Pinterest: A Resource for Healthy Eating

By Cameron Crane

Photo courtesy of http://thegardengrazer.com

When my friend invited me over for a dinner party this past Friday, I was expecting pasta. She had never given me the slightest indication that this was the case, nor do either of us have a particular love for it, but I fully expected to walk in the kitchen and see her cooking whole-wheat shells and tomato sauce. Why? We are twenty-somethings. Pasta is one of five of our go-tos for dinner guests because it is almost impossible to mess up.

So you can imagine my surprise when I opened the front door and was immediately greeted by the scent of something that smelled beyond delicious.

“What is that?” I asked, “Am I at the right place?”

“I’m cooking homemade enchiladas,” my friend replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Now, I am not typically one to underestimate my friends, but when someone who has never expressed any interest in cooking nor boasted of their skills in the kitchen puts a plate in front of you, you can’t help but be a little bit nervous—no matter how good it smells. Fortunately, bite one went down okay. By bite three I was hooked. This was by far the best enchilada I had had in my life. The best part? It was cooked using whole-wheat tortillas, fresh organic spinach, white corn, onions, sour cream, delicious homemade sauce…in other words, it was healthy.

When my plate was clear, I was extraordinarily satisfied. I was also suspicious. Had my friends been taking cooking classes without me? Usually we consulted about these type of things. The bar for our dinner parties was set higher now—I was now required to step my game up.

“Joslyn, I’m impressed. I had no idea you were such a chef,” I said, determined to get to the bottom of this.

“I’m not,” she laughed humbly, “I saw the recipe on Pinterest last night.”

Mystery solved. The second I got home I went to Joslyn’s Pinterest page, and sure enough, the secret recipe to her magical enchiladas was sitting right on her food board.

I have a Pinterest account, but I confess that until recently, I most often used it to build my imaginary closet. I had dismissed it as a resource for recipes mostly because it seems to be bombarded with things I haven’t been able to eat since high school—chocolate molten lava cake, no-bake peanut butter cake, and the like. Now that my curiosity was piqued, I did some sleuthing in the Food & Drink category. By simply searching “healthy dinners” in the search box, I was able to find fifteen recipes for meals that were not only delicious and healthy, but also easy to make and full of ingredients that were already on my usual shopping list.

The truth is that Pinterest, hate it or love it, is an amazing resource for finding recipes and inspiration for healthy eating. If you’re as keen to making excuses as to why you can’t cook as I am, Pinterest will shatter them in about 5 minutes. That “I only have ten minutes, and 5 items in my refrigerator” recipe is there waiting for you, guaranteed. If you’re willing to try them out, the possibilities are endless.

Have you used Pinterest as a resource in the kitchen? What are your favorite Pinterest recipes? Follow Little Pickle Press on Pinterest here!