Join me: Pinterest Food Challenge

Wow - Week 3 of the nutrition overhaul was a big week!

I spent a good amount of the week seeking out new recipes. Just as I (re)discovered my "Eat This, Not That!" books last time, duh! I know there are recipes for low-calorie, wholesome, and (most important of all) delicious food out there. Ones that don't make you feel like you're eating diet food.

Enter the Pinterest {Food} Challenge!!!

Food Inspiration
I discovered Pinterest a little over a year ago, and have been pinning hundreds of images from the internet and from my daily blog reading.
Follow my boards! ...Especially if you like home decor. :)

 

I have two pinboards dedicated to:  Food (the good, bad, and delicious) and Clean Food. Clean eating - in my book - is a relatively low calorie meal and snacks.

You can follow my food pinboards specifically.

If you're not familiar, Pinterest is:
a) an online "scrap book" where you can save all of your favorite images and inspiration from anywhere on the internet
b) a better place to waste time than Facebook (in fact, it's where I found this awesome picture of a giant bunny I wanted to save - not Photoshopped. Boy has his own calendar!)
 c) a huge time suck. "Go to bed!"
d) annoyingly unending source of ideas
e) more addicting than hard drugs  - you've been warned.

But c'mon, eating these treats is so much better than drooling over digital images of them. And so... I bring you the Pinterest Challenge!! (cue dramatic echo)

Please join me. It's a challenge that's all about less pinning and more doing!

Get a piece of the action:


1) Get on Pinterest. (If you need an invite, send me your email address.)


2) Start pinning. Seek out healthy- or clean-food recipes.


3) Critical step: Turn your pin (recipe) into reality. Go make it!


4) Leave comment below with a link to the original pin and/or your own blog post about your challenge (or send me your photos). Tell me how it went!

So, can Pinterest really help you lose weight and eat healthy new foods?  Let's all get back together in a week and find out! I've already started with a few, and of the food I pinned and actually made (some with modifications), here are my reviews:

1. Centsational Girl's Southwest White Bean & Chicken Chili.

Pinned here.

One word: amazing. Take one look at the ingredient list and you'll see that it's a super-clean recipe, providing lots of belly-filling fiber and tasty chicken. I used red peppers and scallions for a little bit of color. It was really good. Not bad for a recipe she made up with random stuff she had laying around her house! You must make this.

2. Sweet Potato skins - a healthy take on your fats-o-plenty tater skins

Pinned here.

I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand (like bacon bits?), so I had to make do with what I had. That, and I cut the sweet potatoes WAY too thin, so this did not turn out well. In fact, I ended up taking the leftovers and blending them up into sweet potato pancakes. Although they didn't taste nearly as great as they look in this picture, I'm still willing to try it again - the bacon bits, in hindsight, were probably a critical ingredient, giving it that sweet-and-savory flavor.

3. Roasted Edamame

Pinned here.

Edamame is the perfect powerfood! Packed with protein and fiber, what could you possibly hate about edamame? You can even buy it pre-shelled, for you people who hate working for your food! Once again, I tweaked the recipe and it bombed. For some reason, I thought that this would be more of a snack food - more of a dried edamame. It wasn't. Also, I got a little too excited about the curry powder I just bought and sprinkled some on. Not recommended. Don't think I'll be trying this recipe again, even if I do follow it exactly.

Want to see what's at the top of my want-to-make list? It's these mini ham and quinoa cups by Iowa Girl Eats. Pinned here.

I can't wait to try this recipe! You could fill these little quinoa cups with anything- The possibilities are endless! [little happy dance]

So, get pinning, cooking, and commenting! The Pinterest {food} Challenge starts now!