The Proof is in the Pin {Volume 3}

Well the past month flew by, and yet (again) I didn't have as much time (or any really) to craft as I'd like to. However, I did complete some pins, so that's all that matters. Though I do miss "crafting", so hopefully next month I will get to include some actual crafts. I've had a few questions about what this link-up is, and there are no rules really...but this is the general idea, and hopefully answers some of the questions I've been getting.

• Share any pins you've completed lately - 3 is how many I chose to do each month, but it's up to you how many you share. 
• They can be successes or fails...aka warnings not to waste your time. We all appreciate a good heads-up.
• No, you do not have to write a tutorial. If you changed something or want to modify it, a tutorial is a great idea. But if a good tutorial already exists? No need to re-invent the wheel. 
• Regardless, always link to the original source of the pin, as that's just good etiquette. :)
• No, I will not delete your link if you don't include my button. You can if you'd like to, and it's nice to link back here just so others can find the link-up list if they're interested. But if you don't take the time to link back I understand.
• Bottom line is this: my goal in doing this was to keep myself accountable to "try" the things I pinned. Pinterest is a huge awesome place and it's always great to know if the pins are all they claim to be, so that's why I love seeing stuff others have actually tried too. Now on with the show!

Pin #1 - Coloring Sheets from Photos: I'm always pinning things to distract do with Manny. I pinned this a long time ago (45 weeks to be exact - thanks Pinterest for that friendly reminder), but per usual, hadn't done it yet. However, with colder weather upon us, I've been searching for more indoor activities. Manny LOVES to color and we're always looking for new things to color (besides chairs and walls. You'd think those would be as old and boring as his coloring books by now, but for some reason, they're still rather enchanting to him.) Anyway, he asks multiple times a day to look at pictures on my phone, with his favorites being the day he met Thomas and riding the horse at the pumpkin patch. So I thought it'd be fun to turn those photos into coloring sheets! It was super simple, and worked great for our purposes. I didn't pay for the subscription service because I don't care if it's high resolution. I just right clicked on the image after it was rendered and saved it to my computer, then printed it out. The website is here. (and please remind me not to use the word "rendered" again.)

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Pin #2 - Two Ingredients Pumpkin Cake: I've seen this on Pinterest probably over a thousand times. Not kidding. If you're on Pinterest, you've seen it too. I finally decided to give it a try the other night. It was very easy to make, and they were really good! That being said, Patrick and I both agreed it definitely needs the apple cider glaze on them or else they're kind of bland. So with the glaze, you're now looking at five ingredients instead of two. Whoever said I don't do complicated recipes can eat their words thankyouverymuch. Recipe is here.

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Pin #3 - Melt in Your Mouth Chicken: This is another super popular pin that I finally tried, and am so glad I did! Stephanie linked it up a couple months ago, and it has since made it's way into our regular rotation. Stephanie mentioned this, and I'm so glad she did because I was confused too. The caption below the pin said to use Greek yogurt instead of mayo, but when you click through to the recipe, it calls for mayo. So this really was someone's recommendation to replace the mayo with Greek yogurt. Now I've never tried it with mayo, but it was really good with Greek yogurt, and obviously much healthier! (Can I talk about being healthy when my previous pin had to do with cake?) I agree with Stephanie in that mine looked NOTHING like the picture so I was thinking it was going to be a fail. But luckily it still turned out okay, and everyone loved it! Original recipe is here - and again, the way I made it was instead of 1 cup mayo, use 1 cup plain Greek yogurt. Oh, and Stephanie also shared this tip that I thought was worth passing along: I read somewhere recently that if you cook with Greek yogurt, you should do it in ceramic or glass pans, not metal. The acidity from the yogurt reacts with the metal and creates a bad flavor. Not sure if it’s true or not, just throwing that out there.

Well that's all for today! If you have anything to share, you can grab the button if you'd like and link-up below...it should be working this time. :)