Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinterest. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Valentine's Dinner

To keep from being in a food rut, we've been trying to branch out more and try new foods.  Tonight I realized that just buying a few ingredients (spinach, salmon, and broccoli) that we could have a meal with 2 new flavors.

First, we made a spiced lentil stew with sweet potatoes and spinach from Small Kitchen College. This stew was amazingly flavorful and hearty.  We ate a teacup's worth as part of our dinner and it was the perfect accompaniment to broccoli and our main course.


Maple chili salmon, recipe from The Brewer and The Baker. Mmmm.  I made enough of everything for lunch tomorrow.

I love that I'm finally beginning to make things from my Pinterest boards.  And G is loving the new flavors.  We have a roast defrosting in the refrigerator right now to have with currants, dates and a quinoa later this week!

How was your Valentine's Day?  Did you try any new foods?

P.S. I don't believe you need a significant other to have a good Valentine's Day.  My girlfriends and I have gone out together, I've celebrated with just me and a pet, and even with family.  Love is love.

Monday, February 13, 2012

Using My Pins

I've pinned a lot on Pinterest, but have not really used it for much so far.  But the past few days I've tried my hand at 4 different things I've pinned.  And so far, so good!


First, I love a clean stove top, but with gas the burners get a wee bit dirty and are nearly impossible to clean.  But recently I found a tutorial where you put them in freezer bags with a couple tablespoons of ammonia, let them sit overnight and then they're pretty much clean the next day.  Turns out it works beautifully.  And since I bought a gallon of ammonia I'll be good for a while!


Second, G brought home a cold last week.  Lovely right?  Well while hunting for another pin, I found one I'd saved a while back and voila!  It's for Homemade Cough and Cold Syrup by Keeper of The Home. Onions, honey, cloves and ginger.  G is not a fan of the taste at all, but it seems to have made the colds go away!


Today, I had a bit of free time while Nora napped.  I cleaned and then thought I had some time to be crafty.  I had a bucket of old crayons from freecycle a while back, a silicone heart mold I bought on clearance after Valentine's day last year, and so I got to work.  It was a pain, as the glue on some of the crayons did not want to let them peel easily.  But in the end I got these and I love them!  I still have enough to make 3-4 more sets, and since they store more nicely I'll be doing that this week to store for Nora later. 


Finally, I recently purchased a bunch of beeswax candles (28 votives, and 15 pillars) along with two large bars of beeswax, each weighing 1 lb. 5 oz. from Old Mill Candles.  I highly recommend them if you are looking for good beeswax candles, and they offer discounts on bulk purchases.  I bought the beeswax in order to make lotion bars and beeswax polish.  I cut down, melted and mixed with mineral oil to get this:


I ended up with this mason jar, a small pot, and a bowl of this polish.  It smells wonderful and works fantastically (I use it on kitchen items like spoons and this butcher's block, as well as furniture).  And each bar is more than enough to make 5 times this amount.

Are you on Pinterest?  Have you tried to make anything off of it?