After one substitution and a streamlining of cooking direction steps, my family gives this five stars! I substituted a can of Italian Stewed Tomatoes for the diced tomatoes w/green chile peppers. To streamline the process while giving the chicken more flavor AND cut some of the fat, I sauteed the chicken chunks with the peppers and fresh garlic in 2 T olive & 2 T butter. *I still used the garlic powder as well during this process to ensure there was enough seasoning. Once the chicken was cooked through and the peppers tender, I added the two cans of tomatoes and the herbs (heaping 1/2 tsp of each of the three herbs) and let the mixture simmer while I boiled the water and cooked the pasta. This process seemed to have eliminated the comments of bland-tasting chicken and gave a more flavorful sauce. Very tasty, not too heavy and delicious leftover!

Reviewed On: Nov. 10, 2009

Wonderful, simple flavor and easy! Only made a couple "measurement" revisions to original recipe: I used only 11 ounces of Penne as I like to make sure my pasta is not dry. I used a good heaping tablespoon of garlic as we like it, and I doubled the amount of Italian seasoning since it was the only other seasoning. I mixed the Parmesan cheese into the pasta mixture at the end so that it would blend with the sauce. Delicious! Everyone, including picky 5-year old, loved it. Will definitely make again.

Reviewed On: Mar. 27, 2009

Very tasty with some minor modifications, and mine turned out, yes, fork-tender when I prepared them the following way: I lightly pounded the steaks on each side with a hammer tenderizer (spikey side), sprinkled both sides with pepper and liberally with Cajun seasoning and garlic powder (NEED to do this - this is the only real seasoning other than the onion soup unless you prefer things more on the bland side). In a large non-stick skillet, I lightly browned each side of the steaks in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I mixed together the can of Sprite (we did not detect any "sweet" after taste), 2 cans of mushroom soup, and envelope of dry onion soup mix, then I poured the sauce mixture over the cube steaks after browning; brought up to a boil, then turned down to simmer and covered the pan. I let the steaks simmer for about 2 hours - fabulous! Even our picky 5 year old who usually fusses about chewy beef liked them, and the sauce is delicious served over rice. This stove top method seems to work well for us - quicker and better than the slow cooker.

Reviewed On: Mar. 27, 2009