I gave this 5 stars because it is a great basic recipe that can be adapted to different tastes and desires. It makes a great soup that has a wonderfully subtle sweet flavor and is extremely filling. My husband was not excited when I told him that we were having beans for dinner, but he was pleasantly surprised and even the my son who declared that he did not like beans and ham ate his entire bowl!!! I made this dish into a version of bean and ham soup. To get around the long soaking period, place the beans into a large pot and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, turn the heat off and then leave the beans to soak for an hour. After the hour soak, proceed wiht your recipe as usual. To make my version of this recipe, I used frozen ham from our Christmas ham and then filled the pot up to the top with water. After bringing the pot to a boil, I simmered the pot with a lid on to reduce the water loss. I used 1/3 cup brown sugar along with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. While the pot simmered, I chopped a small onion and one pound of carrots. I sauted the carrots and onion in butter until soft and slightly browned. After simmering the beans for approximately 2 hours, I removed about one cup of beans, smashed them, returned them to the pot and added the sauted veggies. I then let the pot simmer for about another 10 minutes while I cut crusty bread into slices. WHAT A WONDERFUL MEAL!!!

Reviewed On: Apr. 1, 2009

I chose this recipe in order to use the left over buttermilk that my father-in-law left from his visit and all I can say is WOW!!! I ended up using Old Fashioned Oats instead if the quick cooking and it turned out fine. I also tripled the recipe to feed my large brood, but only had 3/4 cup buttermilk. To make up for the rest, I simply used regular milk. My picky kids (who do not like oatmeal pancakes) didn't notice a difference and ate every bite, even asking for seconds. This is definitely a keeper and easy to keep on hand by mixing all the dry ingredients and keeping them in a sealed container. Upon making this recipe a second time, I used all buttermilk, and while you don't have to ues it, the buttermilk does make a distinct difference in taste. Also to make these a bit more healthy, I used whole wheat flour and flaxseed instead of the plain white flour. Totally awesome recipe!!!

Reviewed On: Mar. 16, 2009

For my husband's birthday, he requested a cake made from scratch. I used this cake mix to make a double layer 13x9 cake with chocolate icing in between the layers and a topping of chocolate ganche....DEATH BY CHOCOLATE. This mix produced a moist cake that has a rich, chocolatey taste without being overly sweet (even with the 2 cups of sugar) and was easy to manipulate into layers. It is also easy to mix all the dry ingredients into a ziploc bag to keep onhand for future reference. The only changes I made were using half all purpose flour and half cake flour. To make a 13x9 sheet cake, you will need to bake at 350 for approx 45 minutes. One note....do not be distressed by the thinness of the batter....it will bake up correctly. I recommend a tall glass of milk to go with this as the perfect compliment.

Reviewed On: Apr. 13, 2009