Pinterest – Page 2 – The Creative Salad

Decorating Easter Eggs With Tissue Paper

Last week we shared with you a quick and easy way to blow out eggs and how we dyed Easter eggs using natural ingridents found in our kitchen. This past week we’ve been decorating eggs with tissue paper, an easy and fun decoupage project!

My friend Dorothee cut notches in the top of toddler sized shoe boxes, so we could lay eggs speared with wooden skewers across them. What an easy way to hold the eggs! Using the skewers made for MUCH less mess than our holding the eggs for our kids while they decorated them:

We used small tissue paper circles (a great thrift store score!) and cellulose glue (you could easily use Mod Podge!) to glue the tissue paper to the egg. Be sure to do a coat of glue on top too so the circles stay on securely.

Mama had fun decorating eggs too:

Modern Landscape Architecture in Venice, California

One morning on our trip to Southern California we needed to kill time before lunch and decided to go for a family walk. We found ourselves in a quirky, well-kept neighborhood in Venice, California. Navigating up and down the streets, I came to appreciate why people love living in LA. Those small quiet neighborhoods are delightful!

Here are some of the architectural highlights from our walk:

I love those modern fences. (Oh, I almost want to pin each shot!) I look forward to the day we own a house and can duplicate that top fence. We’ll bring a little LA to Western Sonoma County.

My Hard Reality and Their Beautiful Kitchen Gardens

We’ve had an extrememly dry winter here in Northern California. Instead of doning rain boots each morning to combat the daily showers, we put on sandals as we savor sunny and 70 degree days here in Sonoma County. It’s nice, but, well, we really need the rain.

So here we are in February with fruit trees blooming, butterflies coupling, and my hugely overgrown and weedy garden is starting to grow anew.

This can’t be good.

In an attempt to encourage me to get outside and work in our yard, I thought it would be fun to share some particularly beautiful and inspiring kitchen gardens from my Garden Inspiration Board on Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. A Beautiful woven archway welcomes you into this garden featured in The Complete Kitchen Garden: An Inspired Collection of Garden Designs and 100 Seasonal Recipes. (pin/source)
2. A stunning kitchen garden with brick accents. (pin/source)
3. Raised beds, strategically placed shrubs and flowers, and generous paths give this Washington garden its unique style. (pin/source)
4. I love the addition of plants along the gravel path bordering the simple raised beds of this beautiful vegetable garden (pin/source)

View these and many more beautiful gardens on my Garden Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

Tasty and Easy Valentine’s Day Food Ideas

I have a quick and fun Valentine’s Day craft to share with you tomorrow (stay tuned!), but first here are some easy to make love-related, mostly-healthy food pins from my Valentine’s Holiday Fun board over at Pinterest.

Featured above:
1. Roasted Potatoes for Valentine’s Day (pin/source)
2. Calimyrna Fig Hearts (pin/source)
3. Fruity Valentine heart kabobs (pin/source)
4. Heart Strawberries on Toast (pin/source)
5. Hearts in an Apple Sandwich (pin/source)
6. Simple XO Cupcakes (pin/source)

We are particularly fond of making ordinary cookies, muffins or breads (like the Brazilian Cheese Bread shown below) in heart shaped silicone baking molds (we own this one):

Also, be sure to see my list of kid-friendly Valentine’s Day craft activities for hours of entertainment.

View these and many more fun Valentine’s activities, gifts and recipes on my Valentine’s Holiday Fun Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

Healthy Recipes For the New Year

After the gluttony of the holidays, here are some healthy recipes to get back on track. Since our family doesn’t eat wheat, all of these recipes are also gluten-free.

Favorites in our house:
Edamame Salad – a fast, healthy side dish and one of my favorite things to bring to a potluck:

Swiss Chard With Chickpeas and Pine Nuts served over your grain of choice — quick and unbelievably delicious:

Simple Walnut and Grapefruit Salad — a winter favorite that also tastes great with our favorite go-to dressing, a Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette:

Kale Salad with Lemon Tahini Dressing that I keep raving about:

Here are some more tasty recipes that I’m excited to try from Pinterest:

Featured above:
1. Quinoa with corn, kale, tofu, and pesto (pin)
2. Lemony Leeks with Chickpeas and Feta (pin)
3. Delicata Squash Salad with Feta and Cranberries (pin)
4. Quinoa Taco Salad (pin)
5. Cucumber Salad with Creamy Mint Dressing (pin)

And in case you’re craving something that seems indulgent but isn’t really, check out these breakfast cookies (pin) containing no sugar, no butter, no eggs, no flour (just rolled oats, coconut, spices, almond meal, mixed nuts, dried fruit, mashed bananas, oil and vanilla):

I can’t wait to try them!

Don’t forget about our post from last month featuring Almost Healthy Decadent Desserts for more no-guilt treat ideas!

View these and many more delicious, healthy recipes on my Recipes To Try Pinterest board.
(images obtained via Pinterest)