I'm not sure if I did something wrong... I followed the recipe except used butter instead of margarine and substituted half white whole wheat for half of the bread flour... I did add a tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to try to make up the difference. Anyway, I got a mess. It was raw in the middle and "fell" in the middle... Maybe my bread machine is not very good, but I've never had this particular problem before. I did notice that the dough looked "wet" to me compared to the recipes in my bread machine book. I probably should've added a bit more flour during kneading. But anyway, other people subbed for whole wheat and apparently didn't have a problem so.... I'm not sure what the problem was, but can't rate it better than a 3.

I didn't make the whole recipe exactly as is, but it took very well to substitutions. I had turkey thighs instead of chicken breasts, I started by sauteeing a frozen mire poix mix from my grocery store, I used grapeseed oil in the dumplings and pulled them off heat after 15 minutes, then removed them to a serving platter while I added back in the meat and some frozen peas and let the liquid part simmer for minute. I seasoned it to my own taste with garlic, pepper and onion powder, then poured the meat, veggies and gravy over the dumplings. Perfection! Anyway, this recipe deserves the 5 stars because: 1. Most of the recipes for dumplings on this site resort to "canned" biscuits but this one gives you an excellent and easy dumpling recipe. 2. The method of covering the dumplings right away is correct... most recipes say to leave the lid off for the first 10 minutes but I've always found that produces disintegrated loose dumplings. 3. I think the chicken dumpling broth is greatly improved by thickening and extra "chickeny" flavor, so the cream of chicken soup is a good call. (Though you could also throw in a bullion cube and thicken with a little cornstarch at the end if necessary.) 4. It is a great BASIC recipe that you can modify A LOT and still get a good result.

This is a terrific "basic" pea soup recipe. Here are some modifications you might want to try to get "beyond basic" to "golden." 1. Use a honeybaked hambone for a delicate, slightly sweet flavor and plenty of meat. 2. Simmer the hambone with a cup of chopped onions, 3 bay leaves, 1.5 tsp basil, the marjoram, double the black pepper, 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/4 tsp oregano in a mixture of water and chicken stock for only 20 minutes. Then take hambone out and let it cool... remove meat and replace hambone in still simmering pot. (The meat will become tasteless if you cook it too long so just remove the fat then chop and reserve.) 3. Brown (there should be crispy browned edges to the veggies) a mire poix mix in a tiny bit of butter then stir in 2 Tbsp broth and 2 tsp crushed garlic at the end just for a minute. 4. Add the mire poix, split peas, and a cup of sliced carrots to pot. I use yellow split peas because they look more attractive, "golden." Simmer until the peas begin to change (about 20-30 min.) 5. Remove hambone and add 1 large baked potato diced small. Simmer, stirring often (likes to stick and burn at this point) until potatoes are cooked through and soup is thickened (about 12 min, just add a little more stock or water if it is too thick.) 4. Stir ham back in one minute before serving and remove bay leaves.

This is an excellent recipe partly because it includes the oregano and many of the other recipes on the site don't. Like many others I tweak it. Well, actually I just use it as an "outline" and make the following changes every time I make it. (I actually don't make a taco seasoning per se, but tacos from scratch every time. This is about what you need for 1.5 to 2 pounds of ground beef.) First I omit the paprika and black pepper. I don't use "chili powder" and substitute 1.5 TBSP New Mexico chili powder and slightly increase the other spices. ("Chili powder" is powdered dry chilis mixed with a lot of these other ingredients that are in the recipe, while "New Mexico Chili Powder" is pure powdered "warm" chilis.) I use cayenne in varying amounts rather than pepper flakes because I can control the heat better with it and I like the flavor of cayenne a lot better than black pepper (I want Mexican, not cajun.) I use 1 tsp fresh garlic (the crushed stuff in a jar) and 1/4 cup of chopped onion (prechopped and frozen) not granulated. Just after draining the majority of the grease I add the onions and garlic in and saute for a few minutes until the onions are thawed and beginning to cook. Then I make a clear spot in the middle of the pan and add my spices, sauteing them in the little bit of hamburger fat for a minute or two at medium then add a TBSP of tomato paste for a couple of minutes and letting it mellow over the heat before I add the water. When I add the water I add a tsp or s

I just can't seem to please the kids with any of these baked nugget recipes. I liked them very well, but the kids just aren't satisfied with anything but the bland boring ones you buy in the freezer section premade. So I'm only giving it a four because I liked them very well, but was really hoping to please both myself and the kids this time.

I liked them a lot, but the kids were less impressed. They like their nuggets very boring, the bland frozen kind. I keep trying to make them homemade to get them to eat a little more nutritiously, but no go. Still, I thought this recipe turned out pretty darn well.

This was very good... I did make some modifications though. I had a huge cucumber from my garden so I peeled it and sliced it thin. Then when I made the dressing I decreased the sugar by half and added 2 packets of splenda and equal. I used half mayo and half sour cream and omitted the seasoned salt. Also used red wine vinegar instead of regular white vinegar. Increased the dill, about twice as much and had to add another big TBSP of mayo and sour cream because it was a little sweet for my taste. Next time I'll cut the sugar in half and mix in the rest of the ingredients, then taste for sweetness (before adding any artificial sweeteners if I even need them.) I also added a little thinly sliced red onion from my garden. Later I dipped sliced garden tomatoes and raw zucchini in the extra dressing left behind in the bowl, yummy!

Too much grease and oil, so with some modifications this was a 5 star recipe. I cut the bacon back by 1/3 and fried it first (set it aside.) Then I drained off more than half the grease and sauteed the onion in it. (Didn't have a shallot so skipped it.) When the onions were almost done added 3 crushed cloves of garlic and a couple tablespoons of chicken broth. Used 3 eggs instead of 4 egg yolks and whipped them into 1 and 1/2 cups of heavy cream. Then when pasta was done I tossed it with the onion/garlic mixture and added the cream/egg mixture to it, cooking and tossing until it started thickening. Then I added 1 cup of parmesan and 1/3 cup mozzarella and tossed. Then seasoned it with a little nutmeg, black and cayenne pepper, and salt.

Okay, I ended up with a pretty good enchilada sauce but I had to make some big modifications at the end to get there. At first I followed the recipe pretty much as written (the only sub I made was per another reviewer who recommended New Mexico or California Chile powder, and I had both so I went half and half.) I ended up with a very bitter tasting and way too thick mess. So, I added the following ingredients at the end to help thin it a bit and mellow it out... 1 tbsp sugar, another can of tomato sauce and about another cup and a half of water. I cooked that for awhile on a low simmer and the sauce mellowed into something with a little kick, a good flavor, and the right "saucy" consistency.

This tasted really good, but I had to drain water out of the pan a couple of times after cooking. I wasn't sure if the cottage cheese seperated producing extra liguid or what, but I didn't want my tortillas to get too soggy. That was the only problem I had with the recipe. Amazingly even my 6 year old who complains "it's too spicy!" if I put black pepper in her food ate it (though I did douse hers thoroughly with sour cream which she loves.) I changed only 2 things. 1. I cooked some frozen sweet corn in the microwave and mixed it with the shredded chicken because I wanted corn flavor in the enchiladas and 2. I only had whole wheat flour tortillas not corn tortillas.

I followed the advice of several other reviewers and this turned out really well, except I had to add more dill to the mayo to get enough flavor going. Also it's a 4 out of 5 because it is an "adult" potato salad. The kids didn't like it at all. So here's what I did. I put the Italian dressing on the hot potatoes as suggested (this did make them very flavorful.) I added extra dill, a dash of cayenne and a bit of plain yogurt to give it a little extra creaminess with zip.

My mom's secret to the best turkey and gravy ever was a can of beer. So I thought I'd give this a try, and it was pretty darn good. I used Black Butte Porter, and skipped the pineapple because my daughter is allergic. The kids asked for seconds with lots of pan drippings on top... Thanks!

I have tried several highly rated meatloaf recipes on this site, but this is my new favorite. It produces a tender and tasty meatloaf. I made the following modifications. I tripled the recipe and substituted 1 lb of ground lamb for 1 lb of ground beef. I made one batch of mini's in a muffin tin and instead of adding the cheese into the meat I formed the ball of meatloaf around a chunk of cojack cheese. Yummy, yummy! The other two loaves I mixed the cheddar cheese into and baked them regular size. Finally, I did not add the mustard to the topping; I don't like mustard. So I added a bit of onion powder and cut back on the sugar a bit. Anyway, awesome recipe!

I'm sure these are just as good the way the recipe it written, but I wanted to decrease the sugar a bit and "healthy" these up some more. So I used the whole box of my graham cracker crumbs instead of 2.5 cups... making it was closer to 4 cups, decreased the powdered sugar to 1 and 1/2 cups, and added extra peanut butter (I just eyeballed it and went by taste.) It was not quite gooey enough to hold together so I added a bit of corn syrup, which "stickied it right up." I also changed the chocolate topping a bit after hearing what the other reviewers said. I used half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate chips, and melted them in the microwave with 3 Tablespoons of butter. Stirred and added 1/4 cup of half and half. Anyway, even with all my changes it turned out great, and I felt better that my kids got a little less sugar and a little more wholegrain. Also the parchment idea from another reviewer worked like a dream!

Oh my word this recipe is so sweet! I only used 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar since I followed the recommendation by others to add more sweetened coconut and I was worried about too much sugar. And I had reason to be worried because the bars were overly sweet to my taste. Otherwise the texture and the taste were good... I followed the recipe other than than those two modifications.

I don't particularly care for the dill. I mix a little chili powder and canned fire-roasted mild green chili's into the cream cheese, no mayo needed. One of my favorite veggy toppings for this is the broccoli slaw they sell in a bag at the store. It is easy to eat and colorful (has carrot strips mixed in.) You have to press it into the cream cheese a bit though and not go overboard with the slaw or it gets everywhere. This "pizza" never fails to draw rave reviews at potlucks.

I really loved this BUT if I were doing it again, I'd put bay leaves on top too, maybe try to get them under the fat layer. Because the bay leaves on the bottom created this amazing flavor! But it only extended a couple of inches into the meat. The garlic was good... I had the prechopped stuff in the jar so made holes with one knife and stuffed about an 1/8th of a teaspoon in each hole. ALSO I ended up tenting the top with foil at some point to protect the brown crispy fat layer from becoming a black crispy layer. Everyone in my family, even the finicky child, liked this immensely even with the cheaper pork shoulder roast cut. It makes great sandwiches later, just warm the slices in the microwave a bit. I had some complaints about the vinegar smell and I used golden balsamic... but once they tasted it, they stopped complaining.

OK, am I the only one who ran into problems here? The mousse was way, way too stiff and it was crunchy from the pudding powder. I added about 1 cup of half and half to compensate and then it wasn't chocolatey enough for me, so I added some Special Dark syrup. I still felt like there was a little too much crunchy texture from the pudding, so I heated the gelatin back to hot before adding it in as the last step. That helped a lot! The recipe was good in the end, with a little fixing up but not a 5 star. My favorite recipe for mousse is richer with melted dark chocolate and this recipe pales in comparison to it, so only 4, not 5.

I modified this per other reviews and my own taste and it was finger licking good. It may be just as awesome without changes, but I'll tell you what I did in case you want to try. I increased the sauce by using 2/3 cup of low sodium soy/tamari sauce and tripling the catsup and garlic, but I didn't add the oil to the sauce. I used leg quarters with the bones in (4 pounds) and simmered them in the sauce covered on the stovetop for about 25 minutes, turning every few minutes. Then I put the chicken into an oiled baking pan (prettier side down,) sparingly poured a little of the sauce over top and baked at 425 degrees. While baking I added a corn starch/water mixture to the sauce to thicken it and brought it to a boil for a minute stirring constantly. It didn't need salt. I added a good dash of cayenne and it needed a little more zip so I added a few tablespoons of rice wine vinegar. It was about time to turn the chicken when this was done (about 10 minutes.) I turned the chicken and ladled a generous amount of sauce over each peice, but reserved about a cup for later. Baked it another 10 minutes. Ladled extra sauce over the top of each peice to serve. (Plain brown rice mixed with peas was an excellent side choice.)

This is my all time favorite baked fish recipe now. I didn't have the nuts so I skipped that part. The onions really make the fish flavorful! The sauce on top rocks! (Added Input: My kids love this too. I use Basa when I make it.)