It's part 2 of of my Pinspired food adventures! If you missed part one, you can check it out here.
Let me just take a minute to give you a little insight into me and my relationship with cooking and baking. I have a little plaque in my kitchen that a friend gave me that says, "If God wanted me to cook, why did He invent restaurants?" and that pretty much sums it up. It is not that I don't love home-cooked food, I really really do (who doesn't??). It's just that I don't love the act of cooking. My mom was not much of a cook, either. I mean, she cooked very well...when she cooked. She was a work-outside-of-the-home mama so her time in the kitchen was limited and she was similar to me in that she didn't love the act of cooking. I can probably count on both of my hands the number of different dishes my mom made throughout my childhood and I can count on just one of my hands the number of times my mom baked something. Literally. Now baking, on the other hand, is something that I do enjoy. The problem is that I have a tendency to only make things that really appeal to me and then I want to eat it all. Maybe that plays into why I had to shed almost 30 lbs last year? Probably.
Here's the thing. I don't want to be that mom. The mom who is too busy to cook. The kind of mom that doesn't ever cook for her family because it doesn't suit her. I want to be the mom who's kids die for her food. So I really need to to work on this, because Josie is growing like a weed and I have more kiddos on the brain. I am hoping that this latest obsession with recipes found on Pinterest, really does inspire me to work on this.
Without further ado...
Tex Mex Queso Pasta
This one was really disappointing for me! I stayed true to the recipe, even keeping in the jalapenos, but I think where I went wrong was using whole grain noodles. We always buy whole grain pasta around here but we find that some are better than others and when I made this recipe I used a new brand. I *think* it was Mueller's new whole grain pasta line, but don't hold me to it - I didn't have blogging on the mind when I made it so I didn't keep tabs. But the noodles were just a little too whole-grainy if you know what I mean. I feel like the pasta should just be a vehicle for all the yumminess you put on it but in this pasta a huge part of what I was tasting was the noodles. Anyway, the hubs liked it but was not in love with it. He did say that it was better as leftovers. I love when that happens and it doesn't happen enough, in my opinion.
Roasted Chick Peas
To be blunt, these were disgusting. The hubs didn't even eat any after the initial bite I gave him and that is unprecedented for him because he hates to not give the 'ole college try to anything I make as to make sure he doesn't hurt my feelings. They look so delish in the pic, right? I used a garlic salt mix for the "spice blend mix" that the recipe calls for and it was not the right choice. But honestly, I really don't know if any spice mix would taste good. They were kind of mushy and I guess I was hoping for more of a crunchy, savory snack (like the author described...) but these completely fell flat.
On a side note...I am learning that I am not so good at this food description stuff because I am having a really hard time explaining why I didn't like stuff...
Reese's Cheesecake Brownies
O. M. G. These brownies are just seriously sinful. And soooo good. This is the kind of dessert that you can only handle small portions of because it is almost too much. Next time around the only thing I think I would change is the Reese's Pieces in the cheesecake mixture - was just unnecessary. You already have peanut butter in the frosting and Reese's cups on top and that is good enough for me. Also, either I am having an oven temperature issue (which is entirely possible) or the 40 minutes was not long enough for this dish to fully bake. The brownie layer was pretty much almost-baked batter in the middle. I was actually okay with that but I planned on taking these brownies with me somewhere and I could only take from the outer edge because I couldn't cut brownies out of the middle without just coming out with a big pile of sweetness. But overall, I totally suggest making these for a party - you will be getting oohs and ahhs all over the place!
Can you believe I have made enough stuff found on Pinterest over the last month or so to fill two more posts??
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