As modified, we enjoyed this very much, but I think it might have been too soupy and pretty bland without the modifications. I used one can each of cream of chicken and cream of mushroom soup, only half the indicated amount of sour cream (8 oz instead of 16 oz) and 12 oz. of fettucini instead of 8 oz. Even so, it was borderline too soupy, but then I only used one pint jar of homecanned chicken breast (about 1-1/2 chicken breast) instead of four, for economy. Also, since I had no mushrooms, I used only a tablespoon of butter to grease the casserole dish. I added a scant teaspoon of onion powder and a half-teaspoon of marjoram, along with plenty of pepper and a few of shots of Tabasco. A topping of buttered bread crumbs gave this a nice variety of textures. The mushrooms would have made this dish even better. Another time, I might also try it with broccoli florets. This is a rich, creamy, satisfying and versatile dish, well worth trying, but also worth "healthifying" some by reducing the amount of fat from the butter and sour cream.

Reviewed On: Nov. 16, 2010

I've made this twice now, and second time's the charm. First, save yourself work: rather than cubing the meat, cut it into larger pieces and marinade all day. The larger pieces makes browning the meat go faster. I'm not even sure browning adds that much. Second, I used cider vinegar and cut down the orange juice by a third the second time I cooked it, giving it a more mellow and lass acidic flavor. Third, and this was special: This last time, when the meat was tender (and before thickening the sauce) I removed the meat from the pan, put the liquid through a fat separator, added enough water to bring it to 4 cups, brought it to a boil, added 2 cups well-rinsed basmati rice, cooked the rice until nearly done and returned the meat to the pan to re-heat. The rice was a beautiful color and had great flavor, with one less pan to clean. Serve with plain yogurt, if desired. Broccoli or cauliflower make good side dishes.

Reviewed On: May 19, 2010

This is seriously good food and very easy to prepare (can't imagine that it would take anyone 20 minutes to prep - more like five)! Taking the advice of other reviewers, I reduced the sugar by one tablespoon and used only one teaspoon of kosher salt. I was probably a tablespoon shy of 1/3 cup on the vinegar, too. Had no ground cloves, so threw 3-4 whole cloves in. The result was addictive! Didn't want to quit eating it! I was skeptical of the extended cooking time, but having tried it after about 45 minutes, there's no question it is much better later. The apple (I peeled mine) basically disappeared during the cooking process, so next time I might just use applesauce to make the prep even faster. This makes a great side dish for turkey, as a less-sweet substitute for cranberry sauce. I added cold leftovers of it to a turkey sandwich - yum! It would also be delicious served with roast chicken or duck, grilled or steamed bratwurst, kielbasa, baked ham. Recommend doubling the recipe. Leftovers can be used cold on turkey or ham sandwiches and take well to reheating.

Reviewed On: May 1, 2010