Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 1st Tuesday of the month as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

Not on Pinterest? No problem. Link-up your own creation to inspire us so we can pin in to our own boards. It can be a recipe, sewing project, Catholic craft, homeschool project, organizing/ homemaking tip, themed birthday party, whatever you’d like.

Don’t have a post ready? The link-up will be open for a month so there’s still time. Plus, feel free to link up a new post or an older post that hasn’t had much traffic lately. 🙂

* * * * *

I tried this recipe at the beginning of summer and we liked it so much that we have had it countless times since. It is the  Southwestern Black Bean Salad from Skinny Taste.com. I changed it a little to suit our taste.

Ingredients

• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 fresh corn cobs, cooked and kernels removed.
• 1 handful of cherry tomatoes, halved; quartered is they are “Costco” large.  (or 1 regular tomato, diced)*
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 bunch of fresh cilantro, stems removed and chopped
• dash or two of garlic powder
• salt and fresh pepper to taste
• (optional) 1 hass avocado, diced to top each serving**
• (optional) For a spicy dish, add 1 diced jalapeno

Directions

In a large bowl, combine all your ingredients. Stir well. Let sit in the fridge for 20 – 30 minutes before serving.

* If you use cherry tomatoes, you can dice them or simply cut them in half. To remove the excess juice I use a trick I learned from Bobby Flay. After cutting the tomatoes, please them in a colander with a few dashes of salt. Give them a few shakes and let sit for 10-15 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the rest of your ingredients.

** The original recipe has you mix the avocado in the bowl before serving, which is fine if there are no leftovers. Otherwise the avocado gets brown and mushy, even with the lime. When I use avocado I simply add some on top of each serving. The recipe is also tasty without it all together.

However you put it together, the results are the same. Delicious!

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for a month. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards. (New and old posts welcome.)

* * * * *

June is a crazy busy month so quick and easy dinners are a must. Lately we’ve had more foggy days than sunny days, so last week I thought I’d try a tortilla soup. I am always on a quest for the perfect tortilla soup. There was a restaurant I went to years ago (can’t even remember the name) and I had the best tasting tortilla soup. Ever since then I have been trying to find a recipe that was similar. This was not the same but it was still good and the family loved it. I adapted the recipe from the original at Fit Mama Real Food.com

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients

• 2-3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes with green chili
• 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cups fresh (or frozen) corn
• 1/2 – 1 cups of water (I tend to go less since a lot of water accumulates in the slow cooker.)
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 lime
• 1 handful of cilantro, stems removed

Directions

Place all ingredients except the chicken in your slow cooker. Place chicken on top. Cover with liquid. Cook on high 4-5 hours or low 8-9 hours. When done, shred the chicken with two forks. Return to slow cooker. Stir.

Serve in bowl. Top with cilantro and the juice of a lime wedge. Enjoy!

(My pin for this recipe is here.)

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd or Instagram. (It’s set to private but I’ll approve you.) 😉

PPS – This post may contain affiliate links.

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

* * * * *

Sneaky Spaghetti with Pureed Veggies

The original recipe appeared on Mommy’s Kitchen.net.

When I saw this recipe on Pinterest I thought it would be perfect for certain kiddos of mine that have a hard time eating their veggies. I was also excited to try out my new food processor so choosing this sneaky spaghetti was a no brainer. I started out by steaming the veggies I would be using in the sauce – zucchini, carrots, celery, red and green peppers. Here is the recipe with my notes.

Ingredients:
1 – lb ground turkey
2 – sweet Italian sausage links, remove casings (I used chicken sausage with no additives/nitrates.)
1 – small to medium onion, chopped
2 – cloves garlic, minced (I doubled the garlic.)
1 – orange, green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and pureed
1/2 – cup carrots, shredded or pureed
1/2 – cup zucchini, shredded or pureed
1 – medium rib of celery, chopped or pureed
1 – 28 oz can Italian style tomatoes in puree
1 – 14 oz can Italian diced tomatoes, with juice (I didn’t have Italian style so I used fire roasted tomatoes and just added a bit more basil.)
1 – 6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 – cup water (if using frozen pureed veggies omit the water)
2 – 3 tablespoon sugar (I used unrefined coconut sugar.)
1 – bay leaf
1 – teaspoon dried basil
1/2 – tablespoon dried oregano
1/2 – teaspoon crushed thyme
1 – teaspoon salt
1 – 16 oz package spaghetti noodles (I used whole wheat pasta.)

Directions:

In a large sauce pan, crumble the turkey and Italian sausage. Add the onion and garlic and cook over medium heat until the meat is cooked through. Drain off any fat. Add the meat mixture to a 4 – 6 qt crock pot.

Stir in the tomato paste and all the canned tomatoes. Use a large spoon to break up the whole tomatoes. Stir in the pureed vegetables (bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, celery).

Add the spices, sugar, water and bay leaf. Cover and cook on low for 6 – 8 hours. Stirring occasionally. Serve over cooked pasta.

Shredded Vegetables:
If using shredded vegetables add the carrots, celery and zucchini when the meat mixture is fully cooked and drained. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are limp, about 5 minutes.

Recipe yields: 6 -8 servings

The spaghetti was thick, chunky and delicious. Although there is a little more prep time to this recipe, everyone loved it and it tasted even better as leftovers. This will now be my go to recipe for spaghetti, especially if I have extra veggies I need to use up. 🙂

If you have any other favorite recipes for sneaking in veggies, let me know in the comments.

If you are on Pinterest, let me know so I can follow you. You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.flove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉

Welcome to the RoL Pinterest Party. Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, planned, organized, followed or created one of the pins on our Pinterest boards OR share something original that others can pin onto their boards.

* * * * *

THE PIN: Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

I first saw this recipe on my sister-in-law Maria’s Facebook page and I was less than enthused. Black beans?? Sounds gross. But I couldn’t help but wonder how something that looks so yummy be that bad.Curiosity got he best of me and I decided to make a batch for the kids’ Sunday treat. I didn’t want to use a recipe with regular sugar but I figured I had better follow it the first time then I could experiment the second time. So for the sugar I used 1/2 the amount white sugar and 1/2 the amount unrefined coconut sugar.

The original recipe appeared on Hip2Save.com.

Ingredients

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8×8 pan. Place beans in food processor and process until mashed. Add eggs, vanilla, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, sugar and oil. Process until smooth. Pour into pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

The recipe is really easy but unfortunately I do not have a food processor. I tried using my blender but it wasn’t strong enough. I landed out mashing the heck out the beans with a fork. It worked fairly well, except that there were a few small pieces of bean skin that I had to pick out. As far as taste, they were actually really good. The texture was different from a normal brownie, it was more crumbly, best eaten with a fork.

However, the kids had no issues with them and gobbled them up! 🙂

* * * * *

Now it’s your turn.

1. Choose your creation, share about it and snap a photo if you can.

2. In your post, link back the original blogger/idea, rather than your Pinterest pin. That way credit goes to the proper person. 🙂 (But feel free to add your Pinterest profile link so we can follow you!)

3. Add a link back here so others can play along.

4. If you want to use it, here is the html code for the logo:

<a href=”http://www.flove.com/blog/?p=2157″><img title=”Revolution of Love Blog – Pinterest Party &amp; Link-up” src=”http://www.revolutionoflove.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/pinterest_2_medW32-300×240.jpg” alt=”” width=”300″ height=”240″ /></a>

5. Link up below. Make sure you’re sending us to your actual post, and not to your general blog address.

The link up will be active for 10 days. Have fun!

Lastly, you can follow me on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/rol_bobbi/. 🙂

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, GoodReads or Instagram. 😉