From pinned to practice

I was a Pinterest machine this week!  I tried out SIX pins in the past week!  First off, my favorite...

#1. Burger "secret sauce"

Source: allrecipes.com via Pamela on Pinterest

The official name of this recipe is "Best Burger Sauce" but really, they should just call it "best sauce ever" because you'll want to put it on everything!!  At least I did. :)  It's a pretty simple recipe - mayo, ketchup, mustard and a few spices, but it is SO GOOD.  In the past week I've had it with burgers (obviously that's where it started), sandwiches, farmer sausage, french fries and oven-baked potato wedges.  The recipe made a pretty big batch (and I even halved it), and we don't eat burgers that often, which is what initially led me to try it out on other things.  Then I discovered it was good with pretty much anything, and just kept going.  Next time, though, I'll have to make it with some light mayo if I'm going to keep putting it on everything!!




#2. Peanut butter banana oatmeal squares

Source: gingerbreadbagels.com via Pamela on Pinterest

(sorry, no picture of my own)
After last week's delicious peanut butter banana "sushi", I was eager to try out this breakfast recipe, especially since everyone in the comments raved about how good it was.  However, I was a bit disappointed.  I didn't really like it, and I don't think anyone around here really did, since I just threw out the last few pieces that had gone moldy on the counter.  It reminds me of baked oatmeal, and I think it would be better eating it hot, and maybe drizzled with some syrup.


#3. Homemade Play Dough

Source: musingsfromasahm.com via Pamela on Pinterest

We go through a LOT of Play-Doh.  Here's my "bad mommy" confession - I let Emmett play with it on the floor in the office (which has been transformed into a kids' craft/play room), and it often gets forgotten and dried out on the floor.  However, I've found that cleaning up dried up Play-Doh off the floor is actually relatively easy, so I let him do it.  Sometimes I'll try to make sure that it ends up back in the can when he's done, but a lot of our Play-Doh was at the stage where it's not nice and fresh anymore, but it's also not dried out enough to throw out, so leaving it out to dry actually gives me an excuse to just throw it out.  That worked for a while, but then our supply started running low, so I decided to try making it myself.

This was my first time making play dough, and it turned out so well that I'll probably never buy the stuff again!  I actually made it twice this past week.  First we made orange (I used Wilton gel color to get the really vibrant color) and then, at Annika's request, we made purple.  For the purple I used Kool-Aid to color it, and I was quite surprised that grape Kool-Aid doesn't make purple play dough.  It was more of a turquoise-blue color, so I quickly added some red food coloring before Annika noticed.  The Kool-Aid makes it smell really yummy, though.  It's like playing with a big wad of grape bubble gum. :)

#4. & #5. Harvest pumpkin dip & Pumpkin pie spice

Source: tasteofhome.com via Pamela on Pinterest

Source: mybakingaddiction.com via Pamela on Pinterest

These two go together because I used the pumpkin pie spice in the pumpkin dip (sorry, no pictures of my own).  I made the dip for taking to my Y Neighbours potluck brunch yesterday.  I served it with apple slices and ginger snaps.  I thought it was quite yummy, but there was so much food there that quite a lot was leftover (and the recipe makes quite a lot of dip - I'd recommend making this for a large gathering or party, not just for your family at home).  Afterwards, Emmett thought it was really good though - I spread it on some cookies for him, and he licked it all off and left the cookies!


#6. "Magic" shower cleaner - Dawn dish soap and vinegar

Source: lifecraftsandwhatever.blogspot.com via Pamela on Pinterest

(again, sorry no pictures of my own - I guess I was too busy this week to take pictures!)
This worked really well for me - got the shower and tub sparkling clean - but I have to say that I'm a little skeptical about the "magic" part of the description.  I followed the directions on the website (mix equal parts soap and hot vinegar, apply, let sit, then wipe and rinse), and I let it sit for about 2 hours.  The website mentioned leaving it to sit overnight for really stubborn soap scum.  I'm guessing, though, that almost any kind of cleaner would work like "magic" if you let it sit that long - no??  Usually I use Norwex cleaning paste to clean the shower/tub, and I just start scrubbing with it right away.   However, if I put a layer of it on and then waited 2 hours, would I need to do the scrubbing?  Would it also work like "magic"?  Just a thought.  I might try it out next time and see how it compares.