PinTest # 30: Zucchini Pizza Boats

I have committed to eating as little carbs, dairy and sugar as possible. It's a challenge, I don't especially like it but it's good for me and I'm going with it. This means a pretty much wholesale change in eating habits, even though I eat a lot of healthy foods already. But saying goodbye to bread, crackers and sweets is a toughy for me. So I'm collecting recipes and looking for new meal ideas. That brings me to Pin Test #30: Zucchini Pizza Boats.

via delish.com

I have been thinking about trying these for a while because I am a pizza fan and the crust is the killer. I realize I mentioned earlier that I'm limiting dairy and these obviously have cheese on them. I'm allowing a little dairy here and there and if a little cheese is going to help make saying goodbye to carbs and sugar less miserable I'm okay with that.

Now I'm not one of those people who says modified recipes taste just like the real thing. I've never said tofu tastes just like chicken, I don't like rice milk or almond milk and no they don't taste just like or better than dairy. So swapping out zucchini for delicious crusty bread dough is a bit of a stretch for me.

I followed this recipe from Delish.com and then made the following additions. In with the sauteing zucchini bits, I added a 1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh garlic, 1/8 tsp. of New Mexico green chili from a jar, 1/4 cup minced onion, a very small dash of red pepper flakes and a few shakes of Italian Seasoning. This really punched up the sauce I think and even gave it a tiny kick.

Oh! Forgot one thing. I didn't have any pepperoni in the house so I used finely diced cooked bacon and some left over  seasoned ground beef I had used for tacos earlier in the week. I definitely think pepperoni would be tasty on these and give it a lot of flavor -- but the bacon and seasoned ground beef worked great too. Mushrooms and green peppers would be a great addition too. One other note, I initially wished I had cut my zucchini up a little smaller but it cooks down very softly anyway. But if you're trying to hide it from your family, cutting it up in finely diced pieces would work. It will be hard to find when you get down below the cheese.

After we had everything assembled I added some fresh sliced garlic, freshly ground black pepper and another quick shake of Italian Seasoning on top. Then there's one other thing I did differently, I baked these at 350 for 15 minutes and they were cooked but we like our pizza a little crusty on top so I bumped up the temp to 400 for a few minutes and got the cheese a little browned and the tops a little bit crusty. A family preference thing.

To go along with these I cooked up some Trader Joe's breaded chicken breasts, which are super easy to heat in a pan with a little olive oil - and they take about the same time as it took to cook the boats so you can throw them in a pan after you put the boats in the oven. I didn't realize it at the time but together they make a Chicken Parmesan style dinner - and they taste great together. Now I bet you're wondering if this pizza replacement is going to get a thumbs up or a thumbs down from me and the family.

I am even a little bit surprised to say this, but I give Zucchini Pizza Boats a big thumbs up. I loved it. Kiddo gave it an 8 out of 10. Then man gave it a 7.5. I thought it was delicious and ate it for dinner last night was already looking forward to having it for lunch today. The one thing about these is that they are better when first cooked. Putting it in the fridge over night made the zucchini a little soggy. It was more crisp and fresh tasting last night. Today it was much softer. But still delicious and today I didn't add anything to it, just heated it up and it was as delicious.

So  big thumbs up for Zucchini Pizza Boats. Will be making these again. It may turn out that I'll still make homemade pizza for the family and make the boats for me but we'll see how it goes. I think an occasional boat dinner will work for the family too.

*A good friend recommended this Thyme-infused chickpea, vegan, gluten-free pizza crust option. I can't wait to try it out but wanted to share it with you now. h

Pin Test #29: Beefy Tomato Soup

Welcome to Pin Test #29: Beefy Tomato Soup. This was a fun and easy soup recipe by Mantitlement. and I made quite a few small alterations that I don't think changed the content/context of the recipe very much but just added a little of my own cooking ideas to it.

via Mantitlement

I made the recipe as listed except for a few things. Here's what I did differently and why.

1) I used sour cream instead of cream cheese because I had sour cream I needed to finish off and didn't have cream cheese. Another tester at Pinterest said she just used whatever cheese she had in her fridge. I don't think the cheese matters much, other than to give it a bit creamier texture. A half cup of any kind of cheese isn't going to alter a large pot of soup all that much one way or another.

2) I added extra liquids along the way. Since testers said the pasta will soak up the liquid mostly and turn this more into a goulash if you're eating leftovers, I added a little extra chicken stock and water.

3) I tossed in a can of kidney beans. Needed to use them up, they seemed ideal for a hearty soup like this. I also included all the liquid in the can.

4) I added a can of Italian herbed diced tomatoes. More liquid.

5) Added a few extra spices along the way since I was adding so much extra liquid. Extra basil and oregano and a little thyme, I also added about a 1/4 teaspoon of Garlic Pepper Seasoning. This is a seasoning mix I made a few weeks ago with the recipe at the link.

6) I used rigatoni, again because I had it on hand and needed to use it up. I added at least two cups because it seemed like I could with all the extra liquid I added, but in the end after it had cooled off it did look more like golash than soup but tasty all the same. You can rehydrate it with a little stock, tomato juice or even a touch of water when you eat the leftovers - or just eat it as more of a pasta dish than soup.

Next time I am going to add a cut up carrot and probably a zucchini if I have one on hand. With all my alterations it's becoming more of a Minestrone but simple or with additions it's tasty just the same.

This soup turned out exactly as I expected it would and was quite tasty. I made it on Saturday April 29th and the family ate it right up and it went well with the hot homemade rolls while we watched it snow outside and joked about singing some Christmas carols and what a fine December we were having. Would gladly recommend this recipe! Let me know if you try it.

Pin Test #28: Yummy Healthy Easy's 30 Minute Homemade Dinner Rolls

This Pin Test is one of the comedy of errors versions of Pin Tests. I tested Yummy Healthy Easy's 30 Minute Homemade Dinner Rolls. I had a few mishaps along the way. But in the end, hot homemade rolls are hot homemade rolls, right? I tried this recipe along with a nice Beefy Tomato Soup (Pin Test #29) that I will share with you soon. It was the perfect meal for a cold, snowy, late April Saturday.

I tried my best. I'll do better next time.

I think I've mentioned a few times that my breadmaking life has been tarnished by reports when I was growing up about how hard it is to work with yeast. I don't really even know where I was hearing this but it wasn't from my own family, I know that. For some reason I've just had a complex about baking with yeast.

I shouldn't have listened because it's really not that hard. But because of all the negative comments I have been avoiding using yeast pretty much my entire life. Which is a little crazy considering my mother is an avid homemade bread maker. This all started after I'd left home mostly, so I really missed out on the tutoring I could've gotten from her had I still been living at home.

But it's never to late to start baking with yeast and I've done it a few times over the past couple of months and things have gone well. I think my bigger challenges come in shaping and managing the dough once it's all mixed together. (see appearance of my rolls above)

Saturday when I made these rolls, it was a cold rainy/snowy day and it was chilly in the house so I felt like I needed a decent amount of additional warmth for raising the dough. I kept it on the stovetop near my pot of soup, thinking it might get a little warmth from there - it wasn't much but it helped.

My first misstep was that while the yeast was dissolving with the warm water and sugar I accidentally banged the bowl and sent it sliding across the counter a bit. I think that broke up my yeast a bit because it lost that smooth, expanding texture it gets when it's left alone. I let it sit for a while longer and finally just decided to go forward with the dough. It did rise a bit more but never looked as big, round and fluffy as it has usually.

Once I got the dough combined - and I used the dough hook on my KitchenAid mixer for the first time - it didn't really get the consistency I hoped for. Maybe I should have kneaded it more but I was afraid to damage the yeast anymore at this point.

Then I neglected to follow the recipe. It says to immediately divide the dough into rolls, put them in the pan and let them rise again for 15-20 minutes. But I missed that and left it in the bowl with a warm towel on top just hoping it would rise. It did, but still didn't look all that great. Realizing now that I had not divided the dough immediately as I should have, I did that and put the rolls in the greased  pan and let them rise for another 20 minutes. There was life to the dough, so even though they didn't look as good at I had hoped I could tell at this point that they would cook up pretty well. Might not be light and flaky but would definitely be edible for dinner.

I need to work on my roll forming skills. The sizes weren't uniform and I struggled to get a pretty texture across the top. I have watched my mom, aunts and other relatives work simple looking magic to make beautiful rolls. Clearly I need more practice. I should also ask my mom for her roll recipe some time.

So I baked them for about 18 minutes until they were golden brown on top. Then I brushed them with butter while they were still hot. We served them warm and enjoyed them with butter, jams and honey at the table. I take it totally as my own responsibility as to how they turned out texture-wise. They were a little heavy in texture a little bit biscuit-like, but flaky and tasty anyway. They could have been lighter and prettier but we ate them all the same and quite enjoyed them. Next time I'll do things a little better but this was a great first try and a very quick and easy recipe.

Pin Test #27: Pioneer Woman's Chocolate Sheet Cake

Well this is almost a silly Pin Test because when, ever, has The Pioneer Woman shared a recipe that people didn't love. How can you go wrong with a chocolate sheet cake, especially when she calls it "Best Ever". Let's just say I made it and it got devoured.

The one thing that is a little nuts about this recipe, har-har, is that there are 3 3/4 cubes of butter between the cake recipe and the frosting, so it's definitely not fat-free. Ha. Zoinks! I think if you make this cake you want to have a crowd on hand because it's a big cake to have sitting in your kitchen calling you to have one more little sliver of a slice....all...day...long.

The recipe was easy to follow and you can whip up the frosting while the cake bakes. Because it's a sheet cake it bakes up in less than 20 minutes. It is moist and delicious and stays moist even after a day or two on the kitchen counter. The frosting is easy to make and you just pour it over the top and maybe guide it a little bit with a spatula to get the entire cake covered. But if you pour it around the top of the cake it will flow across the top of the warm cake and spread pretty well on it's own.

Once the cake was done and we'd tasted it a few hours later, I immediately put together a plate to take to the neighbors because it was just too dangerous to have that entire cake sitting in our house. I will say this is a good cake if you want to have something on hand for desserts for a few days. As I mentioned it stays moist. You probably want to only lightly cover it with some foil because otherwise the frosting will get stuck to whatever you cover it with. I wouldn't use plastic wrap. But a piece of foil big enough to wrap over the edges of the pan while leaving some space between it and the top of the cake worked well for us.

This cake reminded me of a sheet cake recipe my mom has that incorporates marshmallows across the top of the cake before you pour the warm, cooked frosting on. I asked her for her recipe not long after I made this cake so we could do a taste comparison.

I will definitely make this recipe again and I think it would be perfect for a dinner party or potluck. It will serve a lot of people. A scoop of ice cream is a great addition too, either while the cake is still warm...or any time...it's going to be delicious. The Pioneer Woman's Best Ever Chocolate Sheet Cake Recipe is a winner for sure. Here's the link to this "Thumbs Up" recipe.

*A quick update to this recipe. The first time I made it I baked it for 18 minutes because our oven seems to bake a little hot. The cake turned out super moist almost to the point that I thought it may have been a tad undercooked. Now having made it again I think 18 minutes was the right way to go and it did make for a delicious, moist cake. It was perfect I just didn't know it.

I made this recipe again last weekend and baked it for 20 minutes. It did not turn out as well as it did the first time. I recognize now that when I cooked it longer it was drier, the texture was not as smooth, and the cake slices stuck to the pan and seemed to split in half horizontally. It didn't taste as good either. I don't think I did anything else to make the cake differently, so I think I would definitely only cook it for the 18 minutes in my oven in the future. You may want to experiment and see what works best for you but from experience now I would say that overbaking even by a couple of little minutes is not a good way to go.

Here are a some other Pin Test recipes you might like. Have a great day!
Olive Garden Style Minestrone
Rosemary Lemon Crockpot Chicken
No-bake Peanut Butter Bars

Pin Test #26: Baked Fries & Sweet Potato Fries

We had a few leftover burgers in the fridge last week that I decided they would make a good dinner on Thursday. But we were short on a lot of things we often eat with burgers. We didn't have a wide assortment of fresh veggies and fruit which I usually serve with burger meals. We had a few carrots and just a little lettuce and no tomatoes for the burgers. So I was looking for something different I could whip up to round out the meal.

I had potatoes and sweet potatoes so I thought it might be a good night to try a baked fries recipe using both. So I tried Miminalist Baker's Crispy Baked Garlic Matchstick Fries and Gimme Some Oven's Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries.

Now it seems like often I do something to screw up these Pin Test recipes so I can't always say it was the recipe. This time, Kiddo made the sweet potato fries and I'm not totally sure what happened but they got a little too much cayenne in them, so no one ate them. I think we need to try this recipe again with a little more adult supervision. The Man loves a good sweet potato fry so we'll definitely try this one again soon and I'll try to gauge the cayenne situation a little better.

The crispy baked garlic fries were good. I would say I need to work on my cooking methods for both. I think maybe I overcooked them. While they weren't photo-worthy they did taste good! I think these could've used a little more oil on the pan because they stuck to the pan. I think I need to work on my garlic tossing of these when they are done too. But they were yummy and every one of them got eaten up. The Man had two servings and Kiddo and I split the rest. Despite my failing in the artistic creation, they were yummy and we'll try them again soon.

It's very challenging to make a recipe for the first time and try to figure out all the subtle and not so subtle nuances. Both these recipes have made it into my personal cookbook and I'll pull them out and try them again soon. I recommend them both, you might just want to be judicious about cayenne in the sweet potato recipe. I'm not sure what happened there, I guess I'll have a better idea as we continue to experiment with these.

Here are the links to both recipes:
Crispy Baked Garlic Matchstick Fries
Oven Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Here are a few other Pin Test recipes you might want to check out.
Crack Broccoli - A family favorite we eat almost weekly!
Mongolian Beef Ramen
Slow Cooker Recipes

It's been rainy and cool here in the desert. It feels like northern Europe, which I love a little dose of. It's been more drizzly than rainy and I have so many memories of days like this in England and Scandinavia. I good scarf around the neck and good rain jacket layered over something warm seem to be just the ticket on days like this. It's nice to have a little break from the usual desert weather. I need to drink tea, sit by a window and read a book or something to celebrate it.

If I were in northern Europe I'd ride my bike somewhere cozy or light some candles. Ooh, it is a perfect cozy day...this is where Hygge comes in...you know that Danish lifestyle trend that suddenly everyone is talking about. I met Hygge in 1988 and she's been a friend these long years. Candles, tea, good company. Done.

Pin Test #25: Mongolian Beef Ramen

It's way past time for another Pin Test. This is where I choose a pin from Pinterest,and try it out and share my experience. Sometimes I give it a straight thumbs up and sometimes it doesn't go so well. But most of the time Pin Tests are successful. This one was a bit of a challenge because I think it's a fantastic recipe but I ran into challenges with a family who doesn't like sweet sauces on meat. It was a risk and I knew it from the outset.

Original Pin: Mongolian Beef Barbecue by Jo Cooks.

I liked this recipe a lot. But I think there were a couple of things I did that didn't make is as good as it could have been. Rookie mistakes, totally my fault.

First challenge I had was that my grocery store was out of flank steak. So I asked what might also work and they suggested skirt steak. My family is very picky about meat, they have filet mignon tastes -- so skirt steak was toooo chewy for them, even after I tenderized it. That immediately put them on the defensive about this dish. Next time, if I make this again, I'm just going to get some really good steak and use that. I also needed to slice the meat much thinner. Lessons learned.

Second, I used brown rice and millet ramen noodles. This type of noodle seems quite a bit softer than wheat noodles, as you would expect. So they got a little soggier in the sauce than would've been ideal. But we bought this big bag of noodles at Costco, so I need to use them up. I think I overcooked these and the next thing I will mention will probably help make them better for the future.

Third, I think I didn't let the sauce thicken up enough or else I should've drained some off. It was a little too soupy/saucy/soggy for my family. But again they don't really like sweet sauces on meat dishes, and I knew that in advance. So I'm not sure I'll ever know if it was too much sauce or they just don't like sweet sauce on stuff.

I will say that I liked this dish quite a bit more than my family did, notwithstanding some of the improvements I would make doing this a second time. I think the recipe is good, just that my execution was inexperienced and my family was a little picky about it. Probably won't make it again just because it's not a flavor set that my family likes. But I would wholeheartedly recommend it to others. If you like Mongolian Beef Ramen I think you will really like this dish.

Pin Test #24: Crack Broccoli

It's time for more Pin Tests! I take a pin from Pinterest and try it out and give my thumbs up, thumbs down or even thumbs sideways with some additional explanation about what I've tried differently that originally suggested. This week's Pin Test (I won't keep you in suspense!) is a total thumbs up. It's deliciously perfect for the cold days of winter and full of "good for you" things like garlic, lemon and healthy dark, leafy greens! Meet "Crack Broccoli" from the blog A Beautiful Plate.

image via A Beautiful Plate

I have been making this about once a week since around Thanksgiving time and it's a hit and every bit of it gets gobbled up. It seriously takes Broccoli to a whole new level. It is so tasty. Can I first sell you something amazing about Broccoli. The big thick stems are not to be cut up and thrown out! Peel the thick hide off them and the insides are amazing, delicious and tender. No matter how I'm fixing broccoli I cook the stems and love them! In this recipe I would just cut off the bottom half inch or less of the stalks and then you don't need to peel them, just slice them up. 

Quick explanation, you slice the heads of Broccoli up like steaks from top to bottom. You can see that in the photo. Then you mix Olive Oil, Pepper Flakes, Garlic and Salt together in a bowl then toss in all the broccoli until it's well covered. (Please note that in this recipe, the salt is listed in the ingredients list but not mentioned in the process of mixing the ingredients. I either add it in with the oil mixture or just sprinkle Kosher Salt on the Broccoli once it's on the pan. I think either works.)

Then you lay it all out on the pan, roast it for 10-12 minutes, then flip all the stakes over and add your Almonds and roast for another 8-10 minutes. Then sprinkle with cheese and a bit of lemon juice.

A few alterations I've made:

1) 475 degrees is a little too hot with our oven and I was continually burning the broccoli. So I am using 470 now and it seems to be working well. No more burning. This is something to gauge with your own oven as they all work a little differently.

2) I use whatever cheese I have on hand and it all tastes good. My favorite is Parmesan, but I've used Cheddar, Monterrey, Monterrey Jack, Mozzarella...whatever I have available. If you want the cheese a little toasty you can add it the last couple of minutes of your roasting time on the second side.

3) The amount of Lemon Juice in the recipe was a little too lemony for my family. I sometimes just skip it or I just add a few drops here and there. Less is more if it gets too intense.

As I said, we are gobbling up this recipe like crazy. I even included it in our Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners. We usually depend on a lot of salads to get our greens but now that it is colder it's nice to have something warm and crunchy to help us get all our veggies in our diet every day. If you try it, let me know how it goes.

Pin Test #23: Slow Cooker Recipes

It's been a long time since I did a Pin Test, like two years now. I take a Pinterest How To and try it and share the results with you. I don't know how that dropped off my radar, but it once was a regular column here at kalanicut and it is one of my favorites. I'm starting up Pin Tests again and I have three quick ones I'll share with you. Today I'm going to share three slow cooker recipes I found on Pinterest.

In early January, probably a few days before I broke my foot I decided to start doing slow cooker meals on Sunday mornings so that we'd have a nice hot meal waiting for us when we got home from church at 4 p.m. My other genius thought behind this was that we would have leftovers for at least one more meal if not more during the week. This has been a great success! It's so great to come home to a meal pretty much totally ready to go. I just throw together a big salad, finish up any last minute preparations and we are enjoying a feast within the hour.

image via Gimme Some Oven

The first recipe we tried was this Barbarcoa from Gimme Some Oven.We loved it and made a lot of crazy good tacos and burritoes from it. It was great to have leftovers that we made into a variety of meals.

image by CarlsbadCravings.com

The next recipe we tried was French Dip Sandwiches by CarlsbadCravings.com. I bought big sub rolls and added my own sauteed onions, green peppers and mushrooms on top, then added the cheese toasted it all in the oven for a few minutes. This was a big hit and so tasty.We got two dinners out of this and loved every bite.

from Food.com

For Valentine's Day I made The Man's favorite, Pork Loin from this recipe from Food.com. With it I made garlic mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus and again we have a big salad. For dessert we had the choice of Key Lime Pie or Strawberry Shortcake. Some family members had a little of both.

The pork loin was another very tasty dish and was devoured by all. I've had some dry pork loin in my life so I appreciated how very moist and tender this recipe turned out. The Man said it could have a little less lemon in the recipe, but I may have added a little extra, but he ate it right up and enjoyed it.

My game plan now is that every Saturday I pick the dish and then Saturday night make a quick trip to the grocery store for any ingredients I need and to pick up the meat. It's turned into a fun little tradition and I love being able to sleep in a bit on Sundays and then get up and quickly toss everything into the slow cooker, turn it on and then go about my day. I've started enjoying Sunday dinners a lot more with less stress and work to do and we're definitely enjoying some really amazing meals!

Pin Test #23: Minestrone Olive Garden Style

First let me confess that this photo does not look that appetizing because of the fact that I totally overdid it with the noodles. But in reverence to fair and truthful journalism, I felt like you deserved to see what my soup looked like. Sorry for all the mushy looking beige noodles. The story does get better.

Last week I was in a bind by six one evening with absolutely no idea what to make for dinner and a fridge that held nothing easy to pull together. So I decided to rummage through my Pinterest Board Comfort Foods and see if there was anything I actually had ingredients for in the cupboards.

I found this recipe for Minestrone and I had most of the ingredients. I thought about a quick trip to the store but at rush hour, that could've been a big nightmare to go the six blocks to the store and walking home that far with bags of groceries breathing the exhaust of cars backed up all the way didn't sound too appetizing either. So I played with what I had. The recipe is supposed to be very close to Olive Garden's Minestrone, which I've always liked so I thought it would be a good one to try.

I didn't have zucchini but I substituted it with a stalk of broccoli that wasn't enough to make for a meal on it's own. I cut it up in small chunks. I used canned green beans because that is what I had. Not sure why I had canned green beans in the cupboard because I only cook fresh as a side dish, but they were great to add into a soup. Fresh or frozen would've tasted a little better but again, it worked. The other ingredients I didn't have were fresh parsley and dried thyme. So I checked the conversion rates and used dried parsley and fresh thyme from my patio garden. Fantastic.

I am learning that with my family you cannot have too much broth in a soup. I have been getting regular complaints of not enough broth. So I made the mistake this time of adding too much pasta which soaked up all the broth. I threw in the rest of a box of vegetable broth to thin it out for my grilled cheese dipping family.

I was a little worried about The Bug's interest in a soup that looked like a bunch of vegetables, but I took the time to introduce it to her before dinner when she said the kitchen smelled really good. I told her that her dad and I both really loved it and I thought she might like it to. I gave her a small bowl full and was happy to see by the end of the meal she had eaten up ever bit and liked it. The Man didn't seem super excited at first about Minestrone and I will admit that it doesn't have the most glamorous sounding name. But he finished off two bowls full and commented on how good it was a couple of times.

So I will say this pin test was a hit, a success - except for my overdoing it with the noodles. I should've done about 1/3 of what I put in, but when the noodles weren't cooked yet it didn't look like that much pasta. Funny how when you add a little water to noodles they sure get big! I will have to say, however, that with a large container full of leftover soup in the fridge I have had a hard time trying to get people enthused about eating it again. Leftover soup just never looks that good in the fridge. I guess I'll just have to spring it on them one day when they're really hungry and time is short.

Here's a quick tip on making super delicious grilled cheese sandwiches that I learned from The Man. First let me say I have learned some of my best cooking tips from him. On the inside, use two kinds of cheese. We use cheddar and monterrey jack cheeses. On the outside sprinkle a little bit of garlic salt and kosher salt on the hot butter toasted top side. Just a tiny dash of both makes the flavors pop in an amazing way.

Pin Test #22: Rosemary Lemon Crock Pot Chicken

image via Food For The Warrior

Writing this post taught me everything I need to know to make this better next time. As you can see in the pin sample photo above by Food For The Warrior this chicken looks delicious. Well when I make it again, I will tweak a few things differently than I did this time so hopefully my chicken looks just as beautiful and delicious.

I would consider my testing effort here pretty much a fail, with absolutely no fault to the original pinner whatsoever. Any fail was on my part. I had four large chicken breasts in the fridge that I desperately needed to get cooked. I decided to try this recipe because it seemed impossible for me to get time to cook this chicken otherwise. I threw them in the slow cooker first thing Sunday morning and within minutes the kitchen smelled delicious. When we came home from church hours later the entire courtyard of our apartment building smelled delicious. I had high hopes.

We're big fans of garlic and lemon in our household and have grown our own rosemary for years on our patio so this seemed like a slam dunk for us. However when we sat down to eat I found the chicken unappetizing and a little bland. Here's where I think I went wrong. Too much liquid in ratio to chicken. I think I probably should've added only about one cup of liquid or less. I used broth.  I didn't get the crispy top layer but rather pale chicken that looked like it had been boiled. It was very moist but the flavor just didn't jump out at me. The Man and The Bug lunched up on the chicken but I was a little "ho-hum" about it. There was a lot of salt and pepper used on the table. At some point The Bug said she didn't like the taste of lemon on the chicken.

I will say that it was so moist that I knew the leftovers would easily shred to make great tacos or something for a second meal. That night I used one of the chicken breasts to make quickie chicken quesadillas for a late dinner. Cheese and salsa brightened up the taste a good bit.

If I made this recipe again I think I would mince the rosemary and some garlic and add lemon zest to the top of the chicken after rubbing olive oil and salt and pepper on the chicken. I would use a very small amount of liquid but enough to make the chicken very moist. This was a pin test fail to me, just because I didn't feel excited about it at the end. But as far as making good chicken I could make a bunch of meals out of, this definitely worked and got the job done. So not a total loss by any means, but I just didn't like the way I did it.

A Pin Test #21: Art Supply Caddy

This Pin Test is inspired by several different toilet tissue roll projects on Pinterest. After staring at a disorganized box of all shapes of pens, pencils and art supplies, I thought this was a fantastic idea. I don't know why but once we made these Halloween art projects with toilet paper rolls we ended up continuing to collect toilet paper rolls. So we had a big stack ready for this project.

First, let me share with you the inspiration projects. My favorite is this polkadot version by Capree at Curbly.com. There is also a Goodnight Moon version here. This one is a tiered system, cutting the toilet paper rolls in various heights to accommodate a variety of art supplies.

I used a box from one of the many holiday gifts that arrived at our house in December. I cut the top flaps off with scissors. Then decorated the outside with some pretty paper and a favorite wide ribbon. I apologize the ribbon looks a little weird in the photo. It was still a little wet with glue and I didn't have time to put off photographing it if I was going to get this posted. So lame but this is a real life blog, there's no fancy staff doing photo shoots here. Haha. Real life confessions. I am hoping that it dries and looks a little better.

Next I arranged the toilet tissue cardboard rolls in the box so that they fit tightly but were not so tight that they would crush each other. Then I started sorting out our junk pencil box putting colored pencils together in one roll, plain pencils in another. I also realized I would have a few shorter items, like glue sticks. So using some of the flaps I cut off the box, I cut a strip of cardboard about two inches high and wide enough to roll up and stuff in the bottoms of some of the toilet paper rolls. That way I created a few rolls with only partial depth so that I could put glue sticks, sharpeners and other items in that are between two and three inches tall and would drop to the bottom of the rolls and be impossible to see. Kid scissors fit into these tubes perfectly too, so this system really does work for a wide range of craft/art supplies.

The Bug was excited when I surprised her with this new way to actually be able to see her art supplies without rummaging through a box buried several inches deep with stuff. I can only imagine this will relieve a lot of frustration digging through that box to find things. It's so nice to be able to actually see what was inside that box finally.

Best of all I like that this home organization project didn't cost anything to make. I did not go to an expensive home organization store and spend twenty dollars on a plastic molded organizer. Yay! I already had all the supplies and it only took a few minutes to put together. Being able to DIY it at no cost is a big win. So this is another Pin Test win that I think would work for anyone. Everyone has writing instruments in their house. This way you can actually see them and find them quickly. It's not just for kids.

A Pin Test #20: No-bake Peanut Butter Bars

image via Pinterest

I have wanted a recipe for Peanut Butter Bars since I was in grade school. These were hands down one of the favorite items on our school lunch room's menu. So I'm not sure why it's taken me a few decades to actually get on this, get a recipe and try making these for the first time. But I finally did it. Another childhood dream brought to fruition! Would it surprise you to hear that I don't really like peanut butter, unless it's with jam or jelly on a sandwich or with chocolate or as a peanut butter cookie. I would never eat a spoonful of peanut butter...ick.

So I had to Pin Test this no-bake recipe on Christmas Day. Luckily we took half the pan with us to dinner with friends - and there was nothing left on the tray when we left. That's a good sign.

I made a little mistake on these. It calls for one cup peanut butter for the base mixture and then four tablespoons peanut butter to mix with the chocolate for the frosting. I was not paying attention and added the four tablespoons into the base mixture. No one could tell the difference but I noticed in the end it made the base mixture a little too soft and sticky, although they totally kept their shape and did firm up after refrigeration. I just think it would've been a little bit better without that extra four tablespoons of peanut butter. I prefer my bars a little bit drier and crunchy.

Also I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips for the top layer. I have never liked semi-sweet or dark chocolate. The milk chocolate was absolutely perfect for my tastes and was certainly chocolate-y enough.  Several of the recipes use a chocolate frosting instead of melted chocolate. I am sure our grade school version was frosted. I think I lean towards the melted chocolate option instead of chocolate frosting, but either way they would be delicious.

Overall, these were quick and easy and most importantly, fantastically delicious. I think next I want to try a baked version with oatmeal, to see which I ultimately like better. I'd like to pull one good peanut butter bar recipe into my regular "quick and easy treats up my sleeve" repertoire. They are a great treat to take to a party, school or church function. If you try these, let me know how you like them...and remember that extra four tablespoons of peanut butter goes into the melted chocolate for the "frosting".

A Pin Test #19: Roasted Garlic Mushrooms

image via Pinterest

It's time for another Pin Test and this week I'm sharing a recipe I tried for the first time on Christmas Eve. We love mushrooms with steak and since I was making two beautiful filet mignons as the centerpiece for our dinner I knew we had to have some mushrooms too. The Man loves garlic and he loves lemons so when I saw this recipe it had his name written all over it.

The recipe for Roasted Garlic Mushrooms was quite easy. The trickiest part was dealing with the breadcrumbs and garlic butter. That gets pretty messy. I used a small bowl for my breadcrumbs and by the time I was done there was quite a breadcrumbs mess all over my counter top. Had I used a bigger bowl it might've been less messy on the kitchen but I was still washing my hands after every few mushrooms because they had so much butter and breadcrumbs on them.

I put on a lot of breadcrumbs so that they were totally coated. That gave us a nice crispy coating all over them mushrooms and we were happy with that. The one thing I forgot to do was add the salt and pepper to the mix. I used salted butter because that was all I had so I held back on adding additional salt in the beginning. But I just totally forgot to put the pepper in.

So when we tried out first mushroom it didn't have too much flavor to it. But when we added the pepper and a little salt these babies popped with deliciousness and you could taste all the different seasoning flavors. These were such a success that The Man was stealing them off of my plate at the table even though there were many more on the pan at the stove. I was glad I made plenty. This was one successful Pin Test. If you try this recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments section below. 

Top Five Posts of 2013

image via mca

Happy New Year! I hope it is a great one for you. I am looking forward to seeing what this year holds. But before I jump headlong into it, I thought it would be fun to go back and look at the top posts here on kalanicut from 2013. It is always interesting to see what will resonate with readers and try to uncover why.

Sometimes it just takes a small mention from a big time blogger. Sometimes it all happens based on a simple pass along idea I share when another blogger inspires me. Sometimes it just makes no sense at all and you never know how or why something caught fire. These are all timeless ideas that can be applied any time.

Here are the top five posts from last year:

5) Master Bedroom Inspiration from Home Goods: Inspired by the colors, shapes and sizes of the sea this decor collection was relaxing and peaceful.

4) Back To School Dinner: Inspired by NieNieDialogues this post got a boost when she mentioned it on Twitter. A celebration of the new school year and our family life.

3) 30-day Reorganization Project: This became a 90 day reorganization project but it got the entire house ship shape and that lasted about until The Man came back from deployment a few weeks later. Having three people and a lot more stuff in the house turned the reorganization success on it's head a bit.

2) Our Family Guestbook: I decided last year I wanted to do a family guest book for when we had dinner parties or overnight guests as a means to help us keep those memories alive. It's been a fun tradition.

1) Pin Test #11 -- Homemade Eye Cream: A simple and easy recipe to make your own at home with just a couple of simple, inexpensive ingredients.

Hope you have a lovely New Year's Day and that the year to come is joyful. I determined to see and enjoy all it's loveliness. I am excited about where kalanicut the blog will go this year and all that I will get to do with you here. Thank you as always for your support, comments and continued visits. Very best wishes to you, my friends.

Pin Test #18: DIY Word Pillows

It's Pin Test #18 and finally I can share with you what I made for my mom and sisters for Christmas. They finally got the box in the mail yesterday, although apparently it took a good beating getting there. Looking back I should have packed the box more tightly. I'm usually so good about that.

After getting some great inspiration from Pinterest (here and here) I decided to make funky bed pillows for my mom and sisters. I was going to make the pillow covers then remembered that I could save a LOT of money and time if I could find a pillow cover and insert I already liked at IKEA. This seemed like a great idea since I was under a major time crunch and had a ton on my plate.

I have had two pillows with the blue and green striped cover, like above, on my sofa for a year while now and they inspired me for this project. The striped cases come in three different colors and it just so happened that each coordinated with a bedroom or color scheme that each of my girls liked.

The one challenge was that the pillows were much bigger than I wanted. I knew I wanted something short and long so I looked around the IKEA pillow bins and found pillows that were the same length but four inches shorter. So the covers were 16" x 30" and the inserts I found were "12" high by 30" wide. I liked that size much better for this specific project and purpose. So I bought the covers, brought them home and chopped 3.5" off the tops and put in a half inch seam and I had myself three 12" high covers, ready to roll.

I printed the words onto paper and then used the paper as a pattern on the felt. I used Wonder Under to adhere them to the pillows. Getting the felt to adhere was much easier than I had expected it to be. Originally I had thought about stitching around the edges, but it took away from the way I wanted to look, so I was happy to find it unnecessary. The key is to use the best quality felt by-the-yard you can. You only need to buy about 1/4 yard. The heavier, better quality felt will last a lot longer and won't pill up as easily.

So while the original idea certainly isn't mine, I was happy with the way these turned out and feel like they have their own unique spunk about them with the brightly striped pillow covers. I already have several more Pin Tests in the works to share with you. Next Tuesday I'll post the next one.

We have a beach day planned today and I have a little New Year's Party up my sleeve for tonight. I have no guarantees though that my two party attendees will hold up until midnight. Neither of them can be trusted to stay awake once they tire. I may have to start the celebrations early and end them early. No doubt this night owl will be awake for the dropping of the ball, the banging of the pots and the fireworks. Sending you very best wishes for the year to come!

A Pin Test #17: Halloween Scary Eyes In The Bushes

This is a very belated Halloween post, but since it's Pin Test #17, you can pin it for next year! I've been wanting to try this scary eyes in the bushes pin by Thrifty Crafty Girl Priscilla since I first pinned it sometime earlier this year. If there was a week to test it, it would be Halloween week. Then I ran out of glow sticks due to getting overly zealous cracking them open to hand out at the Trunk or Treat activity. I didn't get a chance to buy more before Halloween so I didn't get a chance to test it until very late in the game.

I just drew the eyes on with a pen and then cut them out with scissors. These are my first, experimental three I tried. I saved the rest to do with the family for family night last night, knowing the lighting would be bad and it would be hard to get a photo. And I say that because this photo is so fantastic...not...ha.

I had hoped to put these in the tree in our front entry but then realized that the front courtyard is now very bright, so I positioned then in the plants on the balcony garden. In the original Pin Test, Christmas lights were used and then in the comments someone recommended glow sticks. I liked that idea. So that's what I used. I like the idea of all white eyes with the Christmas lights though. I may try that sometime when I have a little more space.

Here's how they looked positioned in the planters on our patio. That was about the best we could do for bushes at night. Getting a good photo was a challenge and you can obviously see the toilet paper rolls, but I think if these were positioned in bushes they would be pretty cool. I used glow in the dark bracelets that come in the 15 pack and put one in each and after a few minutes they were not that bright. If I were going to do these in the yard I would either buy bigger glow in the dark lights or I would put in two or three bracelets.

So I would say despite the fact that this post was one of the most troublesome posts I've worked on in a while the idea is a hit. I would definitely do this again and use them in the yard for Halloween. I would love to see a front yard lit up with them in the trees and bushes. You could probably use small cardboard boxes to create a variety of sized heads in the bushes. Sounds like a fun way to welcome guests to your doorstep.

Pin Test #17 after a lot of pain and suffering, haha, is in the books. I give it a thumbs up.

A Pin Test #16: Wire Wrapped Necklaces

I know this is another Pin Test, two days in a row, but I promised to share photos this week and had technical difficulties with the photos. So this is for you V.S. and anyone else who saw my FB post last weekend. Saturday night after a long afternoon at the pumpkin patch, The Man and The Bug sat down to watch a movie about dinosaurs. Since I didn't really need to see another movie about dinosaurs, while they watched I sat at a desk nearby and decided to play with some new jewelry supplies I bought last week. This was the beginning of Pin Test #16.

I bought suede and 1mm leather cord and some jewelry wire. I think the grand total investment was about eight dollars. A while back I found the blue square tile on the beach. I thought it would make a nice pendant, it just had a very nice shape and I could see it hanging around my neck. I wasn't sure what I would do with it, but it got my creative juices flowing.

I think the piece of sea glass was sent to my by a blogging friend in Australia who knew I loved sea glass. This is Indian Ocean sea glass. I have Pacific Ocean sea glass and Atlantic Ocean sea glass, but having Indian Ocean sea glass seems like something a little extra special. The shell shard next to it I found in San Diego. I loved the texture and many variations of blues and browns on the surface. Lastly is an orange shell shard I found in San Diego as well. I do love orange, so this very worn down piece with such bright variegated color stood out to me.

I pulled out my jar of special shells I'd saved, thinking each one could be a potentially great piece of jewelry based on coloring, size and shape. Then I went to Pinterest which linked me straight to YouTube for great tutorials about how to make wire wrapped jewelry. This is the pin that got me started sending me to a video posted to YouTube by Gayle Bird. I ended up using some of Gayle's technique but then also watched another video by The Potomac Bead Company on wrapping sea glass. This one gave me another option for wrapping that I liked a little better.

On YouTube I could figure out the basics, wrap wire around the thing but I knew my pieces would look a lot better and I would save myself a lot of frustration if I studied up first. There are a ton of tutorials on YouTube and project ideas on Pinterest. If you're interested I would send you in those directions. There are so many I really don't want to recommend any because you really need to find one that most fits your style and how you learn. Just search for wire wrapped jewelry on either side and you will be bombarded with options.

Once I got the hang of how to start, keep the wires tight, securely wrap and best of all how to make the "bail" (top loops -- learned a new word!) it was easy to make these four necklaces in about thirty minutes. One of the necklaces I finished and then I broke one of the wires when I was trying to tighten them up on the backside. I had to cut all the wire off and start all over again. That was a little frustrating but what is a creative project without at least one mini-disaster?

I definitely learned some things and will do some things differently next time. I think my favorite is the sea glass piece. I like the "less is more" aspect with the wire and I think that was the last piece I made so I had a better idea what I was doing. I'm out of wire now, I only bought a small amount, but I'm looking forward to buying more and doing more play with wire wrapped jewelry. Once I started looking at all the tutorials I got inspired about all the amazing bracelets, earrings and pendants you can make.

You do need proper jewelry pliers and I used a round pencil as well to wrap the loops for my wider bails. I have different pliers: one pair that cut wire, one pair that are smooth cones to curve wire and another that look like basic home improvement pliers (but much smaller) to hold onto wire and gently pull it when needed.

This is a super easy project and a great way to take a small treasure and make it into wearable art. These would also make a great gift for friends and family for the holidays. The cost is very small and it would be easy to make quite a few of these at one sitting. Much easier than say piecing together a quilt or knitting an afghan, haha.

A Pin Test #15: Mouthwash & Vinegar Foot Soak

image via

So I have a good new supply of pins to test out. This one caught my eye as I'm big on skin beauty and care. It's called Home Remedy For Toenail Fungus by the blog Herbs and Oils Remedies and it is Pin Test #15. I don't have nail fungus problems but similar pins have recommended this more for removing dry, dead skin and softening feet. I decided to look for a sale on no name mouthwash and try this out.

Upon doing further research and a little wondering, it seemed strange that this recipe only made 1 cup of liquid. As the only commenter on the post mentioned, "How do you soak two feet in one cup of water?" Hmm, a mystery right from the get go.

I did a little more research and found another pin with a bit more information. It's good to read the comments here and get a slightly better recipe. From initial descriptions it sounded like you do this soak and the dry skin literally comes off. Upon further reading you still have to pumice or scrub your feet. It seems like soaking your feet in any sort of liquid would do that, right? I still didn't understand the magic of the mouthwash. If you'd enjoy a good laugh about this foot soak, see this pin.

So I bought the ingredients and then spent a ridiculous amount of time hunting around my house for a foot-size tub I could do this in. Finally I just resorted to doing it in my bathroom sink & I climbed up on the side of the vanity to sit. Since the original recipe didn't quite seem right I just multiplied it a few times. I think in the end I ended up using about 1 1/2 cup vinegar and mouthwash and then probably 5-6 cups of warm water.

After soaking for a few minutes I started to notice that my feet were burning a bit - stinging might be a better word. It was never unbearable or trauma-causing. I rubbed my hands on my feet to see if it was working and my feet definitely did feel softer. The liquid in the sink gradually became more cloudy which I took for another good sign that dead skin was coming off. Gosh, I have to stop myself here for a minute and apologize for how gross that sounds and how disgusting it is to me to be talking to you about my feet. Please forgive! But if I'm going to test this pin I have to give you the real scoop.

After about 10 minutes, soaking was starting to get a little uncomfortable with the burning sensation and sitting on the vanity was really starting to hurt my back. So I decided to try my pumice for a few minutes. That took off more dead skin, but in the end I didn't feel like all the dead skin just fell off my feet from this process.

Afterwards my feet were still burning for a while (okay it was a couple of hours) and I noticed that my wrist burned a bit after my hands got wet in the liquid as well. That liquid burned on every spot on my hands and feet where there was a little cut or cracked skin. Maybe next time I need to bring my amounts of mouthwash and vinegar down a bit more -- or a lot more. I did try to just do a 1:2 ratio with the water but maybe that was still too much.

After so much effort on my feet I decided I might as well make my toenails look good too so I did the nail whitening treatment I did in Pin Test #1 Shape Magazine's Whiten Toenails Tip. Big mistake of that process was when the whitening treatment, made of peroxide and baking soda got all dry and crusty on the towel under my feet. Without thinking I grabbed the towel and all the dried up peroxide/baking soda crumbs went all over the floor. Sigh...

I will say that after both processes my feet did feel and look better, but neither is a silver bullet to fabulous feet. In fact my feet felt quite dry after the soak, so I decided to try another pin, haha, the benefits of coconut oil originally posted by The Honey Bee by Andee Layne. I am envisioning that my feet will be much happier after a long soak in oil in a pair of socks.

I am pretty torn on whether to give this pin test a Yes or No. I would say if you're interested, definitely try it. But I think you could pretty much get the same results from soaking your feet in just about any gentle liquid for ten minutes and then pumice-ing your soles. I will have to keep experimenting on this one before I can make my final decision. In the meantime I have a giant bottle of no name mouthwash and a jug of vinegar to use up.

More Toilet Roll Crafts: Bats, Cats & Owls

Last week's Pin Test was all about Toilet Paper Roll Bats. Sunday afternoon we had a little crafting time and after saving up toilet paper rolls for a couple of weeks we have enough to experiment with. Here are toilet paper roll black cats.

Here are our owls. There are a ton of really cute toilet paper roll owls online which we spent quite a while looking at for inspiration. You can see them here. The online cat images was not to impressive so I'll skip that.

Here are a few more owls we made as well. Thinking we'll have these from our lemon tree in front of our door. It's a scraggly thing unfortunately so it will be very halloween-ish once the it's full of owls.

These are great for kids and I love any craft that involved just paper, scissors, glue and all the imagination of the human mind. It's amazing what people will come up with when you put a pile of such simple art supplies in front of them and turn them loose.

all images by kalanicut

A Pin Test # 14: Toilet Paper Roll Halloween Bats

image via LaDeeDa Creations

It's Pin Test #15 and I am for some reason in total denial about the season. I haven't taken down any summer decor and seem to be refusing to realize it's late September and Halloween is just a few weeks away. So while looking for a Pin Test for this week I decided to break down and do a Halloween craft. I thought it would be fun to make small bats that we could hang from the tree near our front door. This pin comes from LaDeeDa Creations blog. There is a great tutorial there with full directions for the project. They are actually filling theirs with candy & gluing paper across the bottom. We're leaving ours hollow to hand up.

I short circuited the project significantly by using black glitter construction paper, glue and googly eyes, no paint. Here were my steps:

1) Gather toilet paper rolls

2) Cut black construction paper to length and width to cover the toilet paper roll.

3) Using a glue stick cover the inside of the paper then glue it onto the roll, sealing the edge securely with glue.

4. Bend back of top edge in forward, then bend front top edge back to create pointy ears.

5. Cut a 2" wide strip of construction paper the length you want for your wings. Ours are about 10 inches.

6. Fold the strip in half, so you have a strip about 5" long by 2" wide.

7. Cut three small half circles out of the bottom edge of the 5" long side

8. Unfold and glue the wings firmly to the back of the bat

9. Attach googly eyes to the front, to create a face.

Here are our finished products.

This is a great project for little kids. For an adult it takes about five minutes to create the bat body and wings. The really aggravating part is trying to get the backing off the googly eyes to stick them on. Super frustrating and took me longer than all the rest of the construction combined. (snarl). It might be easier to just use paint or black and white paper cute in small circles or ovals. But I wanted the three dimensional eyes that moved so I paid the price and finally got them on.

I am thinking of making a few of these and hanging them from the tree out front. They would also be cute on a garland of some sort or a group of them hanging on a vertical cord on the front door. The Bug mentioned that you could also easily make cats with this method. Just add a upside triangle nose, whiskers and a tail instead of the wings. We'll definitely try that out too. She's pretty jazzed about collecting toilet paper cardboard cores now. lol.

You'll have fun with these and no matter which technique you use. The cost to make these is very little. Have fun. Pin Test #15 is in the books, recorded as a success. If you decide to make these bats or cats please post a photo or let me know how it went!

Here are are two other really cute Halloween decorating ideas that we want to try. They both involve glow sticks which we have an abundance of around here and are quite fond of.

Ghosts

Eyes In The Bushes