Looking through other Weekend Cooking posts the weekend before last, I came across a recipe for Honey Beer Chicken I thought I’d try. It was described in a post titled Weekend Cooking – Pinterest Testing Three Chicken Recipes written by Diane on her blog, BookChickDi. The chicken looked delicious in the photo, but I read through the post again because I couldn’t find the recipe or the link to the recipe. Then, I realized that was because it was somewhere on Pinterest. (Should I say “in” Pinterest or “on” Pinterest? Could someone clue me in?)
Ugh. I’ve been resisting Pinterest for many months. Literally don’t want to go there. Don’t want to join another social media site. Don’t want another space on the Web to maintain. Etc.
But the chicken looked good and I had defrosted chicken breasts sitting in the fridge. Still, I couldn’t see how to get to the actual recipe. So I went to Diane’s Pinterest page (called a “pinboard”) and looked through all these attractively organized recipe categories like Main Dishes, The Lighter Side, etc. (Also got sidetracked into looking at Beverages, Appetizers, and Side Dishes because of all the pretty pictures, but of course didn’t find the chicken recipe in any of those categories either.)
Falling back on good old Google, I found this recipe for Chicken with Honey-Beer Sauce on the So, How’s It Taste? blog that looked pretty much like the one, and which I followed exactly. Except that I over-salted the chicken by accident (not the recipe’s fault), the dish came out really well.
I credit BookChickDi for the original inspiration (and her photo looks much better than mine.)
But I really needed to figure out how Pinterest worked, so I went back to BookChickDi’s Weekend Cooking post and there it was, in tiny print, but right under the photo of the Honey-Beer Chicken: Source: betsylife.com via Diane on Pinterest. Click on betsylife.com and you go straight to the recipe. It was the same recipe I followed, posted on a different blog, with credit in both places given to a recipe printed in the September 2012 issue of Cooking Light.
So I think I finally get it. Pinterest is basically a visually appealing update of the old “Cool Links” page you can still find on Web sites that haven’t been redesigned in the last ten years. Instead of plain old text links, pretty pictures on Pinterest draw you further in and keep you clicking.
But, no, this is not an announcement of my new Pinterest pinboard. I still haven’t joined the in crowd. I do, however, plan on doing more “research” into Pinterest to see how libraries are using it for reader’s advisory. Hmmmm. Where can I find the time for that? I guess I’ll stop trying out recipes and just read them online and look at all the pretty photos instead!
Weekend Cooking is a weekly feature hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Click here to check out all Weekend Cooking blog posts.
Two endorsements for the same recipe is always a good thing! I subscribe to Cooking Light on and off and I’ve always liked their recipes.
Pinterest . . . I have boards. I don’t use them much. I love the idea of it but truly, I don’t need to spend even *more* time hooked up to the Internet. Yet it’s so much much fun to discover new things there.
Yes, I need to get off now, as a matter of fact. After checking out other Weekend Cooking posts, I’m running late!
You are the third person who had told me they tried the Honey Beer Chicken recipe from my Pinterest board; I’m sorry it took you so long to get to the recipe. (With PInterest, you just have to keep clicking on the photos to get to the original post.)
I have been trying lots of recipes from Pinterest, with mostly good results, but it is very easy to get sucked in time-wise and lose yourself. As with anything, moderation is key.
I love Cooking Light too; I have collected many recipes from there over the years. Thanks for link up!
Looks good.
I’m kind of careful about my Pinterest use, too. But if you’re interested in learning more, I did a mini-challenge about it for Bloggiesta in the spring: http://www.joyweesemoll.com/2012/03/28/pinterest-bloggiesta-mini-challenge/
I think of Pinterest as a visual bookmarking site like del.icio.us with pictures. I’ve used it most, recently, for trip planning.
Now see what you started…I HAVE to try this chicken! Sounds amazing and we eat quite a bit of chicken in this house. For what it’s worth, I had a Pinterest account and deleted it. Too many social media sites to deal with, but that’s just me. My daughter-in-law loves grabbing recipes off pinterest.
Great endorsement on the chicken…gotta try it.
I don’t spend too much time on Pinterest but for me it’s just a good place to collect more recipes. I saw Diane’s post and saved the recipe. Yours looks delicious. I definitely have to try it.
Enjoyed your post. I only relatively recently got into pinterest – mainly as an easy index page for topics on the blog – and also to collect together the links for my Books You Loved and Food on Friday editions. I think the site works very well and isn’t really just another social media site. Have a great week.
I’d say that’s a good summary, a cool links page. Only that this one is for images. I know what you mean about yet another site, I’ve joined Pinterest but I don’t spend much time on it at the moment, though that’s partly because I don’t do enough surfing to find lots of images. I think the best way to approach social media is join what interests you the most.
Pinterest is a world of confusion and wonder. I would say it took me a solid two weeks wrangling with the website to really understand it 🙂 That recipe looks great… thanks for sharing, I can’t wait to try it out.
“A world of confusion and wonder” is a good description! I was definitely confused, and also in awe at all the pinboards people have put up.
Oh, I thought the images were for the links, instead of just having textual links. Maybe I’m still confused!
Yes, an index page for the blog is also a good use, to get Pinterest peeps over to your blog? I hope no one thought I was saying I thought Pinterest wasn’t of value. I just meant I was reluctant to start it myself because I could easily see spending too much time with it!
The chicken was really good, just watch out when you’re putting on the salt. I dumped a lot on by accident! 😉
I can definitely see how using Pinterest to organize your recipe links could be better than my method of printing out recipes I find online and letting them pile up all over the house! 😉
Thanks for commenting! I checked out your mini challenge and if I decide to get onto (or into, no one answered that question, did they?) Pinterest, I will definitely use your plan as a guideline!
Well, I probably exaggerated my difficulties, but I definitely needed to figure out what Pinterest is all about, and everyone’s comments have been very helpful. I should do more Cooking Light type of recipes; my husband and I both tend to cook heavy!
Oh yeah, Pinterest is WAY addictive! I have like 90-some boards…and I can always find more. Sigh. This chicken sounds delicious…I’m betting my whole family would love it.
I do have a Pinterest account but haven’t been sucked in so far. That chicken looks delicious!
Honey Beer Chicken sounds good – I’ll have to give it a try! I’m on Pinterest, but find I only go on it when I’ve got time on a Sunday morning. I like to browse through the pins from my iPad – it’s a bit like reading a magazine that way! I pin things as a way of bookmarking what I like but it’s not that easy to find things among my pins!
I can see how it would be easy to spend a lot of time organizing your pins, so a random browsing method might be a timesaver in the end!