Experimenting: Pinterest recipes

I decided to give Pinterest a try for two weeks.  Now, don't get me wrong, just the idea of a site to organize things excites me -- but it's the sorts of things that people organize that didn't appeal to me so much.  When I first signed up for the site and started browsing, I realized that there were a lot of really random pins that I would never use -- EVER.  But I'll write more about that later.

I have found a lot of interesting recipes, so I started a board for recipes I wanted to try (and then created a companion board for recipes I like, some I've tried before and that just needed a home, plus all of the new ones).  You've probably seen all sorts of posts of things that people have gotten off of Pinterest (and then have failed at miserably), so I have been pretty harsh in what I've selected.

There is a lot of sorting-through I've had to do, as I've found that there are some trends on Pinterest that don't quite match what I'd most like to eat.  There are a lot of "hey, here's how you make the Bloomin' Onion from Outback!" or "ZOMG just like the mozarella sticks at Applebee's!!!"  Interesting, but nothing I really want to copy.  There are lots of good-sounding recipes that are laden with butter, cream, and milk -- but we're both lactose-intolerant.  I have never seen so many dishes that are meant to be made a) in a crockpot or b) over a campfire (I have the former but no interest in the latter). And there are some that aren't quite as heavy that have a healthy, fresh, semi-foodie feel to them.  That's where I get interested.  Bonus points for ingredients that I have on-hand, produce in-season, and healthy, lean meats.  And steak.  And chocolate.  But not together.

Since I'm home without any big plans until September, I thought it might be worth trying some out to see if there are any that are worthy of keeping -- and so far, so good!  Here's what we've made:

Grilled Chili-Lime Fish Tacos with (Fake) Sour Cream Cabbage Slaw and Tomatillo Onion Avocado Salsa
As you can imagine, we like Mexican food around here.  American Mexican food is really heavy on beans, cheese, sour cream, and more cheese, which we try to avoid, as much as we can (but they are DELICIOUS).  And I like tilapia -- relatively affordable, takes seasoning well, and fish is healthy and tasty -- oh so tasty.

Aren't tomatillos odd little things?

We stocked up on the critical ingredients, including more than a pound of tomatillos (more on that in a moment).  My hand was shaking a little as I picked out a hot serrano chile.  We started by marinating the fish and putting it into the fridge (lots of interesting stuff in the marinade, including honey, pepper, and lime juice!).  Then I whipped out my trusty food processor (see Sergio demonstrating, below) to make the tomatillo salsa.

I'm not sure how I lived without my food processor for so many years.  I was an animal.

So, tomatillos.  I developed a deeper appreciation for green salsa after getting the salsa appetizer at Senor Moose, though I still need to find a copycat recipe for their yellow peanut-y salsa too.  Anyway, as a proud red salsa fan, I never though I'd switch to the green side.  But this stuff was legit.  It tasted as good if not better than the restaurant variety.  It made a TON -- enough for a whole party of folks and we were just two, so next time I'd halve it.  Sergio had the idea to cook half of it, which was a slightly more mellow taste but just as good.  And next time we'll keep the amount of pepper the same when we halve it so it will have a bigger kick.

I can't believe I'm saying that.

Finally, we had to make the rest of the taco toppings, namely the cabbage slaw, which uses sour cream, one of the worst things for a lactose intolerant person to eat. I was not a huge fan of the vegan sour cream that S bought for tacos a few weeks prior, but this was probably because I was comparing it to real sour cream, which is fantastic.  But in the slaw (which was purple cabbage, cilantro, and lime juice), it was fantastic.  I've been trying to eat more cabbage because it's healthy and cheap -- and this was a great way to do it!

Add in some whole-wheat, low-cal tacos and we were set.  Unfortunately I'm an idiot and forgot to take a photo of the end product, so go here to see it.  Instead you can look at Sergio using the food processor with his "eager face" and just pretend you saw the tacos.

Mexican making Mexican food.
So literal.

Moving along...

Cucumber and Chickpea Salad
Now that I'm doing this whole hiking thing, I thought it would be worthwhile to find some recipes that lend themselves for easy transport.  I have a small, soft-sided cooler that I use for the car, but once out on the trail, I like to have lunch or dinner fit into a sandwich-sized container that is easy to throw in a daypack.  None of that dehydrated crap for me, thank you.

I've been putting my pasta salad in a pretty heavy rotation (you know the type -- lots of veggies, tricolor spiral pasta, vinaigrette dressing) but wanted something new.  And I really enjoyed this recipe for a cucumber and chickpea salad.

Perfect healthy summer lunch: Salad.
And (cough, cough) cheese.

It's really as simple as it sounds -- chop a bunch of veggies, add herbs and spices, add chickpeas, and done.  To be honest, I didn't use Bush's brand -- just the regular low-sodium chickpeas, which I rinsed for good measure.  I am a little unclear what heating the chickpeas added to the salad other than a mad dash to the stove when a few of them popped out unexpectedly.  I used slightly less lemon and lime juice and a splash more oil, but it still had a nice tangy taste to it.  I might even double the recipe next time as it would make a main course salad for about two or a side for four.

I'm always on the hunt for more hiking- and travel-friendly salads -- best if they are full of veggies, lack dairy or mayonnaise, and can last for a few days.  I have a few more I want to try, but I'm always looking for more...

Sweet Zucchini Pancakes
I'm a pancake-fiend.  I should probably revise that slightly -- I love pancakes, but I'm sort of off of sweet pancakes.  My previous favorite pancake of all time was a chocolate-chip pancake, smothered in Nutella, topped with bananas.  A calorie-bomb, yes, but a good one.  Oh so sweet too.  Then last year I found a recipe for Pumpkin Apple Pancakes in Sunset Magazine and I haven't gone back since.  Let's put it this way -- I buy pureed pumpkin in bulk now.

The beginning of something good.

I stumbled across a pin for "XX Recipes for Zucchini," which made sense when I flashed back to growing zucchini and having about 15 more zucchini at one time than I could ever use, so I guess gardeners have to be creative and find new ways to eat the same thing.  So enter the sweet zucchini pancakes.

Technically they violate my "please please no bad dairy" rule because they have two tablespoons of butter.  Really, though, it's not that much, and cooking butter make the lactose less angry.  It included Greek yogurt instead of something fatty, and I just subbed my fat-free Lactaid milk instead of regular milk. (Side note: When I first switched to lactose-free milk, it was HARD.  It's sweeter than regular milk... I was always a 1% drinker, but now even the skim feels sweet to me.  But I find it far better than the coconut, soy, rice, almond, etc. options.  As Lewis Black says, there's no soy teat.  It's not milk.  It's soy juice.)

The blogger warned that these pancakes can take 10 minutes to make, so I sort of spaced out when I put the first one on and started slicing strawberries.  Big mistake.  It might have been because I was using a very thin skillet pan instead of my normal cast-iron pan, but that pancake burned before I could say "Holy moly!"  Into the sink, wipe the skillet, and start fresh.  The other weird thing was that the blogger's pancakes were very very fluffy -- double the size of ours.  The baking powder and soda was new (fresh!), though I did use milk as the optional add instead of water.  It was a little sad to have them not fluff up, but the result was still delicious.

Good morning! 

I mean, check out that pancake.  Wouldn't you want that in the morning?  I would.  I will again.  If you're not a savory pancake person, start out with the pumpkin apple one above (but double the spices!).  This one was not incredibly zucchini-like, but I tried to remind myself that maybe the zucchini would balance out the syrup.

Right.

Going for broke now...

Wiener Schnitzel with Pork, Lacinto Kale Salad and Pavlova with Berries
So in case you can't tell, not working is pretty much the most boring thing ever.  I hope I can make it three months without caving and breaking into my corp mail.  I've been reflecting on why this is, but that's better suited for a different post.  Anyway, it helps to have things to do, so I've been trying to plan fun things to fit between boring things like getting my Frontier account online so I stop wasting trees by getting bills in the mail.

Anyway.

I've been spending a fair bit of time getting things together for Europe, so I started going through some of my old photos, and found some from Austria that made me smile and smile and smile.

Guesthouse outside of Steyr, Austria -- courtesy of my
wonderful host, Andreas! 

I had such a wonderful time there, and short of making a little country plate like this for myself (the grated stuff? Horseradish, not cheese.  I found that out the hard way), I decided I wanted to make my other favorite Austrian dish -- Wiener Schnitzel.  The pork kind, obviously.  Can't do veal.

Getting the pork nice and flat.

So grab your mallets and crush that pork!

It was pretty straightforward -- bath the cutlets in flour, then egg, and then panko and fry in a hot skillet.  If it sounds delicious, that's because it was.

I was also excited to try a kale salad -- and that meant going to the Yakima Fruit Market, one of my favorite summer stops, because I knew they had lacinato kale, my favorite kind.

I realize I just said "favorite kind" when referring to kale... What a difference a decade makes!

It was really simple -- oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice for a dressing, shredded kale, and then some toppings -- sliced almonds, dried cranberries, and toasted panko crumbs which, by the way, I could just eat like that.  And it would be delicious.

Put it all together and you have a pretty simple, tasty dinner.  I should have bought enough for the next night too, but hindsight is always 20/20...

My mouth is watering RIGHT NOW.

But did I stop here?  Oh no.  Certainly not.  I wanted some dessert -- something light -- so I set out to make pavlova for the first time.  Pavlova, if you've never had it, is just a huge lump of meringue that you pile whipped cream and fruit on top of.  I was never a meringue fan until a few years ago when Sally made me an amazing pavlova when I was visiting Sydney... and then I tried a meringue cookie recipe that included white chocolate chips and peppermint -- amazing.  It was pretty simple -- just beat the egg whites and other ingredients like crazy and throw it on a cookie sheet and put it in the oven to bake.

Almost.

It came out a little underdone on the inside (but perfect on the outside) so I want another shot at the pavlova.  I have had some challenges with my oven since I moved in here (it's too long to chronicle here) so it is a little dicey if something I'm cooking or baking is very sensitive to temperature, which this was.  It was still fantastic, and I found some pretty good soy whip for Sergio -- I splurged and went for the real stuff (with a side of Lactaid pills).  It was glorious.  And a perfect way to end an experimental day!

KitchenAid mixer, I love you.

Pavlova with berries and whipped cream.
NOM NOM NOM

So it's been a fun-filled week of experiments, to say the least.

Before I head off to try my hand at something new, though, I do have to give a plug for The Ambitious Kitchen. Her stuff is AMAZING -- the woman came up with the best cookies on the planet -- Nutella-Stuffed Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The taco recipe is hers, and there is a fantastic salad (Kale, Edamame, and Quinoa!) that is in my queue.

It's been a nice start to things, and I'm really looking forward to trying more each week for the rest of the month -- and hopefully beyond!  Don't worry -- no gross beer-cheese dip or baked-potato skins! I will just focus on yummy desserts and healthy main courses.  And stay tuned for another post next week about the Pinterest experiment and what I've learned thus far!

xo
Sarah