Favorites from Pinterest

I've been loving the recipes I find on Pinterest and decided to share a few with you that I made this weekend. They were THAT good.

Coconut Chicken Salad with Homemade Honey Mustard Dressing - To. Die. For. I didn't have dijon mustard because I don't love it, so I added regular mustard and plain Greek yogurt instead. It was heavenly! Also, I used two medium-size chicken breasts and cut them into long strips before dredging them in the egg mixture.

Homemade Taco Seasoning - This would make a GREAT gift if you double or triple the recipe and put it in a cute little mason jar! I didn't add the red pepper flakes because I don't enjoy spicy foods all that much. The mild sauce at Taco Bell is "spicy" enough for me!

Taco Bake - Scrumptious! I had to improvise on this one, too, because I didn't have the queso salsa that she lists, so I used regular salsa and some nacho cheese sauce to make my own salsa queso. Also, I didn't like how chunky my ground beef turned out, so I put it through my mini food processor for a quick few seconds with the salsa and cheese to make the meat a bit finer. Turns out, doing so makes the meat mixture stretch! I love a good bang for my buck! (Used the taco seasoning I made from scratch!)

Cinnamon Roll Cake - Heaven on a plate! True to form, I chose to switch this up a tad, too. LOL. I made a cream cheese frosting instead of the glaze she recommends. Yum!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - My new favorite recipe for the basic chocolate chip cookie!

Homemade FREEZER Spaghetti Sauce - I have the nicest neighbors and friends who gave me GOBS of tomatoes, so I decided to give this homemade spaghetti sauce recipe a whirl. It did not disappoint! It calls for 5 onions, but I just had 3 and it turned out really well! Also, I didn't peel my tomatoes, and you can't even tell. So, don't waste your time doing so. I just used my food processor to "chop" my onions and tomatoes instead of chopping them by hand. And, after it was in the crockpot simmering away for a few hours, I took my immersion blender to it to make it a little bit smoother. But, if you like chunky sauce, you don't need to do this step that I added.

30-Minute Dinner Rolls - My friend, Jessica, actually gave me this EXACT recipe that her grandma uses, but I found it on Pinterest, too, and decided to post the link instead of typing out ALL of the instructions. They aren't that hard, but I took the easy road. lol. Anyway, these rolls take 30 minutes to PREPARE and then another 15 or so to bake, so really they should be called 45-minute rolls.

What recipes on Pinterest would you recommend?

Cocoa Peanut Butter Delight

Do you feel like there is a potluck dinner or church activity to attend practically every month? (It’s fun, though, right? … Yep!) Well, what do you usually bring? Crock pot meal? Potato dish? Side salad? Brownies?

Here is a dish you can take to your next potluck that will have everyone talking. But beware—you may be asked to bring this dessert to every potluck in the future.

Here is what you need:

• 1/2 bag marshmallows
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups Cocoa Pebbles cereal
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy (for topping)
• 1/2 container whipped cream cheese frosting (for topping)
• Chopped pecans, as desired (for topping)
• Wax paper
• Butter flavor cooking spray

Here is what you do:

1. Line baking dish with wax paper so the wax paper hangs over the edge on two sides. These edges will be used as handles to easily remove the treat from the baking dish.
2. Spray wax paper with cooking spray.
3. Melt marshmallows, 1/2 cup peanut butter, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Toss cereal in melted mixture then pour into baking dish.
5. Mix remaining 1/2 cup of peanut butter and whipped frosting until well combined.
6. Spread frosting mixture over cereal then sprinkle with chopped pecans, or any other chopped nut.
7. Cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 2” squares.
8. Makes about 9 servings.

You won’t have any leftovers, so if you need some to cure your own sweet tooth, you should probably make two batches.

Coconut Chocolate Crunch

Around this time of year the Girl Scouts are out in full force selling their much-anticipated Girl Scout cookies. Its difficult keeping the huge grin off your face when you see them all over town and in your neighborhood because you know you will get to order your stash of cookies!

We all have our favorite flavor, but it seems that one of the most popular flavors is Samoas. They have a vanilla cookie base with caramel, toasted coconut, and chocolate. YUM-O! Well, if you didn’t get your cookies on the spot, what do you do as you anxiously wait the 4 to 6 weeks before they arrive?

You make this easy dessert. It’s practically as good as the real thing.

Here is what you need:

• 1/2 bag marshmallows
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, creamy
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 squares chocolate bark
• 3 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal
• 1/2 cup toasted coconut
• Wax paper
• Butter flavor cooking spray

Here is what you do:

1. Line baking dish with wax paper so the wax paper hangs over the edge on two sides. These edges will be used as handles to easily remove the treat from the baking dish.
2. Spray wax paper with cooking spray.
3. Melt marshmallows, peanut butter, and vanilla until smooth.
4. Toss cereal in melted mixture then pour into baking dish.
5. Melt chocolate.
6. While chocolate melts, toast coconut.
7. Spread chocolate over cereal then sprinkle with coconut.
8. Cool for 10 minutes. Cut into 2” squares.
9. Makes about 9 servings.

To melt chocolate:

1. Fill small pot with water. 
2. Place a glass, heat resistant bowl inside pot without letting bottom of bowl touch the water. 
3. Place chocolate squares in bowl.
4. Bring water to light boil and chocolate will begin to melt. 
5. Stir chocolate occasionally until smooth.

To toast coconut:

1. Place coconut in skillet over low-medium heat. Stir occasionally. 
2. Coconut will begin to brown and you will start to smell the toasty aroma. When this happens, stay near the pan and stir frequently. 
3. Remove from heat. 
4. Not all pieces will be brown, and that is normal. 

Betcha can't eat just one square!