recipe I've tried for Orange Chicken (and promptly discovered that my husband hates orange combined with other flavors - I knew he hated chocolate orange but didn't realize the hatred extended to other orange flavor combinations) cooks it. It was delicious! Aforementioned husband complained that it wasn't crispy, but it's not supposed to be crispy, as it's meant to be like the Chinese sweet and sour pork/chicken/etc.

Anyways, I followed the recipe fairly exactly, up to the point of putting it in the oven, and put it in my crockpot instead. I can't remember how long I did it or whether it was on high or low - I basically just kept stirring occasionally until the sauce was almost fully absorbed into the chicken. It wasn't very long - an hour or two.

Pot Roast

 

"Best Pot Roast Ever"

A few months ago my husband begged me to find a pot roast recipe so of course I went onto Pinterest to see what I could find. This was one of the first that I came across so I decided to give it a try, it passed with flying colors in our house. My husband begs me to make it at least twice a month now. The only thing that I did different was that I added chopped onions to it, just to give it a little extra flavor.

Fabric Covered Switchplate

I will apologize in advance because I do not have any up close pictures of the switch plates I made. This girl made them look super cute huh? Tutorial here

Well, I didn't have an x-acto knife (or however you spell it), so I improvised and used some old fashioned scissors. Bad idea. I highly recommend using a razor or something that provides a little more accuracy.

I will say, the tutorial on how to make these is spot on. If you follow the instructions, you'll get something that looks relatively close to the picture. I only had a few complaints about the project in general:

1. the outside edges are a little difficult to secure around the back without the raw edges being completely visible.

2. is fabric over a light switch plate really practical? I didn't really think about this until after the fact, but we use our hands (our nasty, disgusting hands) to turn lights on and off, and in the process, our grungy skin inevitably grazes the cover. Fabric (especially those of lighter colors) will quickly reveal this phenomenon.

I fabric covered the light switch plates in Lilyanna's nursery, and for now, they look super cute, but once she gets old enough to turn the lights on and off by herself, I can only imagine the filth that will accumulate on them. I would be interested to see if covering with scrapbook paper, or maybe a few extra coats of modge podge, would provide a more user-friendly outcome?

Oh, and then I came across this little gem. If you're going to cover your light switch plate, please do NOT do what this person did.

Flowerpot + Modge Podge + Pictures + Ribbon

So I've adored these cute flower pots ever since I first saw them.

Of course, I'm sure whoever made this original took the picture from the best possible angle, but from my experience, I was unable to recreate something that looked as neat and organized.

It's not awful, but since the edges are so tapered, I had a hard time getting the pictures to lay flat. Not to mention, when I tried to space the photos similarly to the original, I had a lot of gaps at the top. The ribbon on the top was also a big P.I.T.A. If you can see, it bunches up quite a bit due to the tapering effect of the pot itself.

Verdict: Eh, not really worth the hassle if you ask me. My mom loved it as her Mother's Day present, but it's certainly not a craft project I would choose to do again. BTW: that dry spot is not a result of the glue as it may appear. My mom JUST watered the plant before this picture was taken, so the pot itself was just not wet in this area yet.

Witch Hat Cookies

These are super easy for any Halloween party. I made them for my sons classroom last year and they were a huge hit.

What you need:

Keebler Fudge stripe cookies (I think I found some at the Dollar Store)
Bag of Hershey kisses
Tube of Wilton orange icing

Flip the cookie over, make a large dot with the icing to cover the opening in the cookie, drop on the Hershey kiss and voila - witches hats!

Cheddar Bacon Dip

This dip takes about 30 seconds to make and it always gets great reviews.

You need:

16oz sour cream
1 packet Ranch dressing mix
3oz bacon bits (use ones that come in a bag)
1 cup shredded cheddar

Mix all together and refrigerate. The actual recipe says to refrigerate for 24 hours but you don't really have to. We eat it within hours of making it. It's just better once it thickens up.

We also use cheddar potato chips because it makes the dip taste just like a baked potato. Any chip will do but make sure they have ridges because the dip gets pretty thick.

Marble Nails

We've all seen this pin. Super cute, marbled nails. As a Momma who refrained from nail polish while she was pregnant, I was super excited to give this a-go. I was way too giddy. I piled baby C into the car for a special trip to the store to pick up new nail polish and everything.

The directions said to use new nail polish (hence the special trip) and room temp tap water. I left a Solo cup of water out all night so it'd be just the right temperature. I had a nice little bowl to work with. You know, the small little bowls they give you mashed potatoes in at Texas Roadhouse... something like that (okay, maybe exactly like that... They some how make their way into my home... don't judge me.) Then, I patiently waited for baby C to take a nap so I could have wet nails for a while and not have to worry about him. It was game time.

I had a nice dry white coat and I taped my skin so paint wouldn't get all over me when I dipped my finger into the water/paint mixture and was all set to do my first nail. Add a drop of blue, add a drop of white, add a drop of blue, made it all swirly-like with a toothpick and gingerly dipped in my finger. It worked. I was so freakin' excited. I did another nail. It worked again! Woohoo. I sent this lovely gem of a picture to my SIL:



"Marbled nails from Pinterest WIN!"

I moved on to my non-dominant hand and that's where things when horribly wrong... I forgot the tape, I was moving too slowly and the paint was drying on the water, I decided to just try to add blue to the water and not blue and white since my nails were already white and ended up with some weird, hybrid nail combo.. it was just a hot mess. C woke up, I had a mess in my kitchen and it just wasn't worth it for nails that lasted... ohh... let's say about two days.

So, was it Pintastic? Kinda. Was it worth it? No way. Unless I was in charge of hosting a bunch of pre-teens at a slumber party, I don't think I'll ever try this again.

Crockpot Mac and Cheese

If you don't mind a curdled mess, this tastes great... I tried it twice...

http://crockpot365.blogspot.ca/2008/06/crockpot-macaroni-and-cheese-recipe.html

Sour Cream Pound Cake

Paula Deen, oh you tempt me with your buttery goodness filled recipes.  I have always wanted to try my hand at poundcake, since I love the Sarah Lee version so.  I figured today was as good a day as any.  So here is the Pin as well as the link to the Food Network recipe:

Pin

sour-cream-pound-cake-recipe

I followed the directions exactly as they are written & here's what happened:

I used a standard Pyrex clear loaf baking dish (as you can see in the background) & the batter overflowed from the pan.  I would suggest perhaps splitting the recipe & making mini loaves instead.  The part that overflowed (which of course I had to taste) tasted pretty good, so I wouldn't call this recipe a Pintastrophy, but MY finished product certainly looks like one.  I haven't cut into this bad boy yet, but as soon as I do I will reply with how it tastes.

UPDATE:  so it tastes pretty good, so it's only a Pintastrophy in the looks department.

Crockpot Pizza

There have been a couple of these floating around, but this is the one we tried and LOOOOVE!!  It's basically just baking already cooked ingredients to make it all meld into gooey deliciousness, and you could just bake it a bit.  However, part of what I love about this is getting it together during afternoon nap and then letting it crock.  That way, when we are ready for dinner, all I have to do is slide out the plates!  

DO follow all directions and use both cheeses.  Also, cook the noodles al dente, so as to prevent mush.  Sure, it can be played with, and I did that a couple times....  But it was best when I followed directions to the T(And used extra pepperoni).  This one was a win for sure!  

http://crockpotofgold.com/crock-pot-pizza/

(posted on behalf of Carla)

Green Beans, Chicken & Potatoes

This comes together in about 5 minutes(if that). It only uses one pan. And it is WONDERFUL!! Delicious! And (relatively) healthy. The chicken was so moist and flavorful. That was the best part. I will be using this as a "Welcome New Baby" meal this year at MOPS. It could also be a "Sorry You Are Not Well" meal(the Dads and kids still eat, even when we dont). It could be a "Happy Moving Day" meal.... Pretty endless, and a great way to bless someone! Or, it could be a great way to get a decent dinner on the table in a pinch. LOL

I loved it, my husband loved it and my son liked it. LOL I used the full stick of butter the first time, but don't be afraid! When you serve, most of it stays in the pan. And there is a lot in the pan. So, the next time I used 3/4 a stick. Just as good and less butter waste Too much less and I fear drying out.

http://www.julieseatsandtreats.com/2012/08/green-beans-chicken-potatoes.html

(posted on behalf of Carla)

mmm BACON...and a little green bean.

So I've never blogged before, but I wanted to share my experience with this bacon wrapped green beans pin here or the actual link here.

I really did not follow the recipe at all, I just used the picture for inspiration. I used frozen green beans, sprinkled them with garlic salt and pepper, wrapped those suckers up with some glorious bacon, and baked them at 350 until they looked 'almost done.' Personally, I never follow recipes, so I can't tell you how long that was.

While they were nice and hot, I sprinkled some brown sugar on top of the bacon along with a few diced jalapenos. I let them bake for another 5 minutes or so. These little bacon pockets of fabulous were actually quite good. I will definitely be making them again.

Oil, Pictures & Mason Jars

When planning my second wedding (to the same man... okay let me elaborate - we got married in November when I was pregnant. I couldn't drink at the "reception" at my dad's house, I couldn't wear my dream wedding dress, and we didn't invite everyone who is important in our lives. So yes, we had a second wedding - big dress, big church, big reception and LOTS of drinking!) I wanted to do things differently. I didn't want to do the classic centerpieces of flowers or candles. So off to pinterest I went looking for ideas and stumbled on this gem. 

Ooooo how pretty! So, I read her blog and learned all the neat things she did at her wedding, and completely stole her idea. I still think it's an amazing idea, but mine didn't come out as "artsy" looking as hers. Sean and I tend to take the classic "Myspace" pose where we hold the camera out at arm's length and click. Apparently those pictures don't work so well in this type of situation and they morph your face depending on how you look at it. But ah well! I still loved them (mostly) and everyone talked about them. Here are a few...

The little signs next to the pictures were our table markers. One side had something important (like a place or thing) and the other side had a description. For example, "Where Sean told Kari he loved her for the first time" {Florida} and "Our first apartment together" {Jewett City}.

So overall, I call this Pintastic...just use some more artsy fartsy pictures...that are a little further back so you don't look like aliens :)

Mirrors and Tiles

You see this? See how easy this is supposed to be?

WRONG.

You see the painter's tape holding up the topmost row of tiles? See how nicely it sticks?

Screw that.

Let's say you moved into an old house with one of those construction-grade giant mirrors stuck to the wall above the fireplace.

You've just repainted the living room, and this raw mirror edge looks terrible. Pinterest some ideas, and bam. There it is. "I can do this, looks easy!"

Now let's add you're really short, and very pregnant. And all you have is a wobbly step-stool. And a very short fuse.

If you attempt this project, make sure you get the adhesive mentioned in the blog. Tile grout is not an acceptable substitute, unless you like pain.

Start off with the bottom row of tiles so you can have a more accurate top row, and you're not stuck with an inch-and-a-half gap, debating whether or not to forcefully shove another tile in there or leave the gap like an anger-inducing elephant in the room.

The top row.

This is what happens when there's so much frustration, there's nothing left to do but take a photo.

Test painter's tape on something light stuck to your ceiling to MAKE SURE THE TAPE STICKS. Otherwise, you'll have tiles with bad adhesive sliding down the mirror every time you look away because that tape refuses to do its job.

Then you get mad.

At this point, you will do anything just to MAKE THEM STOP SLIDING. Once the bad adhesive finally gets tacky enough to set, you can move the pen/pencil/Sharpie apparatus over to the next section.

Nine hours later, you're finally done. And in the worst mood you've ever been in.

AND YOU CAN'T EVEN HAVE A DRINK.

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

This recipe was probably a 6/10 for me. The chicken was extremely moist, which was great, but it lacked some flavor. I think when I make this again (and I will, because I am not a quitter, and will try to make it better!) I will add some more seasoning to the chicken. I might use my family's favorite of "Tony's Cajun Spice" or maybe even an Italian seasoning. Or maybe I'll try both? Either way, it was a nice to have everything in one dish - the chicken, rice and veggies - instead of dirtying up a lot of pots. I will repost when I make this again with an update :)

Pinterest link: http://pinterest.com/pin/114349278009463279/
Website link: http://www.campbellskitchen.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?recipeId=27173

Pizza Casserole

This pizza casserole was AMAZING! I actually sent the recipe to one of my fellow moms when I was her secret Elf, and she told me her mom used to make it for her as a kid! I am so glad I was able to remind her of this delicious meal. It lasted for a few days as leftovers as well. Definitely one to keep in my book of recipes :) 

http://pinterest.com/pin/114349278009463295/ is the pin and the site with the recipe is http://formamas.blogspot.com/2011/08/pizza-casserole.html :)

Texas Trash (Warm Bean Dip)

The discriminatory pin description notwithstanding (texas trash), this recipe was delicious. I actually did mine in a crockpot instead, since I brought it to a house party, and it worked fabulously. http://www.life-as-a-lofthouse.blogspot.ca/2012/02/warm-bean-dip.html