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Pinterest! It is the wonderful time suck that many of us love to use. I was thinking this morning of how often I use their website. Let's just say, I use it a lot. Lot lot lot. Which led me to think about some ways that you can utilize their website to improve your own. Are you ready? Let's jump in.

1. Create a visual recipe index.

One way to (somewhat) quickly create a visual recipe index without having to mess with creating one hosted at your own site is to create a board on Pinterest.

How to do it: 

After you have added the Pin It code to your posts, simply click and add them all to the boards of your choice. You can do one board and pile them all in there, or create categories if you would like.

Alternatively, you can put the Pin It code into your internet browser of choice and go through your archives and pin each of your old recipes.

It takes a bit of time but it really isn't too bad compared to creating a recipe index from scratch and having to upload all the photos, set up links, and hope and pray that you don't mess up somewhere along the way and lose your work.

2. Allow your readers to easily pin your posts by filling in the info for them!

When a reader clicks your Pin It button the box will pop up with all the information already in it.

The end result! With a clickable link to your website.

How to add the Pin It Button for Web Sites:

The main page we are working with. The top half is the info we need to fill in. The bottom half is the generated code that we need to add to our website.

Taking a closer look at the important stuff. There are three boxes to fill out.

URL of the page the pin is on: Be sure to use the direct link to your post. Not to a category, or a comment section, or anything silly like that.

URL of the image to be pinned: Go to the published post and right click the image and select Copy image URL.

Once you have all the fields filled in, copy the code generated and insert it into the HTML of your post. Update and you are done!

3. Gain exposure like woah. 

Did I ever imagine that 120,000 people would pin a very basic recipe for Cheesy Garlic Sticks? Nope, but they did!

Or 59,000 pins for my trashy Mexican Dorito Casserole? No way!

4. Analyze what is popular on your site.

At a quick glance I can see what has recently been pinned. People really like my trashy casserole, what can I say.

How to do it:

Type the following URL into your browser, replacing your URL with mine. Notice that when I typed in my personal URL at the end, I left out the 'www.' part. Just put in the address without that.

5. Organize your inspiration for future posts.

How to do it:

Oh, and before I forget, be sure to follow me!  

If you have not had the pleasure of eating a sweet potato & black bean burrito, the time is now folks! I love making freezer burritos just for the fact that you can spend one session of time quickly preparing them, then store them in the fridge or freezer and they are ready to grab when you are rushing through the week.

The spices I have included to add to the bean mixture are just a guide. Whatever sounds good to you, use it! I would just recommend that you taste the two components of the sweet potatoes and the bean mixture to check for any needed seasonings before you assemble the wrap. Ready for the recipe?



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Okay folks today I have a very special treat for you. This Orange and Balsamic Chicken was dinner last night and let me just say, I have not enjoyed a chicken recipe this much in a long time. It was divine.

This recipe has only a handful of ingredients which is always a plus in my book. You start by cooking chicken thighs skin side down in a pan. The reason this is important is it lets the skin get really crispy. If you have ever cooked chicken in the oven and the skin is still fatty and gross, this is the solution!

Once the skin is crispy, transfer the chicken to a roasting dish and throw it in the oven to finish cooking. While it bakes, you make a super fast sauce and you are done. Amazingly tasty and easy. Here we go!

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Happy Wednesday folks! Today I have a delicious treat for you to help you get through the rest of the week. Delicious and moist Strawberry Bread topped off with a sweet Strawberry Butter. I have to say, the strawberry butter is what took this recipe from great to pretty damn amazing.  If you can, please make both and try them together. The recipe for the yummy Strawberry Bread comes from Closet Cooking. Many thanks to Kevin for allowing me to post the recipe from his website!


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Okay folks. Today we are making a very sweet, very delicious Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. There are many a recipe for Upside-Down Cakes that call for cake mixes but we are gonna go with the from scratch route today. Having tried many alternate recipes over the years for this particular cake, I have to go with making it from scratch. It just tastes so good!

If you have never tried it before, it is a delicious yellow cake that is saturated with a caramel sauce (thank you butter and brown sugar!) and studded with pineapple and cherry pieces. This particular recipe has a nice addition of pecan halves which add a bit of crunch and flavor to the cake.

The one nit picky point about this recipe is that a cast-iron skillet is used instead of a cake pan. You can use whatever pan you'd like, but you will have to wing it when it comes to altering the temperature and cooking time.

If you'd like, you can serve it with a bit of lightly sweetened whipped cream, or for the more indulgent folks, a scoop of vanilla ice cream.


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This recipe comes from my mom. It utilizes some shortcuts, like a rotisserie chicken and frozen broccoli spears.  It is ultra comforting and a delicious meal I loved growing up.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole
Makes 6 servings

• 2 boxes broccoli spears
• 1 rotisserie chicken, chicken pieces removed
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 can mayo (use empty cream of chicken soup can)
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 c. dried breadcrumbs

1. Spray a 9" x 13" baking dish.

2. Thaw and drain broccoli spears in a colander. Place in bottom of baking dish.

3. Tear apart roaster chicken. Add chicken pieces on top of broccoli.

4. Mix cream of chicken soup with mayo and paprika. Spread on chicken. Top with cheese.

5. Melt butter in skillet and add dried breadcrumbs. Mix. Toast in pan  until butter is melted and incorporated.

6. Add breadcrumb mixture to top of cheese.

7. Bake at 350-f degrees for 30 minutes.

Recipe from my mom.

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If you are a salmon lover and are looking for a new way to serve it to your family, I have an amazing recipe for you today. Are you familiar with American Spoon Foods? It is sort of a foodie lovers dream. They have all sorts of jams, preservers and grilling sauces available. The only downside is the price. Our favorite item to buy was the Apple Cider Grilling Sauce, but at almost $10 a jar, the price was just not reasonable.

My mom has been perfecting her own Apple Cider Grilling Sauce copycat recipe for some time now and she has finally done it. Compared to the packaged sauce that we had bought in the past, we think our version has much more flavor and tastes amazing.

The main flavors we have are apple, spices and onions.  You may wonder why we didn't use an actual apple cider in the recipe. This is because the concentrate and the old bay seasoning provide the spices you would normally have in an apple cider, plus a little bit extra like celery seed.

One ingredient that some cooks may not have on hand is the Fox Point Seasoning made by Penzeys. If you are wondering what to sub for this, it is a mixture of freeze dried shallots, chives and scallions.


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