Tag: food

Christmas, Holidays, homeschooling, joy

When Pinterest Fails: Teaching Kids the Art of the Pivot

Jessica Lovett

You know that feeling when you’re scrolling through Pinterest, and you see a recipe that screams “EASY!” in all caps? The one with the perfect photo where adorable chocolate pinecones look like they were foraged from a magical forest by Christmas fairies in sparkly outfits? Yeah, I fell for it over the Christmas break.

Our Narnia-themed Christmas dinner needed something special, and these Oreo truffle pinecones seemed like the answer. The recipe looked straightforward: crush Oreos, mix with cream cheese to make truffles, press on Frosted Flakes for “scales,” dip in chocolate.

Easy, right?

Several of the recipe blogs even said the word “easy” multiple times, which should have been my first red flag…

When the Kids Gasped at the Frosted Flakes

I don’t typically ever buy sugary cereals, so when I brought home the Frosted Flakes, my kids actually gasped. This was already feeling like an event. We had our ingredients lined up, our Narnia soundtrack playing, and visions of Pinterest-perfect pinecones dancing in our heads.

Fast forward thirty minutes: our kitchen looked like page out of a Curious George book and our “pinecones” looked… well, let’s just say they looked more like something you’d find after a squirrel’s particularly chaotic day than something you’d serve at a dinner party.

Nothing would stick! This is one of the “better” ones just to illustrate. Not kidding!

We did get some actual LOLs out of it!

The Pivot Moment

We had planned this whole dinner with Narnia themed things. We’d gotten Turkish delight from actual Turkey. We’d found a Turkish delight hot cocoa recipe and had cleaned pink rose petals from our front flowerbed waiting. We were making Mr. Beaver’s Roasted Trout that I found on another blog, from the familiar scene in the book.

When things like this happen, your kids are watching you. Are you going to let the completely unrescuable recipe ruin your afternoon? Are you going to cry? Whine to yourself? Waste the food?

Instead of being sad, we looked at our chocolate-covered chaos and did something better: we pivoted.

There’s nothing wrong with squished Oreos and cream cheese, right? (Actually these were HEB brand Twisters instead of Oreos – I think they are actually better and don’t have artificial flavors like the “real” ones do.)

Anyway.. Winning was in sight! We had melted white and milk chocolate. We had sprinkles of all Christmassy kinds!

So, we simply scraped off the Frosted Flakes, re-rolled our truffles, added some festive sprinkles, and suddenly we had a dessert that was actually delicious, if not particularly Narnia-esque.

And those Frosted Flakes? Well, the birds in our backyard are going to be having their own Christmas feast, thank you very much. I didn’t want my kids eating processed corn with sugar on it, anyway.

My daughter suggested we make a blog about it so here we are!

What My Kids Actually Learned

This wasn’t just about making dessert – it was about showing my kids that:

Plans don’t always work out, and that’s okay. Sometimes the recipe fudges the truth a little… see what I did there… Sometimes the photo is staged or even AI generated. Sometimes Frosted Flakes just don’t stick to chocolate the way Pinterest promised they would. Albeit on multiple recipe pages!

Failure isn’t the end of the story. It’s just a way to reevaluate. Our pinecones didn’t work, but we still had perfectly good ingredients and a kitchen full of creativity. We also made memories of silliness.

Pivoting is a superpower. The ability to look at a situation, acknowledge it’s not working, and ask “what can we do instead?” is one of the most valuable skills we can teach our kids. It’s not giving up – it’s adapting.

Sometimes the pivot is better than the plan. Our simple sprinkled truffles were actually easier to eat and tasted better than fussy pinecones would have. And watching the birds have Christmas over the Frosted Flakes will become its own entertainment.

The Real Pinterest Win

My kids saw me laugh at the mess, problem-solve on the fly, and turn a fail into something that worked. They learned that being flexible matters more than being perfect. And honestly? That’s a better lesson than any Pinterest-perfect pinecone could ever teach.

So here’s to the Pinterest fails, the kitchen disasters, and all the times when “easy” recipes prove to be anything but. Here’s to teaching our kids that the real magic isn’t in getting it right the first time—it’s in what you do when things go sideways.

And if you need me, I’ll be outside watching very enthusiastic birds enjoying what might be the most expensive bird feed I’ve ever provided.

What’s your best Pinterest fail story? How did you pivot?

Holidays, Meal Planning

Take Meal Planning off the Menu This Holiday Season

Jessica Lovett

I have a complicated relationship with meal planning. Some weeks I get super excited, make elaborate lists, and plan the most delicious-sounding meals… only to realize I’m not in the mood to cook them when the time actually comes. I also love experimenting with new recipes, but I hate buying an entire jar of some specialty ingredient, discovering I don’t love it, and then watching it languish in the back of my fridge until it’s questionable at best. (I’m looking at you, jarred preserved lemons.)

Enter Green Chef.

Full disclosure: Green Chef isn’t paying me to write this. I’m sharing it because it genuinely solves my meal planning problems, and my referral link gets you a free box (which gives me a small credit).

Who couldn’t use free groceries after the Christmas gift spending spree? Or am I the only one who goes a teeny tiny bit overboard every year?

(*ahem* My name is Jessica Lovett and I’m an American Girl addict.)

The restaurant at the Dallas store looks like an actual dollhouse! I’ve no hope of escaping without relishing the cuteness. The 2000s dolls have an internet modem that goes BEEeeeddoobbbooo like an old kind of internet connection!

Why Green Chef Works for Me
Here’s the thing: Green Chef satisfies my “Try Something New!” cravings every week without any of the waste that usually comes with culinary experimentation. I’ve tried other meal kit services, but most are heavy on carbs and light on nutrition. As someone who values clean eating and loads of fresh vegetables, Green Chef is the only one that checks all my boxes—literally and figuratively.

A lot of people assume Green Chef is vegetarian-only (probably because of the name), but it’s not! While they have excellent vegetarian options—which I personally love—they also offer a wide variety of meal plans including Mediterranean, keto, protein-packed, and quick & easy options. There’s truly something for every family’s needs and preferences.

What You Can Actually Make
The recipe variety is genuinely impressive. We’re not talking boring chicken and rice here. Think: Moroccan-spiced cauliflower steaks with herbed couscous and tahini drizzle. Butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter and toasted walnuts. Mediterranean chickpea bowls with cucumber-tomato salad and creamy tzatziki. Sun-dried tomato and spinach stuffed chicken with roasted vegetables. One-pan honey mustard salmon with green beans and baby potatoes.

These aren’t just meals—they’re restaurant-quality dishes that look absolutely colorful and fun on the table! There’s something deeply satisfying about setting a beautiful, colorful meal on the table and feeling genuinely proud of what you’ve created. It’s the kind of cooking that makes you feel accomplished, not exhausted.

I’m not one of those people who can have Taco Tuesday or Pizza Thursday and do the same thing every week. I need variety! I want to explore the world with our meals! I don’t want to be bored!

The Real Benefits
Beyond the food itself, Green Chef has given me something even more valuable: time and mental space. The holiday season is already overwhelming—shopping, decorating, managing activities, coordinating schedules, trying to create magical memories while keeping everyone fed and relatively sane.

The last thing I need is to spend mental energy figuring out what’s for dinner, making grocery lists, shopping for ingredients, and then hoping I actually want to cook what I planned three days ago.

Green Chef removes all of that stress. The ingredients show up at my door, pre-portioned and ready to go. No more wandering grocery store aisles. No more “What’s for dinner?” panic at 4:30 PM. No more specialty ingredients collecting dust in my pantry. Just fresh, healthy meals that take 30-40 minutes to prepare and actually get my family excited about dinner.

I’ve tried some meal plans that give you all the ingredients for all the meals in one giant box. That is too much of a hassle for me! Green Chef puts everything in separate sacks with premeasured ingredients and mostly pre-chopped things! You heard me right! Last night, I made broccoli cheese soup with pre-chopped rainbow carrots and my husband even made a comment about how perfectly cubed they were but I had to admit that it wasn’t me!

Speaking of organization, can we talk about fridge storage for a second? One of my favorite things about Green Chef is that each meal comes in its own bag with everything you need. But I also invested in these clear storage containers that fit perfectly in my fridge to keep everything visible and organized.

See? No more “oh no, I forgot about that bell pepper in the back of the crisper drawer” moments. Everything is right there where I can see it, and the Green Chef meal bags stack beautifully on that top shelf. It’s like meal prep and organization had a baby, and that baby is actually manageable for once! It cuts down on waste and lets me see exactly how many meals that I have left.

That freed-up time? I can use it for things that actually matter—working on my business, spending quality time with my kids, reading a book, or simply having a moment to breathe during the busiest season of the year.

Perfect for Teaching Kids
Another bonus? The full-color recipe cards are perfect for teaching kids to cook. Each card has clear, step-by-step instructions with photos, making it easy for children to follow along and build real kitchen skills. My kids have learned so much from working through these recipes with me—how to properly chop vegetables, what “sauté until fragrant” actually means, how to balance flavors, and the satisfaction of creating something beautiful from scratch.

The Deal
The best part? My promo code actually gives you free meals.

Here’s what your checkout screen will look like when you enter it:

See that $0? That’s my favorite kind of checkout! If you want more than 2 meals for 4 people in your first box, you can customize it—and additional servings come out to around $1 each. (Which is honestly insane when you think about what groceries cost these days.)

Give Yourself a Break This Holiday Season
Green Chef isn’t going to wrap your presents, untangle your Christmas lights, or convince your kids to stop asking when Christmas is over and over…

But here’s what it will do: it’ll take one thing off your impossibly long to-do list. It’ll give you back those precious evening hours when you’re trying to figure out what’s for dinner while simultaneously helping with homework, answering work emails, and pretending you have it all together.

It’ll let you serve your family restaurant-quality, nutritious meals without the planning, the shopping, the decision fatigue, or the 4:30 PM panic. And, honestly? In the middle of the holiday chaos, that’s not nothing. That’s actually kind of everything.

So go ahead—use my code and get your free box. Try some Moroccan-spiced cauliflower or that butternut squash ravioli. Let someone else do the meal planning for a change. Enjoy your pre-chopped rainbow carrots. (They really are perfectly cubed!)

And maybe, just maybe, you’ll have a few extra minutes to actually enjoy this season instead of just surviving it.