merhope1011 Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (10115540)

Quick Chick!

Reviewed: Jun. 2, 2011

We add fresh carrots and potatoes when we make this. Easy, fast and yummy!

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I used this recipe to make the frosting for my kiddo's birthday cake - SO yummy. I did use unsalted butter versus shortening; we don't use shortening for a whole lot, and I'd have to buy a big tub of it (we'd buy Spectrum's if we did buy some, and that's the only size they sell) - but everyone loved it just the same!

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Egg-Free Dairy-Free Nut-Free Cake

Reviewed: Jun. 2, 2011

SO good. My little one noted that it does have a bit of a reddish hue to it - sort of like red velvet, but no where near as red (guessing that's from the vinegar and baking soda) ;) Just gave up cows' dairy - but am about 7 months pregnant - and not about to give up snacks! This recipe totally saves the day. Thanks!!

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Freezer Vegetable Soup

Reviewed: May 17, 2011

Very yummy! I cooked the onion, celery and carrot in a bit of olive oil until the onion was translucent before adding anything else. I did leave the sugar out; I just personally don't care for sweeter soups. I also cut back quite a bit on the pepper because we have a four year old who doesn't care very much for spiciness. I try to chop all my veggies into the same bite-sized pieces - including the potato that you add afterwards. For those who might not know (I sure didn't!) a quart of chopped fresh tomatoes is about 6 Roma-sized tomatoes. We used 1/2 a medium-large sized onion (1c), about 2 carrots (1c), and the celery I had prechopped/frozen b/c if I try to keep fresh on hand it just goes to waste in our house. Thanks for a dairy-free soup that tastes great - kind of a tricky thing to come by!

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Delicious Chicken Casserole

Reviewed: May 6, 2011

Great way to use up leftover rice and even leftover chicken (I often use some from a freshly stewed chicken, as well as some of the stock from it instead of boiling breasts all on their own)!

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Baked Bar-be-que Chicken

Reviewed: May 6, 2011

We use boneless skinless chicken in this recipe and I love that it uses what you'd probably have on hand anyway and is SO simple to make. Keeps the chicken moist even here in Colorado!

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Pear Bread I

Reviewed: May 6, 2011

One of our favorite quick breads! We often use up pears that have gotten a little overripe (by accident) in this recipe and it makes for a really moist bread!

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All Day Apple Butter

Reviewed: May 6, 2011

A GREAT and EASY way to use up some of the bumper crop of apples we got from our tree this year! I canned it in the very small jam jars and used it in baskets with fresh apples and home-made baked goods for holiday presents. Everyone loved it!

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Chocolate Cornstarch Pudding

Reviewed: May 6, 2011

Absolutely wonderful! Love that I can make this easily from what's most often in the cupboard/fridge! We use 2% milk in ours, which I think makes it a more calorie-friendly, calcium-rich treat. I can see where some would want to add more cocoa powder to get a more intense chocolate taste, but as the recipe is written, it's still yummy!

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Chewy Oatmeal Cookies I

Reviewed: Nov. 13, 2010

Pretty darn good! Was just looking for a way to use up some extra applesauce and because it was already 7:30 pm I was looking for something that I could make QUICKLY for my family for a late night snack. These totally fit the bill. I was out of raisins and nuts so had to leave those out; made half of the batch plain and the other half with the full 1/2 c of chocolate chips - super chewy and yummy either way. I made sure to bake these for 8 minutes - then checked back every 30 seconds beyond that till I felt they were ready to pull out (that's how I bake all my cookies b/c we live in CO where things dry out QUICKLY). TY for the great recipe!

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Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins

Reviewed: Aug. 20, 2010

A great recipe - with or without the chocolate chips. We did half our recipe with them in and half without and all of the muffins were moist and yummy. Easy to make; always a great way to use up extra zukes from our garden. Thanks for the recipe!!

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Cabbage Sloppy Joes

Reviewed: May 15, 2010

Super yummy! Great way to use up extra cabbage! No changes made... that's probably a first!! LOL The only thing I will note is that we use all organic ingredients, therefore our ketchup is sweetened w/sugar instead of HFCS (which is what is used in most conventional ketchups). This may have been why I would not characterize what we made as being too sweet, but you also can't account for everyone's "sloppy joe taste," some like it sweeter and some notsomuch. :) **nope - I did in fact make one change: subbed soy for worshy sauce - can't find an organic one we like.** THANKS FOR THE RECIPE!!

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Skillet Ham, Cabbage and Potatoes

Reviewed: May 1, 2010

Yummy! I did make a few changes: did a small dice on our ham and potatoes, thinly sliced the cabbage. I cooked the ham with the onions at the beginning, waited on adding the cabbage till last, and subbed broth for water. I did have to add a little more liquid to the pot once I started to cook the potatoes and I did have to cook them for longer than 20 minutes - I think because they were diced and not sliced AND also because we are at a high altitude. I added the cabbage just before we were ready to eat and only let it cook 'just enough.' Really economical and easy dish. Thanks for sharing it!!

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Burrito Pie

Reviewed: May 1, 2010

SUPER YUMMY! My husband is allergic to beans, legumes, & soy so at 1st glance this recipe would either not work for us as a family or would be kinda boring if we just omitted the beans. B/c of his allergy, we eat some sort of meat w/almost every evening meal. Needless to say, it gets pricey. I wanted to start adding beans into my son's diet more & try to save a little $ so I started out w/this recipe. I 1/2-ed all the 'filling' ingredients (subbed salsa for taco sauce; couldn't find organic taco sauce anywhere!), left out the beans & cooked that in one pot. In another pot, I made homemade refried pintos (beans, salt, water) (SO much cheaper & IMHO SO much yummier!) & added the other 1/2 of the 'filling' ingredients to it (saute onion 1st) (& using only 1/4 of the jar of salsa b/c my son & I don't really care for super spicy things) & left out the peppers & olives too. As I was getting the beans ready, I felt bad for my husband - they were so yummy & creamy & his filling was so... ground beef-looking. LOL So, I added about a cup of sour cream, thinking it would thicken it up. WRONG! It was SO watery! So I removed some of the watery-ness & mixed it w/corn starch, stirred it back in, cooked it up again, & voila - creamy. I used two square glass baking dishes w/the meat filling in one & the bean filling in the other. I used 6 tortillas total (2 layers for each dish) & just tore them into pieces to cover the filling/cheese. If you are vegetarian or allergic to beans HTH!!

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Oven Meatball Stew

Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2010

This is a great recipe! It almost reminds me of Hedgehogs but with more flavor (and veggies LOL). I did make just a couple of changes: I substituted dried onion just b/c that's what I always use when adding onion to ground beef, I added in one teaspoon of garlic powder to the meatball mix, I substituted just a slight sprinkling of black pepper for the chili pepper (three year old doesn't care for spicy things), and ended up leaving out the onions simply because I couldn't fit them without tearing my meatballs apart! I actually made about two dozen or so small meatballs like I do with hedgehogs (using a smaller sized cookie dough scoop) instead of 12 larger ones. I ended up having to add another tablespoon or so of olive oil to the pan, as the first couple went away as I browned the meatballs. I also had to add another tablespoon of olive oil to my flour later, as there wasn't enough left to make a roux. Added in about two tablespoons of red wine vinegar and liberal shakings of garlic salt to the tomato juice mixture. Also salted and peppered my veggies before mixing them into the pot. A great dish for after a long and busy day and wonderful to freeze! Thanks so much for sharing!!

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Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic

Reviewed: Apr. 25, 2010

Seriously yummy! Halved the amount of chicken the recipe calls for since it's just the two of us and a three year old. We used about a half pound of mushrooms, which was quite a lot for the amount of chicken, but since we love mushrooms that was okay. :D We also made the whole amount of sauce the recipe calls for and only had a little left over that we'll just use w/other chicken leftovers from another night. Omitted the butter; try not to add fat where we don't think it's needed. Did take out a bit of the sauce, added some cornstarch to it, then added it back to the rest of the sauce to thicken it a little. Served w/baked potatoes and broccoli - great meal! Thanks for the recipe!!

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Kicky Steak Strips with Rice

Reviewed: Apr. 17, 2010

This recipe helped our steak stay moist, which can be hard in CO :P but I just didn't care for the taste THAT much. I will agree with other reviewers who felt that the Worcestershire overpowered any other flavor. I tried it the way the recipe is written, I tried it w/more mustard added, I tried it w/brown sugar added, but I just didn't love it, but also didn't have anything else on hand to doctor this cut of meat (and IT was the only thing I had defrosted LOL). I might try it with soy sauce instead of Worcestershire next time, but it'll be a while before we try this one again.

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Broccoli Chicken Casserole I

Reviewed: Mar. 11, 2010

Pretty good - very simple! We sorted the reviews by most helpful & followed both Crystalyn's & JoJo's suggestions. I halved the recipe, only 2 grown-ups & 1 toddler to feed; didn't want to make a ton if it turned out not to be our bag. So 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced (cooked first on the stove on med low in a bit of olive oil w/Adobo seasoning [garlic-salt-like, can be found in the Cuban foods section of your grocer]), 1/2 a 16oz bag of frozen broccoli/cauliflower/carrot mix (thawed just a BIT and chopped), 1 can of cream of mushroom soup (this was organic [Health Valley brand], not as thick as conventional cream-of soups), milk measured to 1/4 of the empty soup can (b/c the soup we use is not as thick as most people would use), 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1 cup dry stuffing mix. I mixed it all together in a bowl & added a bit more Adobo (like garlic salt). I spread this in a square glass dish, topped it w/plain bread crumbs that I seasoned with garlic salt & baked it at 350 for 30 minutes. I think next time we will make it 2 cups of dry stuffing mix, & we might do a bit of cheese over the top (but under the breadcrumbs). Easy supper, easy to have everything you need on hand. Thanks for the recipe & reviews!

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Blueberry Zucchini Bread

Reviewed: Feb. 22, 2010

EXCELLENT! Didn't make any changes (except for using frozen blueberries b/c it's hard to come by fresh organic blueberries in February in CO) and it came out great. May try substituting some applesauce for some of the veggie oil next time to cut back on the fat - but I've tried it before in other recipes with less than tasty results, so we'll have to see. :)

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Coffee Cream Cheese Spread

Reviewed: Dec. 5, 2009

Just a great simple spread for quick breads. Added just a sprinkling or two of cinnamon and served with zucchini bread. Yummy!! Thanks for the recipe!

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3 users found this review helpful