I used this to decorate a gingerbread house, and it was perfect! The consistency is too thick for delicate decorating like piping leaves, but that could be fixed with a little water. The taste isn't great. If using for cookies or something that will be eaten, I would add some vanilla or lemon flavoring.

This was ok. To be fair, I had to use chicken broth instead of beef and I forgot the vinegar. Not sure how much of a difference that would've made. It's a very healthful recipe, so I might tweak it in the future to boost the flavor. On the plus side, it's very easy and quick to prepare. I will skip the puree step next time to make it even easier.

Very good. I let the bacon crisp before adding shallots and garlic (drained the bacon fat). I skipped the onions and added some green peas. The sauce was a little too "eggy" for my taste, but my husband loved it, so it will go into the rotation. Great way to use up leftover half-n-half.

Oh, boy. These are ridiculously good. I would eat them all the time if I didn't know how fattening they are! I used only brown sugar because that's all I had in the house--will stick to that in the future because it was delicious. A little too sweet for my taste, so I'll cut back next time, but I have to say that these are wonderful. I'm going to experiment a bit to see if I can reduce the overall fat and remove the trans fats somehow (those crescent rolls are loaded).

This was a delicious recipe. I followed it as written, the only departures being that I browned the chicken first and added the tomatoes about 1/2 way through the process. As others have mentioned, bone-in chicken and Hungarian paprika are essential to achieve full flavor. I used Hungarian half-sharp paprika instead of sweet paprika because that's what I had on hand, but it made the dish very spicy (just FYI). I served it with dumplings, but noodles or potatoes would be good, too. Not the lightest/healthiest dish, but really yummy comfort food and very easy to make.

I can't make any claims regarding authenticity since I've never had Etoufe before, but hubby and I both enjoyed it, and a coworker who is from LA said it was good. I used 2 lbs. shrimp since I didn't have crawfish. I didn't think the process was difficult, but it is a very spicy recipe (and I'm no wimp when it comes to heat--grew up on Indian curry). As someone else said, hold back since you can always add but can't take away. It's 4 stars instead of 5 because I thought it tasted oily (next time, will use 1/2 oil and 1/2 butter or reduce the oil) and the shrimp end up overcooked if you follow the recipe. I would toss in the shrimp, simmer for just a minute or so, turn off the heat, and let the shrimp slowly cook in the sauce--it's hot enough and shrimp go from delicious to rubbery very fast.

I had to doctor these up quite a bit to avoid a bland dish (based on how the sauce tasted before adding it to the potatoes). I added more salt, cayenne, garlic powder, and dijon mustard. With those changes, it was pretty good, but I did miss the milk. It had a great, creamy texture, but something about the flavor was not quite right. I'll probably make this again, though, because I'm not supposed to be eating dairy these days (sad). It's a solid dish, but didn't impress me.

For being such a simple recipe, this was a great soup (despite the fact that I didn't have paprika or parsley on hand and used skim milk and light sour cream). I added some cooked wild rice to make it heartier. Next time, I plan to add a splash of dry sherry after cooking the onions--should bring some depth of flavor.

Being of Indian decent, I thought it was unusual to see these spices in a beef dish (we didn't grow up eating beef in our house for the sake of Hindu family members). So I had to give it a try! Glad I did. The flavors are much more subtle than I'm used to, but I liked the overall result. Very easy dish. I didn't have tomatoes, so tossed in about 1/4 cup picante sauce instead. Also, used very lean ground beef (4% fat) and reduced the amount of oil to 2 TBSP. It would've been too greasy otherwise (but I have noticed that food from Pakistani restaurants is very oily, so that might be a cultural preference). For anyone who can't find the spices in their area, you may order them online from Penzeys.com. I've been using them for years--the quality of spices is excellent, and they can be cheaper than the local grocery store.

Good, but a little on the bland side for my taste. I used cream of mushroom w/ roasted garlic soup and O'Brien potatoes and Jimmy Dean hot sausage; added green onions and 1/2 can diced green chiles, but I still felt like it needed some salsa or something to wake it up. Everyone at the office enjoyed it, though, so it's probably just my palate.

More like 3.5 stars, but I'll round up. This was good after I doctored up the meat sauce--it was too sweet when I followed the recipe, so I added some chopped green olives and some lemon juice and a small can of diced tomatoes (drained and pureed) and let it simmer for another hour. That made it work--brought in some necessary acidity. It was a very enjoyable meal. I also used Trader Joe's no boil lasagna noodles which I soaked in hot water for a few minutes before assembly.

Great soup! I don't know if it's the best out there, but it's very good. I had a very small ham bone with little meat on it from a quarter ham, so added some Penzey's Ham Base for added flavor. Also didn't have any parsley so used chervil instead--worked fine. I didn't need to cook it as long (would have, but hubby got into the pot after 6 hours and declared it yummy, so we stopped there. I was afraid the beans would disintegrate). The reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is that I thought it was a little too sweet. Won't prevent me from making it again, though.

I'm not sure what this rub is lacking, but my ribs were missing something. I might toy with it and try again.

This was an extremely good cake--nice and moist. I don't care for the texture of the regular size chocolate chips--find the miniature ones as others have advised. The liquor flavor was a little strong for my taste, but everyone else loved it. I made this in 2 9-inch round pans and split the layers for a 4 layer cake. I used chocolate mousse for the filling (recipe from Hershey's cocoa) and chocolate ganache as frosting (from Taste of Home Kitchen on this site). Made for an impressive birthday cake for my boss, and everyone at the office loved it. Update: Made this again using strong coffee instead of liquor and the mini chocolate chips--result was fantastic. I ended up serving the cake plain, sprinkled with powdered sugar, and it was still delicious. It's a 5-star recipe with the mini chips.

Delicious and easy. I don't usually care for frosting, but this tastes light while being very rich. I did strain the hot mixture per another reviewer's suggestion.

This is a very good recipe, but I think I prefer it without the egg (could be because I grew up on Indian rice pudding, which doesn't have eggs). Hubby likes it with vanilla and cinnamon. I like the Indian flavors of cardamom and golden raisins. Either way, it's yummy.

Add 1/2 to 1 tsp. vanilla (when using plain cream cheese)and you've got a winner! Using a hand mixer is a must to avoid the lumps.

I had high hopes given all the great reviews, but this salsa really fell short of expectations. It had too much of a canned tomato taste. Maybe I'm spoiled living in CA where authentic Mexican salsa abounds, but I will not bother trying to make this again. My attempts to doctor it up still yielded a less than satisfactory product. Sorry.

I followed the recipe exactly, but ended up with a biscuit that was the opposite of fluffy. They weren't horrible, but not worth making again.

I am rating 4 stars because I made changes per other reviewers' suggestions. I used the Spicy V8, added additional chili flakes, added garlic, subbed a box of frozen spinach for the mushrooms (didn't have any on hand), and increased lentils to 2 cups, also added a little chili powder, and didn't have any Worcestershire. Overall, very tasty and healthful soup and very easy one-pot meal. FYI: To make this a faster meal, you cold use split red lentils instead of the whole brown or green ones (available at Indian markets. You might have to increase the amount or play with the liquid levels, but the cook time would be cut in half. Sometime Trader Joe's even has precooked black lentils in the refrigerated section--talk about easy.