Peter and I tried this a couple months ago, and here’s the rundown:

Inspired to kale chips, this recipe claims that a little olive oil, a few herbs, and some time in the oven will reveal the best thing since sliced bread: spinach chips!

I didn’t have and couldn’t find the McCormick Italian Herb Seasoning Grinder anywhere, so I made do with some generic Italian seasoning and a pinch of garlic powder. I tasted one of the leaves before I laid them out to bake, and OMG…amazing!! I couldn’t help but think that after baking, these babies would be unbelievably delicious and my taste buds would explode with joy.

I tasted the baked leaves, and…meh. I personally found the raw seasoned leaves MUCH tastier. After baking, the spinach leaves also became very thin and fragile, falling apart if you picked them up by anything but the stem and almost dissolving on your tongue as soon as you put them in your mouth. Eating them was actually a bit like eating seasoned air…kinda weird eating a pile of something so insubstantial.

My impression:

   A Big Ol’ “Meh”   

This is another of the first Pins I tried, because I love things that smell amazing. Basically, all you have to do is find a Downy Unstopables scent you like and sprinkle a small handful in an oil warmer. Pop in a lit tealight, and wait for the amazing smell to permeate your home.

I went with the pink “Shimmer” scent, since that’s what appealed to me the most in the laundry aisle at the supermarket. It has a nice sweet, heady floral scent that fills the air nicely when warmed.

The downside to this Pin, besides the fact that Downy apparently can’t spell “unstoppables,” is that you may experience some fallout from any sensitive pets you may have.

We have two guinea pigs that live on the ground floor, about 10 feet from where my oil warmer is stationed. Our little Mona did not do well when I was using this stuff every day — she stopped eating and became listless, which is crazy because she’s kind-of a spaz and normally eats like there’s no tomorrow.

Peter connected the dots and realized that she started not feeling well right about the same time I started doing this, and we agreed to put the kibosh on the Downy for a week and see if she bounced back. She did, so be aware that the critters you share your home with might not do so well with this Pin. I mean, it’s meant for the washing machine, not an oil warmer, so how good can it be for you or your pets to breathe in all the time, anyway?

My conclusion:

   Smells Good != Good For You   

I repinned this a few weeks back, and since then I’ve made two batches of these little beauties. They’re billed as “the fluffiest, chewiest, most amazing chocolate chip cookies —  all thanks to a very special ingredient.” And do you know what? They’re not wrong.

The “special ingredient” is corn starch, believe it or not, and it makes a heck of a difference. These cookies are airy and chewy, even after they’ve cooled, and if you catch one while it’s still warm from the oven, they are downright heavenly.

There’s not much more I can say about this recipe, except that I reduced the amount of corn starch in my second batch from 2 teaspoons to 1.5 teaspoons, and it improved the end result even more, in my opinion (and that of my official taste-tester, Peter).

My conclusion?

  Om nom nom nom!!  

Welcome to my new post category, “Good Pintentions”! I’ll do my best to weed out the good, the bad, and the ugly among ideas I’ve found via Pinterest and tried for myself.

First up is this Pin describing how coconut oil will make your hair soft, smooth, and shiny. (It also claims it will make your hair grow faster, but I’m not sure anything is scientifically proven to help there.)

This was one of the first Pins I tried, since I’ve been having a hell of a time with my hair falling out and becoming more brittle since I hit my 30s. I’ve tried all kinds of crap to try to strengthen it and tame the frizzy broken strands that have minds of their own. We’re talking vitamin supplements, shampoos, conditioners, serums, laminators — seriously, lots and lots of attempts with little or nothing to show for them.

I ordered myself a 16-ounce jar of organic coconut oil on Amazon and waited to give this latest gimmick a shot.

You know what? It does help — but you have to work for it.

To start with, coconut oil is generally firm when stored at room temperature, but if it gets much over 75ºF — for instance, when it comes in contact with your skin — it liquefies. It can be an adventure to scoop up a bit with your fingertips and get it onto your hair and scalp before it slides right off your hand and onto your clothes or the carpet. It’s a fairly thin oil, though, and can be cleaned up easily enough with a little soap and water, but I recommend losing your shirt before cracking open that jar.

The oil, once liquefied, spreads through your hair fairly easily, although you will need to specifically aim for your scalp and the ends of your hair with additional daubs. I have really long hair (not as long as the girl in the photo, but past mid-back), so it takes me 20-30 minutes to do my entire head. I do it in sections, starting with the bottommost partition that goes around my head at about earlobe-height. I work my way up to the top of my head, going through 3 or 4 more horizontal sections, one at a time, keeping the hair I haven’t dealt with yet pinned in a loose twist at the crown.

Once I’ve gotten everything oiled up, Peter usually walks in and cracks a joke about how badly I need a shower since my hair is an oily mess. It’s funny every time. :p

Since it takes me so long to get the mask finished, I usually only sit around with it on for 10 or 15 minutes before I shower. The oil washes out with just one shampoo and rinse, and then I condition and rinse again as normal.

Because it’s such a production, I don’t do it as frequently as I probably should. I’ve been slacking for the last week or so, and I can definitely tell the difference in my hair since I last used the mask — the frizz is back and the shine has dulled.

The final verdict?

   Go for it!   

Wow, it’s been a while. A loooong while. Here I am, though, ready to get back into the swing of things!

I’ve been hooked on Pinterest lately (check the handy widget to the right), so I decided it was high time that I started documenting my results with projects or ideas I found there. I’ve tried quite a few things so far, with widely varying results. Stay tuned for some (hopefully) interesting reading!

The road to Hell is paved with — wait for it — Good Pintentions.