First, I have to admit that I have limited personal experience with pumpkin pie. I never cared for it until recently....I guess my tastes are changing as I get older. My daughter wanted to see how a pumpkin goes from field to pie, so this was our foray, as far as baking one. I followed the directions as written, but doubling the spices per other reviews. The end result is kind of bland. Not bad, just bland. I will increase the honey by 1/2 cup (total 1 1/2 cups) and add another 1/2 tsp. ginger (total 1 1/2 tsp.) and add another full tsp. cinnamon (total 2 tsp.) next time. I also added 1 tsp. Watkins Pumpkin Pie Spice and will keep that. Also, my crust was really bland, though that is not the fault of this recipe and my score does not reflect that. I will add a dash of sugar to my crust next time. We'll see how the next one comes out, taste-wise. Texture- and "set"-wise, it turned out great. I think this is a good starting point, and just have to adjust sweetness and spice to suit my personal tastes. Oh....I pureed my cooked pumpkin with my hand mixer, and that made the puree really nice and smooth. I think it takes a little more blending than simply mashing to get a nice, velvety texture.

This was fantastic. I made it for an end-of-summer cookout, and everyone loved it. I followed the directions exactly, except subbing cilantro for the basil (a friend is allergic to basil, poor guy) and while the cilantro was good, I can imagine that the basil will make it fabulous (I love basil). Next time I might try using ketchup for the tomato sauce; I personally thought that a little sweetness would have added something....or maybe a dash of Worcestershire or even some brown sugar. The cayenne amount was just right for me, but my husband likes SPICY, so he could've taken more heat. A dash of Tabasco, maybe? The Chipotle Tabasco is really good, that might be worth a try sometime too. Anyway, this one rated 5 stars the first time I tried it; I'm very excited to add my own personal touches and see how it comes out. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe!

I made this using some recommedations from other reviewers: using 1/4 c. EVOO and 1/4 c. butter; increasing garlic to 5 cloves; adding a bit of flour to thicken. Otherwise, I followed the directions exactly. I thought the results were very bland, unfortunately. I wonder if adding a splash of white wine would help? I will try again. Thanks!

I made this to go over some lobster ravioli, and it was quite good. Next time I might cut back on the ketchup just a tad and add a little more paprika. Also, my sauce got a bit too thick, so I will watch that more carefully next time, maybe cutting back on the flour or else keeping a little extra milk handy to thin it out. Since it is a very rich sauce, I will have to resign myself to making it only occasionally, but this is the recipe that I will turn to when the occasion arises. Thank you!

My review is kind of skewed, since I really tweaked the recipe a lot and so I'm reviewing the results of that. I had some leftover roasted chicken (so I didn't brown any in the first step, just skipped right to cooking the onion and garlic, to which I added some sliced creminis), no shallots (so I used a chopped white onion), prefer sage to rosemary, felt that this would be good with the addition of some cremini mushrooms and asparagus, and lastly, I followed some other reviewers' suggestions, such as thickening the sauce a bit, adding a touch of cream, and squeezing a bit of lemon juice over the sauce at the finish. It turned out to be very tasty and my picky 8 y.o. even ate it, so that's saying something. I believe that this recipe would be very good as written, but is clearly very versatile if you have any ideas of your own about tweaking it. I will def. make this again and keep the recipe handy in my file. Thanks for sharing!

My husband and I thought this was very good. It is such an easy recipe, and really versatile. It would make a good side dish, as well as an entree. Could be easily converted to a vegetarian dish by simply subbing vegetable bouillon for the chicken. Thanks for sharing!

These are pretty darned good, and a great way to use up some overripe bananas. I subbed walnut pieces for the chocolate chips (wanting something a little healthier for my snack-happy 8 y.o.) and used apple bake spice (Watkins) for the cinnamon and clove. I like the cake-y texture....it's like eating little banana nut muffins. Thanks for sharing this good recipe!

For those who think the soy sauce is overpowering.....try low sodium soy sauce. It has really made a difference for me.

I have actually had this recipe printed from this site and pasted in my "tried and true" book for a couple of years now...thanks for a winner, Heather! The only changes that I might make on occasion is the foccacia (onion or 3 cheese?) or I might change the veggies some to suit whatever I have on hand. The sandwiches are always delicious! I think the key is the aioli and the feta (I use quite a bit of garlic in my aioli). Wonderful!

I followed the directions as written, except using cutlets instead of breasts. It was fantastic! And so easy! I've always avoided having guests for dinner (unless we're grilling) because I never knew what I could make that would be "good enough". Now I have a tried-and-true recipe that I will be proud to serve to guests! Thanks Lisa....this is a winner!

I thought this was quite good. I used really thick-cut boneless chops, and seared them in the butter over med-high heat. That left some nice browned bits on the bottom of the pan, which I scraped up and incorporated when I added the broth. I used baby 'bellas instead of plain white mushrooms. Very tasty, although I would have liked to add a sprinkling of something green (parsley maybe?) to make presentation prettier. However, for the first time out, I didn't want to alter the original recipe a whole lot. This one is going in my keepers book....thanks for sharing!