Five dinner ideas from Pinterest

Pinterest is glorious. Not only for seeing pictures of overstyled houses and kids birthday parties fit for millionaire children, but as the one-stop-shop for putting stuff I don’t know where to put anywhere else.

Back in the day, I used to cut and paste recipes into word documents (or I’d borrow books from the library and type them out) and keep them on my computer in various files. I still have them – there’s more than a thousand. Then Evernote came along and I would email all the recipes I liked to different folders on that app. I still actually use it and love it, especially because you can take a photograph of the recipe’s directions and upload that, and the photo itself is then searchable when you’re looking for that great nasu dengaku recipe (true story, I search for that one a lot!).

Then Pinterest came along with its pretty boards and its unlimited space and suddenly not only could I save recipes I’d found myself in one go with a bookmarklet (instant and less faffing than cut and paste!), but I could also see what others had saved to their boards, which really felt like all the hard work of finding the best vegetarian recipes on the internet was being done for me! I recently spent some time dividing my recipe board because it was too diverse, and I had to create smaller, more specific boards. And every time I do this, I see at LEAST five recipes I want to make right then and there. Pinterest, I love you dearly.

(You could also swap out everything I just said for the word “crochet patterns” and it’s the same. Glorious, I tell you!)

So a while ago one of my weekly meal plans was made from my Pinterest Food-O-Rama board, and each one was a hit. I also move them to my Pin There, Done That board once they’re made, so I can remember if I liked it or not, or any changes that needed to be made to the recipe. It’s all terribly organised, and not taking up space on my computer, and I long ago lost the ability to put one more sheet of paper in my overflowing recipe binders. Here are a few I tried and loved.

1. Vegetarian paella

This is the dish at the top of the post. I was skeptical, but it was GOOD. I pinned it from Prevention Magazine online and I’m glad I did. Super-delicious and makes great leftovers.

2. Charred sweetcorn fritters with homemade buttermilk ranch

Found here, it was ALL OF THE YUM. I pinned it from PBS food. So crispy and crunchy, with the cool, creamy ranch dressing. Definitely making it again this week as I’ve got a LOT of corn to get through.

3. Vegetarian cabbage and potato soup with jalapeno and lime

Again, I was pretty skeptical of this one. It seemed weird that you would take a real Eastern European dish like a cabbage and potato soup and Mexican it up – but it worked. I had an absolute buttload of potato and cabbage to get through in every veggie box I’ve been getting and I had to get creative! The jalapeno and lime caught my eye and I had to try it – and I’m so glad I did. It was a real hit.

4. Vegan chicken teriyaki steak

I am a little bit obsessed with Japanese food, and get disproportionately excited when I can find vegetarian versions. This one, from the blog The Japanese Vegetarian Kitchen, was a bit of fun. They made little patties with the soybeans themselves, which is a great idea for making mock meat without having to buy processed things (not that I’m averse from time to time, but this had literally two ingredients). It didn’t overly taste like “chicken”, but it was a pretty good little patty to go with some Japanese-style salad. No complaints!

5. Grandma’s Meatless Ball Recipe

This is such a good big-batch family dinner, and once you get the meatballs done, super-easy. They are pretty similar to regular meatballs (this sort of combination of ingredients usually are, I’ve had great success with meatballs/sausage rolls/meatloaf that sort of thing), and I fiddled with the sauce a bit, but on the whole, was pretty rad. Matt even took it to an end-of-year party for his students and they were all pretty surprised at how not-gross they were (you know, being vegetarian food and all).

So if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration this week, may one of these fit the bill. I’ve got a whole bunch of other stuff to try this week too – I will keep you abreast of the situation 🙂