Pinteresting Food Adventures!

I like cooking, but I haven't had much interest in it over the last year or so. However, recently I've been making use of my neglected Pinterest account, and that has inspired me to get back into the kitchen. I spent most of the weekend either looking for recipes, Pinning recipes, cooking recipes, or making plans to cook recipes in the near future. Elastic waists, here I come!

First up, the non-Pinterest recipe. A couple of weeks ago I bought Noodles and myself some groovy divided lunchboxes. Like Bento, but for bogans. And they are AWESOME. They even have a little container for salad dressing. As a result, I've been messing about with various things to fill up all the little spots and make it interesting, and that's how I hit on the idea of what I'm going to call Scrounger Quiches.

I used the following recipe, devised in my own little head:

4 eggs
1 cup grated mozzarella
bit of grated romano for zing
1 onion, finely chopped and softened in a fry pan for 10 minutes
couple of handfuls of broccoli and cauliflower, steamed and then finely chopped
several slices ham, chopped
1/4 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix all together, use an ice cream scoop to evenly disperse in a greased muffin tray, bake at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Makes 10.

In hindsight, I'd use a smidge more flour and a smidge less oil next time, but overall, I was pretty happy with them. They tasted amazing, and it took all my willpower not to just scoff the whole lot before they even hit the lunchboxes. I'll definitely make these again when I have saddo veggies in the crisper I need to get rid of.

Now the Pinterest recipes. I've had a Pinterest account for yonks but I only used it sporadically until Noodles got an account and started finding all these yummers looking recipes everywhere. Now we're both addicted. I had some carrots wilting away so I found a recipe for carrot soup that turned out really well. I'd probably add a bit more cumin next time, but even so the flavour was beautiful, and I always feel piously healthy when I'm eating soup.

Next up was oats. I love porridge for breakfast, but I hate the instant kind so it's always a bit of a palaver having to stand there at the stove for 10 minutes or so cooking it each day. I've heard that slow cooked porridge was meant to be really good so I thought I'd give it a go. I had some steel cut oats I'd bought on a whim one day and hadn't done anything with, so I hauled those out along with my slow cooker, mixed them with water and some cinnamon and let them go. The smell was awesome - a kitchen full of the aroma of cinnamon. Om nom nom.

Unfortunately, the end result was... not so great. It looked like cat sick, and had an unpleasantly slimy, gloopy texture. I did eat a bowl of it this morning, but I didn't enjoy it, and I turfed the rest. I didn't even bother getting Noodles to try it - I knew she'd hate it. Oh well, at least it was just oats and water and not some schmancy expensive cut of meat or anything.

Next on the agenda, probably this weekend:
Crockpot Chicken
Super Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
Roasted Cauliflower
Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

Oh, and P.S. I also tried this with eggs, and then made McMuffins with wholemeal English muffins and slices of ham. Loved them - would eat one for breakfast every day! Unfortunately, my non-stick pans are not as non-stick as they used to be though. Next time I will use baking paper. Luckily I only made one egg each to test if it would work, so I didn't have to scrape out 12 of the damn things.

If you've tried any Pinterest recipes (successfully or not), link me so I can check them out!