Hey there, collegiettes! Pinterest is a huge blessing from the internet gods, something to be thankful for. From DIY ideas, workout plans, inspiration, humor, and good old fashion recipes. I set out this week to cook all my dinners from recipes I found on Pinterest. I am not a chef at all, but wanted to take on this challenge to expand my diet and cooking skills.
I started off the week in need of some major comfort food. So when I went to Publix to stock up on ingredients, I made sure to grab the stuff for Stovetop Mac & Cheese. I thought a fancy homemade mac and cheese would take forever, and I was surprised at how easy this was.
My results of stovetop mac and cheese
Results: I did not have evaporated milk or the herbs this recipe called for. To compensate, I used nonfat milk and italian style breadcrumbs. The entire cooking experience took less than 20 minutes and the results were so good. I love the way the colby jack cheese flavor stood out, not something found in boxed mac and cheese. 10/10.
I decided to step up my game for the next night, and went with an eggplant lasagna casserole. I had never heard of an eggplant lasagna casserole, but the picture on pinterest looked delicious so why not?
I couldn’t get a great photo, but the food was great.
Results: Surprisingly easy! The trickiest part was breading the eggplant. I skipped out on the flour stage because I did not have any, but they turned out crispy and delicious after 20 minutes of baking. Once I layered them into the lasagna (which was layers of sauce, eggplant, and mozzarella cheese), the lasagna went into the oven for 15 more minutes. I thought I would enhance the recipe by using a garden veggie sauce, but I wish I had stuck with a three cheese of vegetable. The only complaint I had was the sauce – and that was my own fault. 8/10.
I had some sweet potatoes in my cupboard and wanted to use them up. A quick search of sweet potatoes on pinterest lead me to many savory options, such as these black bean and sweet potato tacos.
Yum! I prefer hard shell, but these might be even better on a soft shell taco.
Results: I had never had sweet potatoes in a savory fashion, and did not particularly like it. However, if you are a fan of the seemingly popular sweet potato and black bean combination, these tacos are definitely for you. The sweet potatoes took only 20 minutes to roast, and then I mixed them with black beans and corn to heat up in a pan. I decided to go ahead and add avocado and sour cream to my tacos. The leftover taco filling would be delicious as a side for grilled chicken or over rice. My personal score: 5/10. My roommates score: 10/10.
I am a pasta aficionado, so I when I started this week, I decided to go through all my saved pins and select one pasta dish to make. I went with Lemon Broccoli Pasta.
Be warned: cracked red pepper!
Results: I think this one was the easiest to make. I cooked my pasta and steamed my broccoli in the same pot. Then I seasoned with garlic, cracked red pepper, and lemon juice (the lemons at the store did not look good, so I went with lemon juice). The entire process took less than 12 minutes. It looks delicious, right? I can’t tell you how it tastes though because I wayyy over seasoned it with the red pepper. One bite and my mouth was ON FIRE. I ate half a bowl before I decided to stop and save my taste buds from being burned any further. This dish has so much potential, the ease, the visual appeal, the vegetables, but chef error on my half made it a total bust. -/10.
I loved eating Pinterest for a week! The recipes were fun, different, and really shook up my diet and eating habits. For the health conscious out there, each recipe here is between 350 and 550 calories. That’s right, all these dinners for 550 calories and under. That makes them taste even a little better. Send in your best pinterest recipes for us to try out, we would love to hear from you.