The Thing About Pinterest... - Pretty Real

The Thing About Pinterest...

12:40 PM

I am obsessed with Pinterest as much as the next gal.  It is impossible to hop on and off as I have proven many a times when consulting a recipe, etc.  I think I'm going to go to my "foodie" board, look up a recipe and be done with it.  But no, I end up re-pinning, ogling amazing fashions, admiring DIY geniuses, and invariably clicking on a link (or five) that takes me to a blog (or five) where I proceed to delve deeper and deeper into a DIY or fashion or home decor tailspin.

But the thing about pinterest is, it sucks you in with ideas.  Nothing is wrong with ideas.  They come in handy.  But for me personally, if I am only hoarding collections of them but not DOING anything with them, it kinda stresses me out.  If you just read that and are thinking "relax," you can join my husband in that chorus.  I'm sure not everyone feels this way.  It's just part of my OCD nature.  So while I do pin "dreams," for the most part I tend to pin practical projects and ideas that I will actually attempt one day, as well as affordable items that I might really buy, vs. just lustfully long for.  To that end, I plan to do a few posts here and there when I attempt an idea from pinterest to let you know the outcome.  I don't know about you but some DIYers make something seem so "easy peasy" as is the popular expression in the blogosphere.  But it's so not if you are not a creative genius.  I am not.  Therefore you can learn from my mistakes and come along for the journey.

So, a couple of things I've tried recently.  I re-pinned this delicious side from my friend Abby who has been described on a design blog as a "prolific pinner." That she is!  I've re-pinned at least half of her recipes all of which seem simply amazing.  The main course, I pinned myself after watching the Nate Berkus show.  Many of my recipe pins are derived from watching a cooking segment on his show.

photo source.


The egg rolls were a little more challenging. They required more prep and I've never been a fan of rolling egg rolls. My mom always made egg rolls for us, so growing up, I'd help her roll them....they'd come out ok but I never got the hang of it. Aside from that this recipe has a helluva lot of ingredients. geez. I omitted the bamboo shoots (husband's not a fan) and saved time by buying a bag of slaw mix so I wouldn't have to shred the carrots and cabbage. I learned that trick from my mama. Instead of using the egg mixture to roll the wraps, I used a flour/water mix. My mom always did it that way and it works. If it ain't broke.... Lastly my mom added about a tablespoon of flour to the chicken/cabbage mixture which helped the consistency not be so crumbly. And then she proceeded to fry them for me while I fed the baby. Oh how wonderful it is to have mama in town. Don't think I'm exaggerating when I say these were AMAZING. Definitely worth the prep.

photo source.

To make them even better, my husband, the king of diner food and sauces threw together an amazing dipping sauce. As I type I'm pressuring him to remember exactly what he put in the sauce.
So those of you who need a recipe to be precise and exact, you are not gonna like this one.  But if you're adventurous and you love it when Rachael Ray calls for "a handful" or asks that you "eyeball it" then you'll do fine. This is "about" what he used for the sauce:


1/2 c Ranch
1/2 c Sour Cream
1 TBSP Paprika
1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes (omit if you don't like spicy)
1 TBSP Cumin

Ok so I would encourage you to start with the ranch and sour cream and just season to taste. You do have to use a lot of spices--otherwise it just tastes like ranch. Also, know that this makes a lot of sauce. There were 3 adults and we used the sauce that night and with leftovers the next night and still had some left. You could probably even start with 1/4 cup of both the ranch and sour cream. Lastly, I mashed up some avocado in mine and that made it that much better.

Ok, I think that's it. I've been making so many pinterest recipes that I need to tell you about! I'll be back shortly with a few other recipe reviews as well as the Valentine gift I made for Joe after seeing the idea on pinterest.  Ciao!

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