Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Pinterest is making me fat.

Once upon a time, I was a pretty healthy eater. Oh, I had wine o'plenty. And the occasional sweet. But I tracked calories, made sure I was eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and read healthy food blogs all the time.

Now I'm completely uncommitted to such things. Sure, I'm not eating McDonald's every day. Just Chick Fila every week. And I never look at calorie count. I guess I think I kind of know what's healthy and what's not. Most days I eat lunch at home, and it's either a sandwich or a salad. But there is a decent amount of snacking. And dessert. Man, do I have a sweet tooth.

And then there's Pinterest. I think I have pinned over  150 recipes. I have tried quite a few of them. And most of the ones I keep trying are some kind of cake, muffin, or brownie. Sometimes, things look so good that I apparently pin them twice. Like this:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes 
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

In fact, I've noticed that I have pinned quite a few desserts that involve peanut butter and chocolate. I mean, honestly folks, what's not to love? This, in particular, is a must-try for me:

Pretzel Bottomed Reeses Peanut Butter Cup Cookie Pie 

Now, not all the food I've pinned is sinful. Some of it is healthy. I just haven't tested out any of the healthy stuff. 

Last week I made a cake from Cooking Light magazine. I have a love/hate relationship with that particular publication. If you've ever picked it up, you'll understand when I complain that most of their recipes call for now fewer than 73 ingredients. Many of those are expensive or obscure. I find it's easier to go to Trader Joe's and get some frozen entree for the family than it is to traipse around town to every ethnic market looking for bamboo shoots to go in my Asian chicken. Maybe that's just me, though.

So, the recipe I made last week was their Texas Sheet cake. It won their contest for best "light" chocolate recipe. Let me tell you: light it was not. The cake and the frosting contain a total of nearly 2 sticks of butter and five cups of sugar. And it is way too sweet. I'm not entirely sure how it won, but it doesn't make me want to rush to try out the other contenders. 

One recipe I will recommend, however, is this one, which I found off - you guessed it - Pinterest. It's not terribly light, but also not a complete gut-buster. It's meatless,  but if that doesn't appeal to you, I don't see why you couldn't add some chicken. Give it a try if you need a fairly quick weeknight meal. My kids ate it, too, so I consider it a success.
Spinach & Artichoke Pasta Bake 
Find the full recipe here
(note: I was out of sour cream so I substituted Greek yogurt and it turned out great)

Oh, and I'm sure you're just dying to follow me on Pinterest, so please do so here.




3 comments:

  1. LOL Carter! Just looking at all your yummy Pinterest recipe pins is making me fat! You're torturing me with them... I gave up sweets and bread for Lent and have been salivating over the pictures you pinned. I might be in trouble when Easter Sunday rolls around.

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  2. I love peanut butter and chocolate, but at least, you exercise like a crazy person. :)

    That spinach thing looks good. I will try it.

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  3. hahaha, i guess you're right
    we should spend our times to workout then :D

    but who to blame? Pinterest is a great way to socialized with everyone. :)
    I love Pinterest's unique interface. :)

    Just in case you haven't heard. There's also another site developed for Pinterest user to submit their favorite pins, discuss and do social voting as well. You might want to check it out.
    www.pinfaves.com

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