In a world full of cookbooks, blogs, magazines, apps and websites filled with new recipes... it can be overwhelming to keep track of all your favorites or to choose what sounds good.

My good friend Echo is a wife and a mama who creates beauty everywhere she goes. Her house is full of the perfect little touches to make it feel like home. Her two little girls are full of personality and each have their own unique style. And Echo herself is simply beautiful in every way.

She also loves to cook! I asked her to share a bit with us about where she finds inspirations and I'm sure you too will be inspired!

ENJOY!

Elizabeth

PINTEREST: by echo zielinski

I am sure most of you have heard of or are currently using (or like me, addicted to) Pinterest! If you are one of the few that have not jumped on the pinterest bandwagon, you are missing out! I know I know, there are so many social media outlets to try and keep up with it’s exhausting, but really, this one can really make your life easier and will leave you feeling more then a little bit inspired!

In short, Pinterest is an online inspiration board where you can “pin” a photo from any website you want along with a description. When you go to your pinterest page you will be able to quickly access all the inspiring things you have found.

I use pinterest as inspiration for decorating my home, planning parties and showers, remembering cute things I find for my two little girls, but most of all, pinterest has changed the way I find what it is I am going to cook.

I have countless recipe books that sit and collect dust and I have done my fair share of googling recipes. Both ways typically leave me uninspired and with a headache. I need a photo, a beautiful picture of the food that makes me drool and leaves me wanting to take a bite of its deliciousness right now!

This is where pinterest is really great! Literally, pictures pictures everywhere!

(here is a photo of what my pinterest page looks like)

There are a couple of ways to use Pinterest. One way is when you do find something on the Internet that you want to make, pin it (there are directions on pinterest as to how to get the “pin it” button on your bookmark tab which will make this possible)

I am going to show you how to pin a recipe from Tastespotting.com. This is a great website to find delicious recipes. Simply search for something you have in mind, or browse through the pages and you are sure to find many things deemed pin worthy. Lets say the 3 bean stew in the photo above looks like something you or your family would enjoy! Simply click on it, hit “pin it” from your bookmark page, click on the appropriate photo to go along with the recipe.

click on the photo of 3 bean stew

Then you choose whichever board you want to pin the recipe to, add a description, press pin it and boom! You have an amazing recipe saved to your virtual recipe book to access whenever your heart desires! (I personally love to pull up recipes later on my iPhone, yes ladies; there IS an app for that!)

Success! Who doesn’t love that word…

Another way to use pinterest is to re-pin your friends’ recipes that they pin or re-pin ones that you find when you click on the everything page. Confused yet? Don’t worry; it’s not as hard as it sounds!

 Above is my pinterest home page. It is where I can see all the pins my friends have made! As you can see, the lovely Sarah Nelson just pinned a recipe for Artichoke flatbread, Sounds good huh? Well, what are we waiting for, lets re-pin it!

You just run your cursor over the photo and when the re-pin button appears, you click it! and Pin it!

Lastly, you can click on the button that says everything on your homepage and it will take you to a general feed of what other people all over the world are pinning! Your recipes will not be limited to just the sites you know of and what your friends may pin. Nope, you have a whole world of pins at your fingertips!

I really hope these photos and steps have encouraged you to take the pinterest plunge and that you feel a bit more inspired today to cook something new!

Or if you are one of the many people who never make what you pin, hopefully this is a reminder that behind the photos lies an actual recipe that could be on your dinner table tonight!

And if you’re feeling real ambitious, you can re-decorate your home or sew a new skirt while you’re at it J

Most of all have fun and enjoy!

Lots of love and Happy Pinning,

Echo

You can find me on pinterest at http://pinterest.com/echoz/