I too am an artichoke addict - have been since the 70's. I find that most people not only do not know how to prepare them, they don't even know how to eat them. Like the previous reviewer said, you don't eat the entire leaf - scrape the meat off with your teeth. When you get to leaves that are thin and nearly transparent, take a spoon and scrape them out along with the fuzzy choke and throw away. What you have left is the artichoke heart (the BEST part of the artichoke!) Cut it into bite size pieces and enjoy!

This is something I eat when I'm going lo-carb, but I eat it cold as a treat. Reminds me a little bit of ice cream or pudding.

Very pleasantly surprised. I found a bottle of Amaretto in the back of the cabinet and wondered what to do with it. I always have Irish Cream and club soda on hand so this was perfect. The Irish Cream and Amaretto blends wonderfully and the club soda cuts the syrupy sweetness.

I chose to make these for St. Patricks day. I wouldn't say my family loved them, but they ate them without complaint. My 12 yr old said "it's just meatloaf wrapped in cabbage, big deal", but I enjoyed them very much. I followed the recipe closely except I baked mine in the oven (350 for an hour) and I added a little of the sauce to the meat mixture, but then of course I was short on sauce - so I just poured a can of Tomato soup over the top. Next time I'd add some of the tomato soup to the meat and mix the remaining with the sauce (or just double the sauce). Also, if baking in the oven like I did, cover to keep them from drying out.

Super! And SO easy! I coated the beef with Montreal Steak Seasoning (got the idea from Rachael Ray) and it was incredible! Mine was 2.7 lbs, but I still followed the recipe as if it were 3 lbs. I would say it came out med to med-well - would definitely decrease the cooking time next time to achieve more of a med-rare roast beef.

We LOVED this! That being said I made some changes I should share. I think the success of this recipe comes down to which cajun seasoning you use. I chose to use the one suggested earlier in the reviews (equal parts black pepper, white pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, paprika). A review earlier said that 2 TBS of that was too much and to use half. I say use 1/4!! We like spicy and only used a little more than a quarter(1 1/2 tsp). THEN added additional cayenne and a little red pepper flakes. Otherwise it would have been entirely too peppery. (reduce or omit the white pepper?) We like spicy, not peppery. I didn't measure the flour - guessing more than 1/8, less than 1/4 cup; used half milk and half cream; added fresh chopped basil (good but not sure that it made the dish any better). Don't forget the lemon juice - it gives it a fresh flavor!

*5* Stars!! This recipe couldn't be easier! Doubled the sauce (not the cornstarch) and I used teryaki sauce in place of the soy sauce only bc it's all I had on hand. (I'm sure soy sauce would be better, but this wasn't a bad substitution) Also, I used some leftover cooked rotisserie chicken (no skin). I couldn't face chicken salad again for lunch and thought I'd give this a try. This was just as fast or faster than making a lunch of soup and sandwich. I will definitely make this again for dinner - especially when I'm facing a time crunch to get dinner on the table.

My grandmother always made these for the holidays. They were her signature Christmas cookies. The only difference is she made a thumbprint, and then after gently rolling in powdered sugar, she filled them with tinted frosting. I can't imagine them any other way. Oh, and she baked them for 20 mins on 350.

Octoberfest beer? I had Miller Lite on hand and used it. The chops marinated for about an hour and while I thought the flavor was *great*, I also thought the beer flavor was stronger than I expected. If you don't like the taste of beer don't marinate an hour like I did. The main reason I gave only 4 stars was because the coating never crisped, never even browned, actually a little soggy. Wasn't sure if it was the eggs or maybe pat dry after removing from marinade. Otherwise, very good.

Let me just say I love mayo, I love cheese, and I love potatoes, but this is the first time I've put all three together in one dish. Why didn't I think of this first?!? I thought it was really really good. But hubby and son thought it was just okay. I think the problem was that I used tator tots as another reviewer suggested and by the time I "gently" stirred the cheese cubes until they were melted, the tots were pretty well shredded and somewhat mashed. If I used tots again I think I'd make my cheese cubes much smaller or maybe even melt the cheese before adding. I used "Hormel Real Bacon Bits" to save time and it was great!

I made this for years, but when I got married my husband said he would not eat casseroles. One night I finally made this for him, and now he says it's the ONLY casserole he likes. The only differences I make are I omit the sherry entirely, toss the melted butter with the crumbs, and sprinkle the poppy seeds across the top. Just as a word of caution, he swears the poppy seeds give him weird dreams LOL

I consider myself a pretty experienced cook/baker, but I've never made sugar cookies until today. I rolled out half the batch and used Christmas cookie cutters and frosted them, the other half I rolled and pressed with colored granulated sugar. They were equally good. I chose this recipe b/c they were "soft" sugar cookies, but honestly I didn't find them to be very soft. A couple of my batches hardly browned on the bottom and they still came out rather crunchy. (Maybe I didn't make them thick enough?) But having said that, I thought they were very very good and will make them again.

I loved this recipe! Some reviews that said these were too sweet and too rich almost kept me from trying. I don't like too sweet either, but these were wonderfully decadent! I reduced the sugar and chocolate to 2 cups as suggested; they were still rich, but I wouldn't say "too sweet". I split mine into 3 batches - peppermint, coconut rum, and Baileys. By far the peppermint was the best. I dipped them in melted white chips and they tasted just like Fannie Mae's Mint Meltaways. (next time I'll color the melted white chips green for the same appearance) For the coconut rum, I had on hand coconut extract and rum extract. These were EXTREMELY good, but the flavor seemed to dissipate quickly. Next time I'll add more. Same with the Baileys. By the end of the day I could barely tell the difference between the Baileys and the coconut rum. I'll definitely be making these again!

Love, love, love these cookies! They are perfect as is, but I'm looking forward to using it as a base recipe with other ingredients - nuts, chocolate chips, toffee bits, etc. I like a soft chewy cookie, but I find many soft cookies are soft only because they are underbaked. These were thoroughly baked and still remained soft. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!

I've been toasting pumpkins seeds for many years using this method - with only minor changes. First, I do not rinse the seeds at all - just get the big hunks of pumpkin and strings out - a little pumpkin on the seeds gives it flavor! Second, I spray my cookie sheet and seeds with Pam. Third, I've never measured the salt, just sprinkle salt as if you were salting fries to your own taste. (You can always add more after they're out of the oven) Fourth, I prefer a little cooler oven - 300 - and just wait until they smell fantastic and just barely golden brown. (45 mins to an hour) Turn the oven off and let them stay in the oven another 45 mins or so. Mmmmm.....

FABULOUS chicken! I made it for the second time last night. The first time I followed the recipe exactly and thought it was great. This time I reduced the salt by half. Also, I was running short on time yesterday so I put half of the spice rub UNDER the skin, marinated only 2 hours, bumped the oven up to 300, and cooked for 2.5 - 3 hours. It's good enough to stand alone, but if you're a "saucey" person like me use some of the drippings to make a great cream gravy. Generally, I use about 1/2 cup drippings, just enough flour to absorb drippings, and then add milk a little at a time over med-lo heat until desired consistency and flavor. And like another reviewer said, pour some of the drippings over the top just before serving for a nice glistening presentation. The family loved it before, but they thought it was even better this time.

I made this last week and the whole family loved it. After reading reviews I was a little hesitant on adding the whole can of beer. I probably added about 2/3 of the can and did not replace with any other liquid as others have done. (next time I'll put it all in) Other than that I followed the recipe exactly and it was fabulous! Great meal for a cold winter evening.

Update - I was one of the very few that gave this recipe a poor rating, but I knew I had to try again. The first time I used leaner bacon (as suggested by reviewers) and followed the recipe exactly. I now know that when using lean bacon it is essential to allow time to marinate. There wasn't enough fat in the bacon to melt the sugar. Original - The whole reason I got this recipe is because about 2 years ago someone made these at the office and they were incredible. I remember specifically she said "cocktail weiners, bacon, and brown sugar" - so I figured this was it. Hers were saucy and flavorful. Mine were dry, hard, and the sugar didn't melt. So I know these CAN be good, but mine were not.

Hmm... where do I begin? To start on a positive note, they were very pretty cookies. But the dough was entirely too sticky. I baked mine for 10 minutes, kept them in for 12, still didn't look done so I added an additional 3 minutes. Yes, they were soft chewy cookies, but I found them to be gooey and overly sweet. My second batch I kept in until they were nearly a golden brown. They were better because they were crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. But it wasn't good enough for me to finish baking the rest of dough. Update: I stored them in a ziploc bag and the next day the texture was better and the taste mellowed. IF I ever made these again I'd bake them a day ahead.

Made this for the family last night and they loved it. It gets 5 stars for taste and 5 stars for ease of preparation. I used a rump roast as the recipe states and it came out perfect. I topped them with provolone cheese and leftover green and red bell peppers and red onions from fajitas the night before. YUM! Also, I'm cutting back on carbs and rolled it in a Lo Carb whole wheat tortilla and thought it was even better. Even my 11 yr old son preferred it on the whole wheat tortilla. (easier to handle for little hands) I will make this again and again... and again... :) UPDATE: Made this again last night and the only beer I had in the fridge was Corona. I was a little hesitant using a Mexican beer in a French Dip, but it turned out just as good.