Joyce Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (10079420)

Tangy Slow Cooker Pork Roast

Reviewed: Mar. 5, 2011

Unfortunately this was very bland, I followed the recipe to a 'T', the roast was done nicely, but so dull, a weak, slightly sweet taste to the sauce. I did everything right. I feel like I wasted a nice pork roast. I'm determined to doctor up the sauce, it was so mediocre.

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Different Chicken Divan

Reviewed: Jul. 29, 2010

Well, I have mixed emotions about this one. I followed the suggestion of using less curry (1 TBSP) and less cayenne (1/4 tsp) and I'm glad I did. The heat from the cayenne was just right, but the curry was still a bit much for me. THIS IS VERY SALTY, next time I would use 1/4 tsp garlic POWDER and no garlic salt. The rice helped cut the saltiness a bit. It was quite pungent and rich. I "sort of" enjoyed it, my husband on the other hand LOVED IT and keeps raving about it. He said he'd even like it just with broccoli. So the bottom line is, the idea is great, but this recipe is overwhelming to me; I'd have to make a few more changes next time.

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Cream of Mushroom Soup I

Reviewed: Jul. 22, 2010

Very good, rave reviews from my church potluck friends. I tripled the recipe; LOTS OF MUSHROOMS!! Nice, warm, and flavorful- I made it last winter actually. It was a hit.

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Peppered Shrimp Alfredo

Reviewed: Jul. 22, 2010

This was soooo good! I had a luncheon get-together recently with three old friends and this was my main course. It is excellent, so flavorful! It is quite spicy and I like spicy, but I backed off and used 3/4 tsp. of cayenne and I'm glad I did as it had quite a kick. I also made it for my family later that day and used even less, about 1/2 tsp. cayenne. Still really good, but I would probably used closer to 3/4 tsp. again next time. This is a really lovely, elegant dish. My friends and family raved about it. It is quite easy to prepare. I made sure that I cut everything up and had it ready to go early in the morning. When it was time to prepare it, it was easy and done very quickly. I am craving it now. Oh, FYI, I used 1/2 and 1/2 instead of cream and I thought it was great. Cream may have made it too rich for me. It was rich enough with the 1/2 and 1/2. Great recipe.

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Panzanella Salad

Reviewed: Jul. 22, 2010

This was surprisingly excellent. I was trying to think of something different to make for a get-together with three old friends. My sister was in Italy recently and mentioned how much she enjoyed the Panzanella salad and said that I should try finding a recipe. I looked on many websites, some recipes were more simple, some more complex. This one fell about in the middle so I went with it. My three friends raved about it and ate 98% of it!!! They couldn't get enough. The only thing I did differently was that I used Kalamata olives which I prefer, otherwise I followed it to a 'T'. I also came close to over-toasting the bread, but it was GREAT and I liked the crouton type texture of the bread. Scrumptious and filling!

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Candied Kielbasa

Reviewed: Jun. 28, 2010

I made this for a church pot luck. I followed the advice of a few and baked mine to get them nice, dark and carmelized. Then I refrigerated overnite and just microwaved them in the morning for the potluck. I thought this dish tasted very good, almost too rich but very good. Every bite got eaten and I was asked for the recipe by a couple of people. I did what some also suggested and cut the sausage up into small slices. I think next time I wold go with bigger chunks, the smaller slices get alot of the sauce on a small bit and I think that may be the only problem I had, larger chunks would give a lower sauce:sausage ratio. I will make this again.

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Baked Pork Chops I

Reviewed: Apr. 25, 2010

I wanted to make a good pork chop recipe. This got such good reviews I thought I'd try. The only think I did differently as per many suggested was that I also used golden mushroom soup with the can of regular mushroom soup. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but shortened the baking time by about 1/2 hour which was a good idea or they would have been overcooked. My family didn't like them at all. Not great pork lovers, but I, who enjoys a pork chop now and then, did NOT like this recipe either. WAAAY to rich. I wonder if cutting back on the soup (I used two as suggested) might would have helped)..and the breading, rich, just too much going on. The chops were nice and tender, but eh, overall overwhelming. Guess who ate pork chops all week for lunch? That wold be me...with a lot of the sauce and breading removed. I won't make this again. I gave it three stars because it wasn't HIDEOUS and the chops were tender and if you like this kind of thing, then go for it.

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Fried Chicken Tenders

Reviewed: Apr. 9, 2010

This seems so basic, but my family RAVES about these. I got a request from my husband to make them last week. He doesn't often request anything special. They're must right. I don't even make the sauce.

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Old Fashioned Apple Dumplings

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2010

WOW, I made these just to use up some frozen pie crust that I wanted to get rid of, and some granny smiths that aren't getting eaten fast enough. I am not a fan of apple desserts but I thought I give these a try; maybe someone in my family would eat them. Looking at the picture, the sauce made me a bit queasy. Looks pretty syrupy sweet, but the reviews intrigued me. I had to give it a go. I made them tonight and tried 1/2 of one just to see.....OH MY !! These are EXCELLENT! The flavor of the syrup isn't sickeningly sweet like I was afraid of, it's got a nice vanilla taste, not too heavy. My husband was raving about the one he ate too! They are really rather easy to make...except for peeling and coring the apples...torture for me; but otherwise, basic and easy and SOOO worth it. My dad loves apple dumplings and I can't wait to make some for him soon. For those of you who may have to wrestle with the pie crust (kept breaking, etc.) I finally just wet my hands and squeezed around the apple and plastered that crust on the best I could. They didn't look beautiful, but they were pretty well encased. This was well worth the experiment after all.

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Hot and Sour Chicken Soup

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2010

I always try to be as true to the recipe as possible, and I was with this one. The results were rather bland. My husband and I are hot and sour soup fans, and I know this is different, but I expected more flavor. Once I added 1/4 tsp white pepper and a slpash of rice vinegar along with a few shakes of salt; we were pleased with the results. It's actually a nice easy recipe; I would definitely make it again but I would add the white pepper and extra (rice) vinegar. I may only use rice vinegar next time and skip the red wine vinegar all together.

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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Reviewed: Jan. 3, 2010

I made this with 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup fat free half and half (I just couldn't stomach the thought of all of that cream). I also backed off a bit on the butter, probably used 1/3 cup. The results were very good, although EXTREMELY rich for my husband and myself. I would cut back even more on the butter and use only the fat free half and half, or mixture of milk and heavy cream. Rich Rich Rich, but I would make again with a few more adjustments. Really nice and easy to make.

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Blackened Chicken

Reviewed: Oct. 4, 2009

WOW, this was really spicy, too much for me and I like spicy. The worst part was the smoke. Honestly the strong spices blackening on the iron pan just about killed us. I am still coughing three hours later.

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Grilled Salmon I

Reviewed: Jul. 4, 2009

Never grilled salmon before. I followed the recipe to a 'T', marinated it for about four hours, grilled it flesh side down first, and then finished skin side down. THIS WAS WONDERFUL!!! EVERYONE loved it...I was really impressed. We grilled it so the skin was almost black, the darker, the crispier. I never thought I'd eat salmon skin...I enjoyed it very much. Marinating it for at least a couple of hours is a must, the marinade permeates the flesh wonderfully. This was SOOOO easy, quick to grill, and fantastic tasting. We will definitely do it again.

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Chocolate Banana Cake

Reviewed: Mar. 30, 2009

Nowhere in this recipe does it say to prepare the Devils Food cake mix as directed on the box. That's NOT what the recipe indicates nor is is necessary if you do this properly. Yes, the final product is thick, almost like brownie batter. I could tell by reading this that there was enough liquid..I mean oil, eggs and mushy ripe bananas are definitely sufficient. I followed it to a "T". I made it in a bundt pan, and I and everyone else agreed that it tasted like chocolate banana bread. It was easy, looked nice, but was nothing incredible.

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Pat's Baked Beans

Reviewed: Mar. 28, 2009

Although everyone liked these very much, I am not much of a baked bean fan. They were good enough, but I like more of a kick, like a vinegary taste to baked beans; these were on the sweeter side. I rated them more on the response of my baked bean loving family members and the fact that they were pretty easy, looked nice (I used butter beans instead of garbanzo...I like butter beans better), and tasted pretty good in general. I cooked them in a crock pot on low for 8 hours, worked great.

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Mediterranean Greek Salad

Reviewed: Mar. 28, 2009

I really love this type of salad and followed it very closely except I passed on the use of the tomato oil and added some simple greek dressing (just a bit)that I made right before serving. I also waited to add the feta until that point. I would absolutely recommend seeding the cucumber and most of the seeds from the tomatoes or it will get too watery (from what I'd read in other reviews) I did that and made it in the morning and served it around 5 pm and it wasn't very watery at all. A few bits of advice, definitely use kalamata olives if you can; they're SO much better and different than black olives. Also, this is a rather pricey salad. I spent around $17.00 on the ingredients, Feta, dried tomatoes and Kalamata Olives alone were around $12.00. It was well worth it though, everyone raved and ate seconds and you get a nice sized bowl of salad. Lastly, it doesn't look very pretty after a few hours of sitting out with dressing. Plan on eating most of it the same day; but only I have to look at the tiny bowl of leftovers tomorrow. It will probably taste just as great.

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Original Homemade Italian Beef

Reviewed: Mar. 28, 2009

I had this at a shower a few weeks ago,my co-worker got the recipe from this site and it was FANTASTIC!! So I made it for a get-together today and pretty much followed the exact recipe except I used two 2-1/2 lb chuck roasts and cooked them on low overnight (about 10 hours)due to a timing issue, when I got up in the morning, I added the pepperoncini and juice and cooked it for about another hour. I reheated it to serve later in the afternoon. Everyone LOVED IT!! People had to have seconds (and thirds). This was just different enough from most slow-cooker beef recipes to make it special and especially mouth watering; and the difference was so EASY. I will absolutely make this again and again!

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Mom's Baking Powder Biscuits

Reviewed: Mar. 12, 2009

I followed this down to the letter, handled the dough as lightly and as little as possible. Was not impressed at all with the light yellow somewhat flaky hockey pucks that I wound up with. Some of the pictures (the yellow-hockey puck pics...look like mine. The biscuits in the original photo look GREAT! I want THAT recipe! won't make these again.

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German Baby

Reviewed: Feb. 19, 2009

This reminds me of a giant popover, it was easy to make. I warmed my eggs and milk a bit while my calphalon pan heated in the oven with the butter. I also added a splash of vanilla. I enjoyed it with a splash of lemon juice and powdered sugar. My daughter used maple syrup. We both loved it. A nice and easy, and very different breakfast.

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Round Steak Sauerbraten

Reviewed: Jan. 23, 2009

My husband loved it. I enjoyed it also. I doubled the brown sugar and vinegar and used 1 TBSP of worcester since I kept reading the work "bland". I didn't have onion powder so I used a tablespoon of onion flakes. My husband just ate the leftovers..it's all gone. It was a nice change of flavor. PS. I browned the meat and threw everything into the crock pot on low for about 8 hours and thickened the gravy, served over buttered noodles.

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