Pinterest Partying

Written by on in Dessert, Dinner, Tidbits and Treats

In the words of S Club 7, there ain’t no party like a Pinterest party.

As I’m sure many of you know, Pinterest is addicting. You can go through pictures for hours and pin hundreds of recipes and DIY projects that you’ll never make, dozens of clothing items that you’ll never buy, and a few motivational quotes meant to spur you to action as you…sit at your computer on Pinterest. I kid, kind of, but just because it can be a huge time taker doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. You only have to look at the photo above for proof that it is, in fact, possible to make those mouthwatering images come to life.

So yes, we had a Pinterest party. And by we I mean me, Lauren, Monica and Kelli.

The concept was developed during my October trip to Chicago. The four of us had gotten together for hot chocolate in Evanston, and though I’m not sure how the subject came up, it’s likely because 3/4 of us are obsessed with cooking (Monica is a culinary school grad) and 4/4 of us love to eat delicious food. It was decided that a shared board should be created on Pinterest, and that the menu would be voted on when I came back in December.

Fortunately, we all had very similar tastes, and it was easy to finalize our courses!

Pinterest Party Menu

Beverage: Winter White Sangria with Pomegranate (pinned by Monica)

First Course: Roasted Tomato & Rosemary Soup with Kale & Potatoes (pinned by Kelli)

Second Course: Raspberry Brie Grilled Cheese Panini (pinned by Lauren)

Side Dish: Soft Pretzel Tots (pinned by Monica)

Dessert: Chocolate-Nospresso Mint Snowcaps (pinned by and recipe from me!)

Bonus Dessert: Fruit Tarts (pinned by Lauren)

Quite the list, if I do say so myself! We met up on Sunday morning to drive to the grocery store and pick up all of our supplies. Monica graciously hosted us at her apartment, which was festively decorated for the holidays. Also festively decorated: a very Christmas-y Kelli! The green dress and red coat were perfect for the occasion.

We quickly got to work on our respective parts of the meal. My first contribution to the feast was in the form of Chocolate-Nospresso Mint Snowcaps, and I think this was by far my best batch yet. I took to heart the advice of rolling them in powdered sugar not once, but twice, and the end result was perfectly snowy.

(Photo courtesy of Monica)

I also think that the help I had from Kelli made a huge difference. 🙂 Together we mixed up two batches of the recipe that each yielded 14-16 cookies. Half were made with peppermint, half without. Monica had an adorable gingerbread house plate for serving.

While Kelli and I were in Cookieland, Monica made sweet pastry crusts and cream for the fruit tarts. Her recipe was an improvisation from culinary school (I wish I could improv like she does), but you can find a similar one here. Both the crust and the inside turned out beautifully, and then it was Lauren’s turn to be the artist with freshly chopped fruit and a honey glaze.

I’d say she did an excellent job, wouldn’t you?

You might think us backward for making the desserts first, but that’s how we roll…in the dough.

Up next, Monica sliced and rolled our Soft Pretzel Tots, while I added baking soda to the pot of water and waited for it to boil. I guess we know who the real chef is, eh? Boiling is hard work…

Throwing the pretzels into the boiling hot water and scooping them out was the fun part! We then brushed them with the egg mixture from the recipe and sprinkled fleur de sel onto the tops before throwing them in the oven. They came out 10 minutes later looking pretty darn cute.

Meanwhile, Kelli was busy chopping up ingredients for the Roasted Tomato and Rosemary Soup with Kale and Potatoes. Her excitement over this dish was contagious – she even made croutons!

A quick snapshot of the soup pot shows you why this was one highly anticipated dish.

You can never go wrong with a hearty, veggie-filled soup – especially with homemade croutons.

As dinnertime approached, it was time to begin working on the last food item from the menu: Raspberry Brie Grilled Cheese Paninis! With a drizzle of honey over all of the ingredients, you can imagine how flavorful these sandwiches are.

(Photo courtesy of Monica)

They took no time to make in the grill pan, too. Just a bit of butter and a few quick flips and the paninis were a delicious golden brown color, with the brie and raspberries all melded together.

(Photo courtesy of Monica)

When we sliced them open, there were audible oohs and ahhs, and with good reason.

The meal was complete. But wait, weren’t we forgetting something…?

Only joking. I could never forget the Winter White Sangria with Pomegranate. 🙂 Lauren mixed up all of the ingredients and watched as those pomegranate seeds rose to the top. This drink was refreshing without being overly sweet. I loved the addition of lime.

And with that, the Pinterest party meal was served. Cheers!

(Photo courtesy of Monica)

As you might have been able to glean from my description of each recipe, this meal was flawless. Every dish, every ingredient, was so rich and full of flavor that we couldn’t stop complimenting ourselves throughout the evening. We deserved it after nearly five hours in the kitchen!

You can bet that we will be having another Pinterest party in the future. We’ve thrown around the idea of having one every season. So many possibilities – I better get pinning!

What Pinterest find have you been loving lately?

Thanks to Monica for hosting, and thanks to all three lovely ladies for being such amazing friends and excellent chefs! I’m so thankful to have you in my life.

Abrazos,

34 Comments

    • It was definitely hard to narrow down the options – oh well, it just means there needs to be more Pinterest parties! 🙂

  5. So fun! I want to try the pomegranate sangria and fruit tarts (I will never have the time to make the fruit tarts but our pom tree in our backyard is finally yielding some fruit so maybe I can try that one?) You guys are adorable.

    • I highly recommend trying the pomegranate sangria with fruit from your tree. It was so good!

  6. I seriously wish I had enough friend close enough to do that! I bet I could get some Aunties to do that with me though. Maybe. Haha.

    I am seriously jealous of those homemade croutons on that soup though. Gah, 8:30 in the morning and now I want soup!

    • You should totally have a Pinterest party with your aunts! And I am on a total soup kick right now – I crave it all the time!

  7. Jenn, I just love your blog posts. Loved re-living our wonderful Sunday Pinterest Party. I had so much fun with you girls and can’t wait to do it again! (And you are too kind giving me a shout out re: the cookies! — it was really all you!). We need to get pinning for our next Pinterest Party. And feel just as thankful to have you gals in my life too. 🙂 Have a fun trip to St. Louis!

    • You are so sweet, Kelli – thank you for the compliments on the post! I had so much fun with you and the other girls and can’t wait for our next party. So grateful to have you in my life!

    • You will definitely have to join us sometime, and if anything we can always make a few Pinterest-worthy recipes in February. 😉 I absolutely love the idea of those race coasters! I hope they have bibs for our relay because that would be awesome!

  10. My friends and I have an almost monthly Suburban Crafters Club party that’s Pinterest based. We have a shared board that we pin future ideas to before we decide on the month’s theme.

    Also, the world in incredibly small: I went to grad school with Kelli.

    • How awesome that you also have a Pinterest-based party, Kelly! And seriously, the world is so small. I love that you and Kelli went to school together – hurray for Northwestern and Medill. 🙂

  11. What a great idea! You’re so clever.
    Those pretzel tots have my name written all over them 🙂
    I am very addicted to Pinterest as well. These days though, I am more into the crafts/organization stuff rather than the food. Go figure! I found some great ideas for gift wrapping that I plan on sharing on the blog soon.

    • The pretzel tots really were the hit of the party. 🙂 I’m off to check out your gift wrapping tips now!

    • Thanks, Emily! This trip back was jam-packed with two friends celebrating birthdays, but I will definitely be reaching out to you next time when it’s more casual because I would still love to grab dinner with you!

  14. Amazing recap! I think you captured it perfectly. I can’t stress enough how much fun I had and how we need to do it again! I think the collage of the 4 of us is my favorite 🙂 So glad you were able to make it back here again before the end of the year. Also, I should mention that Patrick loved your cookies… no surprise there 🙂

    • I’m so glad you liked the post, Monica! I feel the exact same way about the party – it was so much fun and I’m ready to do it again ASAP. 🙂 I love the collage of us and am also happy to hear Patrick enjoyed the cookies! Hope you two had a fun weekend!

  15. LOVE the idea of a Pinterest Party! Although I am not sure how I could narrow my pins down to just one or two to create:)

    All the menu items look delicious but I have to say, the French cheese lover in me is silently obsessing over those Brie & raspberry paninis.

    Those tarts are gorgeous. Your friend did an incredible job – they look like they belong at a bakery!

    Thanks for sharing! x

    • It was very hard to narrow down, but we used the excuse of having to plan future Pinterest parties to accommodate the pins we missed this time to help motivate us. 🙂

      Those paninis were so awesome – I highly recommend making them! I need to pick up the ingredients now that I’m home. Thank you so much for the sweet comment!

  16. Mmm… everything looks delicious! And I, too, am not surprised that Patrick loved your cookies… haha. It’s a family thing – we all have a bit of a dependency issue. 🙂 What a great group of ladies!

    • Haha – I love how much you all love your cookies. 🙂 It was definitely a great group – I should bring some Pinterest recipes to MN and we could have our own party!

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