Pinterest Inspiration: Mint and Coral Color Inspiration

I'm sharing some of my favorite inspiration colors today on my website! Come check out my
Mint and Coral Color Inspiration!

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE!

Pinterest Inspiration: Rainbow Waves Afghan

Good morning!

I thought I'd share another Pinterest Inspiration project with you today!

Click the link below to see more about this project!!

Pinterest inspiration ~ Rainbow Waves Afghan

Pinterest inspiration: End of Winter Cowl

A couple of weeks ago I saw this pretty cowl image floating around Pinterest.

When I looked it up I found out that ChiWei, the designer - from One Dog Woof, was hosting a Crochet-Along, with the End of Winter pattern as the project!  

I decided to join in...and I'm so glad I did!

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT BY CLICKING THE LINK BELOW:

Pinterest inspiration ~ End of Winter Cowl

Pinterest Inspiration: Pastel Granny Afghan

I've started my Pinterest Inspiration series back up!

Click the link below to see what project I'm posting about today!

Pinterest Inspiration ~ Pastel Granny Afghan

Pinterest Inspiration: CROCHET LOVE

Do you have a Pinterest account?  Do you LOVE all things crochet?

I decided to start a group Pinboard featuring some of favorite crochet goodies from Pinterest!

FOLLOW THE LINK BELOW TO GET ALL THE DETAILS!! 

Pinterest Inspiration ~ CROCHET LOVE

Pinterest Inspiration: Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore

As most of you know, I'm in love with my Crockpot.  As a mother of five ravenous children...and caretaker of one even more ravenous husband...The Crockpot is a savior in my kitchen.  Life is busy...and slowcooker meals take some of the edge off! ;)

But I don't want to just make the same things over and over, so I'm constantly looking for new recipes to try out!

So for today's

I chose this:

Crockpot Chicken Cacciatore by A Little Nosh

And here's how mine came out:

My family LOVED this recipe.  Seriously.  Even my picky five-year-old proclaimed this to be great...and even cleaned her plate!  I will definitely be making this again!  Woot!

The only changes I made for this recipe were omitting the red wine (since we don't have wine in our house...which probably affected the color of the final dish somewhat), and leaving out the mushrooms..because we didn't have any on hand.  (And although I think the mushrooms would have been great in this, I didn't miss them...and I'm sure Miss Picky was much happier with the lack of mushrooms!)  I also doubled the amount of vegetables I added...'cause we have a big family!

If you're looking for something yummy and simple, give this recipe a try!

Pinterest Inspiration: Inside Out Carrot Cake Muffins

It's been a while since I've done a Pinterest Inspiration Project!

I spent A LOT of my 'resting' time last week browsing Pinterest...and basically drooling on my keyboard. There are SO.  MANY.  AMAZING. foods to try out there!!!

So for today's

I picked these delectable looking Inside-Out Carrot Cake Muffins ~

{source}

...from my Things to Eat pinboard!

Aaaaaaand...

Here's how they came out!

Ok.  I am NOT a food photographer.  You've probably already noticed that.  Sorry.  I can't be awesome at everything, I guess.  Just kidding.  (I mean about the being awesome thing...I mean I know I can sometimes be awesome, but I meant about the food photographer thing...I really suck at it.  Seriously.)

These were AWESOME!!!!  They smelled so good...they tasted even better.  And even though mine don't look as beautiful as the ones I pinned...I will definitely be making these again...and I may even try using the filling in other kinds of cupcakes, too!

Pinterest Inspiration: Men's Shirt to Peasant Blouse

This week's

was inspired by...

Peasant Blouse Tutorial from madebylex.com

Isn't it so stinkin' cute???

Here's what I used:

I picked this baby up at my local thrift store for fifty cents.  The guy at the register said something like, "Wow.  This'll make a great Halloween costume, huh?"  When I told him that I was actually going to wear it, he looked at me like I was completely nuts.  Which, maybe I am, but I digress...

I loved the fun paisley pattern and the colors on this shirt...but let's face it...that collar and those cuffs.  Not so much.

And here's what I made:

Waaaaay better, don't ya' think?  Oh, yeah.

Instead of adding a cuff to the sleeves I simply added another turned under casing and elastic, to give them a loosely gathered look.

I love the way it turned out!  The tutorial was easy to understand and had great results!

If you happen to have a spare button-up shirt lying around I recommend giving this one a whirl!

Pinterest Inspiration: Crockpot Enchiladas

This week's

was inspired by...

Crockpot Enchiladas from thekitchn.com

from my Things to Eat board!

Lately I have been obsessed with cooking with my Crockpot.  It's sooooo easy to throw everything in early in the day, when the house isn't so crazy, and let dinner cook itself.  Especially in the cool Fall and Winter months.  It's wonderful to have the aroma of a hot-cooked meal wafting through the house throughout the day.

And, yes.  I did just say wafting.

Anyway...here's what I made:

Again, not such a great picture.  i blame it on the fact that it's dark by 4:30pm here, and I had to use my *gasp* flash to take a decent shot!

I followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of using cheddar cheese instead of Monterey Jack ('cause that's what we had).  Everyone loved it...although the bottom layer did get a trifle bit too crispy. In the future I will probably change the setting to my six hour setting, instead of four.

I served it with rice and salad and topped it with a little sour cream and chopped fresh cilantro.  Yum!

Definitely a keeper!

Pinterest Inspiration: Rosemary Olive Bread

This week's

was inspired by this

Rosemary Olive Bread

found on my Things to Eat board.

Doesn't this bread look AMAZING???

I know.  I can see you drooling from here.

...aaand here's what I made:

Ok.  So I know that my bread doesn't look beautiful enough to be in a magazine spread.  BUT.  It tasted heavenly!

I doubled the recipe to make two loaves and used dried rosemary instead of fresh and regular whole wheat flour instead of bread flour ('cause that's what I had on hand).  It was super simple to make...and made my house smell divine.

Does it look picture perfect? Nah.  Does it take gourmet?  Oh yeah.

Have you made this bread?  What did you think of it?

Pinterest Inspiration: Customizable Crochet Poncho

Hey, Everyone!
This week's 

was inspired by this...

Customizable Crochet Poncho

...found on my Things to Crochet Board. I loved the way this looked...so I thought I'd give it a try!   Following the pattern linked here, I created my own!

I used Red Heart Soft yarn in Leaf, and embellished with some cool repurposed branch button I had purchased on Etsy, here.  I  LOVE the color; and it has lovely drape.

It was really simple to work up...it's soft and warm...but not too bulky!  Perfect for Fall!  The only thing I would have changed was the width of the neck opening...I love it! What do you think?

Pinterest Inspiration: Refrigerator Dill Pickles

We've been having a lot of fun harvesting our garden this year.  We've had a lovely little crop of cucumbers...but not enough to justify actually canning them.
So I went to Pinterest and found a recipe for refrigerator pickles in my Things to Eat pinboard!
This week's

is...
Refrigerator Dill Pickles!
Here's my inspiration:

Refrigerator Pickles from Food.com

And here's what we made! Instead of only using quart jars we've saved a couple of actual pickle jars and reused those to keep our homemade pickles in!  Here are the pickles before we added the brine....

And here they are after!

I added a little mustard seed to the recipe...and in one of the jars I also added some red pepper flakes for my hubby.
These are very flavorful and soooooo easy!!  The finished pickles have been crunchy...and super yummy!!!  This recipe is definitely a 'keeper!'  The recipe made almost a full quart of extra brine...so I stuck in the fridge, and we'll use it as we need to to make more yummy pickles!!  We may even try 'pickling' some other veggies, too!

Pinterest Inspiration: 5 Minute Bread!

I've been looking for a really GREAT (ie yummy, simple, and easy) bread recipe for quite some time.
So this week my 

is...

{Five Minute Bread}

from my Things to Eat pinboard.
And here's what I made:

Beautiful, huh?  And guess what?  Not only is it lovely to look at, but it was super yummy, very simple, and soooo easy!
Now... my hubby complained that it actually did take longer than 5 minutes...because, there was the rising, chilling, and baking before you could consume it...BUT the actual mixing really was less than five minutes...and the steps between rising, etc. were also really minute.  PLUS...it makes enough dough to make FOUR 1lb loaves!  (Which, let's be honest, only last for about two days tops in my home...)
In short:  I loved this bread.  It will definitely be a 'go to' recipe for me!