Happy Thanksgiving! I hope your family is all well, your turkey's cookin' up scrumptious, and your pies are perfect. Ok....let's keep it realistic...I hope there's not too many arguments, that the stuffing doesn't all fall out of your turkey and that your pies don't get too burned. Or maybe that's just my house, lol. But really, I hope it's a wonderful day for everyone. I think it is wonderful and awe-inspiring that we have a whole day where the nation comes together in thanks.
I've got my double decker pumpkin pie done and in the fridge, next up...the yams.
I thought I'd give you a roundup of the last of our Thanksgiving Pinstrosities sent in to us (and we'll even pull up a few from the archives, because they're just good). I won't go into depth today in how to fix each (don't want to get behind on the cooking schedule, lol) but we'll do what we can.
Okay, first up...
The Original Pin
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| http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/fall-craft-projects#slide-2 |
Nichole said, "I must say, I was at 100% when it came to Pinterest creations. Everything had either tasted yummy, looked good, or at least was something that I wouldn't feel bad about. Well, I was 100% with Pinterest until today. Today, I attempted the multi-colored leaves sugar cookie with a leaf cookie-cutter. The original pin looked easy enough. The description of the pin had the details written in it, add food coloring to parts of sugar cookie dough. Put strips of each dough color in an alternating arrangement and roll the dough flat. Cook and ta-da…the perfect fall treat! I followed these directions exactly. Things looked as expected, until the timer went off that they were done."
The Pinstrosity
"And this my friends, is what mine turned out like! The colors kind of lightened up. Also, for some reason the dough lost the leaf shape that I had given it.The good news is that my one year old likes them and doesn't care about the way they look :)"
Don't you love how so many cookie recipes show an unfinished product as their advertisement? Who knows how their cookies turned out, all there is on the site is the cut out dough pieces. Oh well. Cookies are finicky. You'd think you could just "make sugar cookies" and have it be fine, but there are so many variations between sugar cookie recipes that you can get such varied results. It looks like here a stiffer cookie dough is needed. These look like the soft and fluffy cookies I love, but to have a cookie that keeps it shape you'll probably need a more firm cookie in the end. A shortbread or a stiffer sugar cookie recipe will work better with these.
Ready for #2?
The Original Pin
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| http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2009/10/make-a-three-dimensional-fall-tree-with-felt-leaves.html |
Calvin said, "Here at the information desk, part of our job is to decorate. Searching for fall craft ideas, I stumbled upon this gem.
A 3-D tree? That works perfectly!
Of course, I lacked some all of the required materials, so scissors, tape, and four colors of craft paper had to do."
The Pinstrosity
Not bad for improvising!
Alrighty...Pinstrosity #3 coming right up.
The Original Pin
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| http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/recipes/r-penzeysSlowCookerPotatoSoup.html |
Oh man...I think I might test this one out...that looks scrumptious!!
Michelle said, "In Minnesota, fall means many things - colorful leaves, cool weather, pumpkin patches and apple farms, and hot and hearty soups.
I pinned a recipe for a delicious looking slow cooker potato soup way back in July and have been anxiously awaiting a brisk fall day to make it.
Yesterday was that day.
And this is the soup."
The Pinstrosity
"I followed the directions exactly. I even went to 2 stores looking for Chicken Soup Base."
"But as you can see, the cream cheese curdled immediately and floated around on top instead of ever mixing in with the potato chunks. It looked like someone vomited in my crock pot. And speaking of the potatoes, I've made potato soup in the past where you semi-mash the potatoes after they're soft so the soup gets thick.This recipe didn't mention that, and so it basically turned into cubes of potatoes floating around in water and cottage cheesy cream cheese curds."
"Needless to say, I had my husband stop and pick up some sushi for dinner.
We threw the vomit down the sink."
I'd imagine they left out the smash up the potato part when they typed up the recipe...but maybe not. I'll test that out when I make it (man...I have so many things I want to test and not enough time). This recipe just sounds so yummy (well, the original does...Michelles...not so much, lol).
Pinstrosity #4!
The Original Pin
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| http://kidsfunreviewed.com/thanksgiving-turkey-rice-krispy-treats-with-oreos/ |
Stephanie said, "The pin is the darker, more put together looking picture...mine is the white body mess!!!"
The Pinstrosity
Now honestly, these aren't bad at all. I think it's one of those things where you can see all the flaws in the things you make but other people think it's fine. True, they aren't quite as tidy as the original, but not bad. Don't be too hard on yourself Stephanie!
Who's up for #5?
The Original Pin
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| http://www.babyrabies.com/2012/10/thom-the-turkey-tulle-wreath-tutorial/#.UK5dT4fomqg |
Buddy said, "So I saw this Turkey Wreath on Pinterest a few weeks back and thought that it was simple enough to make that it would be a great way to start off the holiday season. The original pinner had a bunch of different ones that celebrated various holidays. It looked simple enough right? Well the first problem I ran into was find enough tulle to do the wreath. Come to find out tulle is "not in season" or that's what the fabric department at my local fabric store told me. I ended up finding the 2 spools of the yellow and red at a local chain craft store (6" wide, 50 feet long). The orange however I luckily stumbled across at a different craft store, but had to cute it to size. The Styrofoam and yarn were simple."
"The entire project took about as long as it took me to watch the Day After Tomorrow (I blame Hurricane Sandy for the choice in movie). The color of the nose was simply painted on using 2 parts sunny yellow to about 1 part pumpkin orange. Wrapping the yarn around the base for the turkey body was pretty tedious (and probably could be been substituted for brown fabric or wide ribbon). The knot that was suggested in the directions was equally as confusing, and I ended up just trading it for a basic knot. His feathers are a little, shall we say lack luster, but still gets the point across."
The Pinstrosity
It took me a second to realize the North Carolina State emblem wasn't hanging from his beak...I was a little confused at first. Anyway...I think the main issue here is the amount of tulle and it's placement. Now there's actually enough tulle tied on there...but the ends were left a little long. I think that if they were just trimmed up a little that'll help some. And then if the tulle was rotated a little more toward the front rather than the back or it would help the tulle look more puffed out and filled in. Other than that, it really isn't bad at all.
And then...shall we bring up a couple Pinstrosity pictures from that past that fit in with Thanksgiving? I think we should.
There's this one that Emilee posted up a few days ago:
The Original Pin
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| http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/11/thanksgiving-entertainment-for-kids.html |
The Pinstrosity
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| http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/11/turkey-trouble.html |
It still cracks me up, I love it.
And then there's this one that we posted back in July:
The Original Pin
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| http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/turkey-cookie-treats/31890610-3bcf-4d9e-8706-91445256525b?source=searchresultpage |
The Pinstrosity
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| http://pinstrosity.blogspot.com/2012/07/turkey-trouble.html |
BAhahaha, I still LOVE this one.
Well, that's it for today. Again, I hope your day is wonderful wherever you are. Life is what you make of it, so make it wonderful! Happy Thanksgiving!
Love all of these - but especially the tulle wreath. The after (which wasn't horrible) is exactly what I would come up with! This is what I love about crafting - even the "pinstrosites" were made with love.
ReplyDeleteIt looks to me as though Pin #4 used cocoa krispies rather than regular rice krispies, hence the darker bodies.
ReplyDeleteLaughing out loud, honestly. The poor tulle turkey looks like he's hanging upside down, awaiting his demise, which was likely given the menu of today's meal.
ReplyDeleteI actually think the tulle turkey wreath is adorable! I like it better than the original, though the placement of the NC State sign did throw me off at first.
ReplyDelete--Julie
For the leaf cookies I suggest using a non spread sugar cookie dough like Wilton's recipe, it will keep its shape and stay the same size even when baked. Also, instead of stripes of the colored dough side by side and the rolling them take small balls of each color, smush them together and roll that. The lines aren't as distinct (the colors do marble together a bit) but ther won't be the flaking and separation. I used to make two toned cookies all the time for holidays and that was how I would do it.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah and lots and lots of food coloring to get the dough that dark. Use a gel food coloring like Wilton or americolor so it won't add to much moisture to the dough.
ReplyDeleteFor the cream cheese in the soup, you really have to make sure it's room temperature. Even then, it's like tempering a custard. You have to add a bit of milk/hot soup to it and mix, then a bit more. It's a royal pain to get the cream cheese to melt smoothly into the soup, but it is possible. Of course, if I had an immersion blender, I'd try that first.
ReplyDeleteI love the wreath! I actually prefer the "bad" version to the pin version, because it looks less styled.
ReplyDeleteI stumbled upon your blog via Pinterest (Of course!) and I have to say I LOVE it! Thank you, Thank you! Please keep the posts coming. I will continue to read the posts and listen to your advice!
ReplyDeleteAsh Baumann
Your cookies lost their shape because the dough was too warm when it went in the oven - cut them out, put them on the cookie sheet, then toss them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
ReplyDeleteSamantha is right about the cream cheese: you have to add it when it's totally room temperature. If the middle is still cold it will form chunks. And, as the directions say, you add it at the end, never the beginning in a crock pot (I've done it, but it tends to separate). Mmmm, it is potato soup time of year!
ReplyDeleteI call the turkey cookies with the candy corn a win. Close enough.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog!! I'm scrolling through all the past posts just to get a laugh, but I'm getting great ideas too! I've actually made a version of the turkey cookies and I still love them! I'll be making them this Thanksgiving for sure!
ReplyDelete