While I’m not known for my cooking – lol understatement – this quarantine has me becoming a Suzy Homemaker. So domestic!
I’ve been taking this opportunity to try my hand at a bunch of those Pinterest recipes I’ve saved over the years but never got around to actually making and I’ve gotta say, it’s been fun!
I still don’t think that cooking is worth the effort on an average weeknight (unpopular opinion), but right now we don’t have many other options so I’m looking on the bright side.
Below are some of the recipes I’ve made, my reviews of them, and notes on tweaks I made as I’ve had to improvise some due to groceries not being fully stocked slash us not having a every gadget called for, etc.
Read on and maybe you’ll find a recipe to make yourself during this extra time at home!
Note: I only have pictures of half of the dishes because the idea for this post just came to me last night, so I definitely recommend clicking through to see the full blog posts from their original sources!
Shrimp and Asparagus Pasta with Lemon Cream Sauce
Recipe via DesignLoveFest
What I Thought
DELICIOUS! It was easy, didn’t dirty a lot of dishes, and tasted like it came from a restaurant. This dish would be perfect for a date night in or a Friday in Lent.
Notes
I used pre-cooked shrimp because I have a fear of undercooking seafood and it worked perfectly. After I melted the butter, I threw in the shrimp and everything else all at once, skipping the step about cooking the shrimp.
I used dried oregano (1 tsp instead of 1 tablespoon fresh) because I had dried on hand and didn’t want to buy fresh just for this one recipe and again it worked perfectly.
The recipe says that after adding the cream and cheese at the end, it will only take 2-3 minutes to thicken but that’s crazy talk. I let it simmer for more like 10-15.
The recipe calls for linguine but I used spaghetti because the pasta selection at the groceries right now is bleak; I think really any pasta shape would work for this!
Lemon Swig Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe via The Recipe Critic
What I Thought
Do not make these! They are SO GOOD YOU’LL EAT THEM ALL! Haha!
These were so insanely delicious, none of us could stop eating them. Breakfast, snack, dessert, you name it.
The lemon is bright and adds a wonderful tang and they are just as good fresh out of the oven as they are chilled out of the fridge.
Notes
The recipe says to press a cup into them before putting them in the oven. I would recommend also doing so lightly right when they come out of the oven because they puff up a little when baked. This will give you a smoother/flatter surface for the frosting.
Do not go light on the frosting 🙂
A microplaner is ideal for zesting the lemon. If you don’t have one (we didn’t at the house I made them), you can carefully slice off the zest and then mince up really small. That’s what we had to do and it worked out fine but was a lot more labor-intensive than if I’d had my microplaner on hand.
Rosemary Focaccia Bread
Recipe via Gimme Some Oven
What I Thought
Another dish that looks really fancy but was actually pretty simple. As I wrote in the notes below there are a few things I would tweak next time but 100% I would make it again!
Note: picture above is before baking.
Notes
I couldn’t find the fancy flaked sea salt she mentioned so I used coarse sea salt that we had on hand and it did the trick. I think the key is simply making sure it’s bigger than normal sea salt so it has more of a crunch to it.
In retrospect, I would have probably rolled it out a little thinner than she said because it does rise when it cooks and ended up being a little fluffy for my personal preference, but it was delicious regardless.
Maybe would have done another 2-3 minutes in the oven to see if it would have crisped up a bit more, but again it was delicious even still!
We don’t own a standing mixer so I hand-kneaded the dough and we also don’t have rolling pin so I just used a wine bottle lol.
Moscow Mule with Ginger Kombucha
Recipe: Substitute ginger kombucha for ginger beer in your favorite Moscow Mule recipe.
What I Thought
This was a riff off my absolute favorite Moscow Mule from HG Sply Co in Dallas where they use ginger kombucha in place of the typical ginger beer. It gives it a little more of a bite and isn’t quite as sweet – man oh man it is delicious.
I only had a sip since I am currently 6 months pregnant and thus not throwing back cocktails these days, but it tasted very close to the HG Sply one. I’d call it a success!
Notes
We used GT’s Gingerade and it was fantastic. If you are in Texas, the brand HG Sply Co uses is Buddha’s Brew (it’s based out of Austin!) and you can often find it at Whole Foods. Sidenote: their Peach Mint flavor is incredible so grab a bottle of that too!
Fresh is best when it comes to the lime! If you absolutely cannot find limes, try this brand of bottled lime juice. I would only get the little squeezey lime bottle as a last resort.
Mini Pigs in a Blanket with Everything but the Bagel Seasoning
Recipe via Chelsea’s Messy Apron
What I Thought
An elevated twist on a classic! These would make a fantastic appetizer or tailgate/party snack, but also made a really quick and easy lunch. The addition of the salty Everything but the Bagel seasoning was a nice touch.
Notes
While the recipe makes an everything but the bagel seasoning from scratch I used the store-bought version from Trader Joe’s.
I totally forgot the step of brushing the crescent dough with dijon before placing and rolling the mini beef franks. Next time I will definitely add that step, but they were delicious nonetheless!
We don’t have a brush for the egg wash so I just used my fingers (don’t worry I washed my hands before!)
I did a half batch of the dipping sauce and even still it was WAY more than we needed. You could likely cut it down to a fourth batch and still have plenty. They were also very good without any dipping sauce at all!
Instant Pot Panang Curry
Recipe via Paint the Kitchen Red
What I Thought
My biggest craving during this second trimester? Panang curry. I know, so random! After too many evenings of spending money on take-out, I decided to try my hand at making my own.
The ingredients appeared really authentic and it seemed like it would be easy enough in the Instant Pot, but for me this may have been more work than it was worth. IDK maybe I just need to try my hand at it again and make some tweaks. It’s not that it was bad but it wasn’t nearly as good as the stuff from the restaurants and it took a long time to prep the ingredients. However, Matt really liked it!
Notes
I was able to find the exact brands of ingredients recommended in the recipe at a local Asian supermarket, but many of them can be found via Amazon. Or, many normal grocery stores carry other brands if you aren’t so particular!
I used snow peas and wouldn’t recommend. They got kind of mushy. I would recommend snap peas or green beans instead, as the recipe recommended.
This may have been user error because I have not used the Instant Pot many times, but when I went to vent after cooking, the steam that came out made a MESS! Rather than just being clear steam, it was steamy broth! I quickly grabbed a towel and held that a few inches over it but by the time it was done my towel was completely soaked with orange liquid!
Next time I would add more peanut butter because it was too light for my taste (and I’m not generally a PB fan). It needed to be thicker and have a richer flavor. I might also include some chopped up peanuts.
I forgot to get basil so did not add that at the end and don’t think it altered the final product too much.
Baked Pasta alla Vodka
Recipe via The Modern Proper
What I Thought
Really yummy! The recipe makes A TON so this is a fantastic meal to make one night and then eat for lunch all throughout the week.
100% will be making again!
Notes
I actually made quite a few tweaks on this one, some out of necessity and some due to personal preference.
My biggest tweak is that the recipe is technically a “baked penne” but due to the quarantine, I couldn’t find penne anywhere. I checked three different stores! Therefore, I used shells instead and honestly I would again! They were a perfect size and the shape holds the sauce and fillings really well.
I *despise* fennel which usually rules out any recipe that calls for Italian sausage. Therefore I used plain sausage. However, I didn’t consider that Italian sausage also contains other spices and my sausage would be a little lackluster without those other ones. Next time I will add in some Italian seasonings with something along the lines of this recipe minus the fennel so I capture those other spices.
I like spicy so I added red pepper flakes into the pasta before baking in addition to the sprinkling on top once out of the oven. 10/10 recommend if you like a little kick.
I would use a little more cream and parmesan than called for in the recipe. It was delicious as is, but a teeny bit on the dry side.
I would add more kale next time since we couldn’t taste it so might as well get some more greens! However, I would cut up smaller or possibly buy the pre-chopped bags from the grocery.
You will want to read the instructions all the way through before starting this one. It’s not a difficult recipe, but there are steps, and some take a long time, i.e. bake for 45 minutes, then uncover and bake another 15. You’ll need to take all that time into account or you’ll be eating at 8 pm like we did haha!
This reheated beautifully in the microwave.
One Skillet Greek Meatballs with Lemon Butter Orzo
Recipe via Half Baked Harvest
What I Thought
I was so excited for this recipe because a) it’s “one skillet” b) it sounded delicious and c) I keep hearing people rave about Half Baked Harvest on Instagram!
In the end though, it was A LOT of work and I don’t think it was worth it. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious! Especially the lemony, buttery orzo!!! But there were so many steps and multiple times where you had to take everything out of the skillet and put on a plate, then transfer back, then move to a plate again, etc so there were more dishes than I anticipated.
Notes
If I were to make this again, I would do the orzo and the meatballs and skip the whipped feta and sun-dried tomato balsamic vinaigrette. They made the dish look extremely fancy as the plating looked really nice, but they were just too many steps on top of the rest of the cooking already called for.
We didn’t have a food processor so I whipped the feta by hand by mashing with a fork and then whisking and it worked fine. I presume that a food processor would have been better and more fluffy, though!
Spicy Chicken Pieces Taco Salad
Recipe via A Cup of Jo
What I Thought
Great weeknight recipe that can be used all kinds of ways. The recipe itself is just for the “spicy chicken pieces” and Jo gives ideas of ways you can use them, i.e. salad, tacos, enchiladas, sandwiches.
It calls for minimal seasonings, all of which you likely keep in your pantry, and the prep takes all of 5 minutes, just chop some chicken and onions.
100% will be making these again!
Notes
If you don’t like things super spicy, you can absolutely use the seasonings called for but use way less. That will give it some flavor without being too spicy.
We put our chicken over a salad of romaine, pico de gallo, guacamole, avocado, and pickled jalapeños – YUM!
Lemony Chicken Stir Fry
Recipe via IDN Timesnews
What I Thought
So good and a perfect weeknight meal since it’s pretty quick and easy to whip up and doesn’t require a ton of ingredients. I’m already planning to make this again!
Notes
I make my rice with chicken broth (I use this bouillon) rather than just plain water and it gives a really nice flavor with more depth.
The sauce in the dish is delicious but I wish it made more because it’s not enough to be able to really drizzle over the rice so we topped ours with some soy sauce. I imagine a little bit of the Trader Joe’s soyaki sauce would also be really yummy!
There you have it, 10 Pinterest recipes I’ve made so far during this corona quarantine!
If you’ve made anything notable, please do share! And don’t forget you can always follow me on Pinterest HERE!
