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, did, or created one of the pins on our Pinterest 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 10 days 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. (NOTE: Since there are 5 Tuesdays in July, I’m keeping the link open until Aug 6 so you have plenty of time. 🙂)

Don’t have a blog? No problem. Post your photo and a description on the RoL Facebook page. 🙂

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I know it is summer and I wish I could say that we have been frolicking at the beach and soaking in the sunshine but on the central coast of Cali we do not get our summer until fall. Right now it is cold, foggy and dreary. I’m looking out the window as I’m typing and there are two women walking by our house and one of them is wearing a parka. A parka, people!

So it is gray outside and I had a cup of hot soup for lunch. I’d share the soup recipe but I do not want those of you sweating out the heat to send me death threats so I’m going to fake it and pretend that the sun is shining and I see beautiful blue skies like this…

…and then I’ll share a quick and easy corn and tomato summer side dish. The original recipe is from Bobby Flay but I don’t think of it as a salsa since there are no chilies, making it perfect for my kiddos.

I make this all the time in summer since there is bountiful fresh corn and tomatoes waiting to be eaten. And it is a perfect dish to share at a beach or park potluck where food sits out in the sun.  You’ll find the original recipe here and my slightly altered version below.

Ingredients:

6-8 corn cobs, cleaned and cooked*
24 cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

(To be honest, I don’t usually measure any of this. It is a handful or two of tomatoes, 1/2  a bunch of cilantro, 1/2 a lime, a couple dashes of olive oil, etc. So play around with it. Next I want to try it with roasted corn and add avocado.)

Directions: Chop the tomatoes then toss them in a colander with ½ teaspoon of kosher salt. Let drain for 10-15 minutes. Clean the corn and cook in boiling water for 6 minutes. Cool. When done, remove the corn from the cob. Combine the corn, tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, lime and olive oil. Mix well. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Enjoy!

* Note: Although you can also use thawed frozen corn, nothing beats the incredible taste of fresh corn!

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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. Here is the html code:

<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>

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

You have 10 days to post your link, so if you can’t get things done by Tuesday, no worries, put it up when you can. We’ll be here. Have fun!

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

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, did, or created one of the pins on our Pinterest 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 week 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.

Don’t have a blog? No problem. Post your photo and a description on the RoL Facebook page. 🙂

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Here is what I made this week…

I have often made chunky salsa but I have never tried making one in the blender. I was excited when I saw the recipe for Chili’s Copycat Salsa from the Six Sister’s because it looked so easy. I know there are other recipes that use only fresh ingredients but when you need to make a quick salsa in five minutes, this is perfect. I changed the recipe a little to suit our taste – less heat, more lime and added fresh cilantro – and the family loooves it. Here’s what I used.

Ingredients:

• 1  28 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained (The original recipe called for whole tomatoes but I found that diced tomatoes makes a much better consistency.)
• 1 small can of jalapenos (I had a can of diced jalapenos and used only about a teaspoon of it to keep the salsa mild.)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 lime
• 1/2 a bunch of cilantro, stems removed (I like a lot of cilantro and used about 1/2 of what you see in the photo.)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Mix the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. See? Super easy.

Yum! Pass the chips. 😉

* * * * *

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. Here is the html code:

<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>

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

You have a week to post your link, so if you can’t get things done by Tuesday, no worries, put it up when you can. We’ll be here. Have fun!

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

Welcome to the new RoL Pinterest Party (formerly Making It Count.) Join me every 2nd and 4th Tuesday as we link up and share how we made, cooked, baked, crafted, did, or created one of the pins on our Pinterest 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 week 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. 🙂

* * * * *

For my contribution this week I wanted to make the family a dessert where I wasn’t worried about calories or fat content. I wanted to make something to celebrate Easter and the warmth of spring and give them a special treat. My father-in-law always goes to to the Farmer’s Market on the weekend and brings us back a big bag of fruit and veggies. This weekend he brought us three containers of fresh strawberries and I knew which pinned recipe I would try to make. It was the Strawberry Coconut Cake I had on my “What’s Baking” Board. The recipe is originally from Candy Jammies and I followed Michele’s recipe, except that I did not have any coconut extract so I just used extra vanilla.

Michelle lists the following Ingredients & Directions.

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix
4 T. strawberry gelatin powder
2 T. all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
2 T. granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. pureed strawberries
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. coconut extract
1/2 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced
1 c. coconut, finely shredded in food processor
several strawberries to fill cake and garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine dry ingredients in mixer bowl and stir together. Beat in oil, eggs, water, strawberry puree, vanilla, and coconut extract. Mix well. Stir in diced strawberries and coconut. Pour into two 8- or 9-inch round pans, greased and floured. Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the cakes are pulling away from the sides of the pans.

Put pans on wire racks and cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and leave on racks to cool completely. While cooling, make icing.

Spread some icing on first layer, then top with sliced strawberries. Place second layer on top and ice the rest of the cake. Cover entire cake in shredded coconut and garnish with fresh strawberries. I don’t tint my coconut pink like in the original recipe, because I think it’s so pretty to cut into the white cake and have the surprise of bright pink inside. I like the contrast of the white icing/coconut and pink cake.

The first time I made this, I did cupcakes. They’re really pretty with a small strawberry on each one.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
2 16-oz. boxes powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add vanilla. Slowly beat in powdered sugar until desired consistency. Add a tablespoon or so of milk if icing is too thick.

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Originally I was going to make a sheet cake or cupcakes like Michelle mentioned because the one time I tried a two layer cake it was so bad, I had to erase it from my memory. I didn’t want my debut post to be a total flop but I figured heck, go big or go home. So I went big. I got my first layer done.

And my second layer done.

It was very amateur, somewhat sloppy and looked nothing like Michelle’s fabulous photo but if you took a few steps back and squinted it didn’t look half bad for a rookie. Best of all, it tasted 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. Here is the html code:

<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>

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

You have a week to post your link, so if you can’t get things done by Tuesday, no worries, put it up when you can. We’ll be here. Have fun!