Besides for the fact I had the ingredients for this I was looking to use anyway, I just had to try this recipe given that only three people had reviewed it with very mixed reviews, averaging this out to a fairly low rating. I had to find out for myself! I agree with The Messy Cook wholeheartedly - this is a very nice bread with great raspberry/lemon flavor and the reviewer for whom this bread didn't rise probably didn't use self rising flour - or maybe it was OLD self rising flour. I left out the nutmeg and nuts and added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for heightened flavor. I couldn't have been more pleased. It's moist, pretty with its flecks of zucchini and dots of raspberry, and the amount of cinnamon is just right. With zucchini so in season now, I hope others will give this recipe a try. It certainly is worth more than the 3-star rating it has right now. Great recipe reedfamilyof5!

Good, solid, basic recipe for stuffed peppers that offers the freedom to tweak to your own liking. I could see this recipe in a basic and general reference-type cookbook. I did put my own spin on this as well. I used green, orange, yellow and red bell peppers, not just for color but for a milder, sweeter flavor. I cut them in half lengthwise, then blanched them for about three minutes before transfering them to an ice bath. I cooked the rice, but did NOT cook the meat - added an egg, chopped onion, minced garlic rather than the garlic and onion powders, fresh chopped parsley, oregano and thyme, as well as salt, pepper, a handful of grated Parmesan cheese, and tomato sauce I had put up from my garden. Poured more sauce over the peppers than called for, dotted with butter, then baked for about 45 minutes. Now it's a five star recipe in my book!

Nice bread when olive oil is swapped for the margarine called for. Because I have them available now in my garden, I chose to use a handful of chopped, fresh herbs to replace the dried - oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, sage and parsley. I found this recipe to have unusual ingredient measurements and it might have been better to have published the recipe with measurements for standard 1, 1-1/2 or 2 pound loaves. As another reviewer suggested, I scaled the recipe to 17 servings to make my 1-1/2 pound loaf. The amount of salt called for then was 1-3/4 tsp., and I found it to be too much. The bread didn't rise as well as it should have, and the finished bread even tasted too salty. Next time I will cut back the salt to 1-1/2 tsp. for the recipe scaled to use 3 cups flour.

Definitely five stars for the ingredients in the salad. Colorful and a nice blend of textures and flavors. I used chopped Romaine and Alaskan King Crab, and prepared this as a stacked salad. The dressing is just acceptable; nothing to either love or hate about it. It was a good starting point but needed lift and character - three stars, average. Taking both the salad ingredients and the dressing into consideration, this was a four star salad.

Knowing just how good this is because I've enjoyed it all my life and make it routinely, I'm reviewing this just to give it a plug since there is only one other review. This is simple, delicious, colorful, beautiful and good for you! It is a fine accompaniment to any steak, fish, seafood, chicken or chops. Also good with anything cooked on the outdoor grill. And perfect just as written!

A good dish that could have been even better. I agree with Lynda Q that the amount of paprika was overkill. Less would be better and none better yet. Otherwise an interesting and tasty dish, largely because of the exotic flavor of saffron. Pairing the shrimp with the gnocchi was unexpected and delicious.

Neither hubs nor I enjoyed this. Unlike the description of the salad, there IS no "combination" of flavors. The ingredients in the dressing never blended together to create a cohesive whole. The recipe calls for far too much Worcestershire and even after cutting it by more than half it was still way too much. The dressing itself tasted of basically nothing more than mayonnaise and chili sauce. In addition, there was so MUCH of the sauce that it was just a bunch of goosh that all but obliterated the taste of the shrimp, even after more than doubling the shrimp to compensate. While this was a pretty salad, it unfortunately wasn't to our liking. There is just too much wrong with this recipe, other than using a different dressing entirely, to offer any helpful suggestions to improve it.

I was drawn to these because of the marbled batter and even more so by the buttercream frosting and chocolate drizzle. It seemed to me they'd be a little different than most and they were! The two batters weren't the easiest to swirl because they're thick, but since each is very good it doesn't matter which you get a bite of! As I frosted them I thought it might be overkill and maybe it was, but I wouldn't have them any other way! I eliminated the almond extract, thinking I wouldn't care for it here, and replaced it with more vanilla. I did use the chopped pecans, but only one cup of the amount called for, and I think they are significant to include. With no leavening, these are thinner, chewier and more sturdy bars then some others, more cookie-like than cake-like. My only criticism is of myself. I just couldn't wait to cut into these and didn't have the patience to wait for the chocolate drizzle to set up. I should have, because the chocolate wouldn't have been dragged through the white buttercream frosting and the bars would have looked a lot prettier. The two different flavored batters, the buttercream frosting and chocolate drizzle all came together nicely - this was a pleasant surprise!

I made half the recipe, which generously frosted twelve cupcakes. I found I needed only 3-1/2 rather than four cups of powdered sugar, but the full amount would have been fine too. Don't be rigid on the amount of milk to use either - simply add it gradually until you get the consistency you want which will depend on whether you're spreading it or piping it. Since I piped this frosting onto cupcakes, I made a stiffer frosting which obviously required less. This is a standard, reliable recipe for basic vanilla buttercream. It's very hard to go wrong on this one!

It's just a matter of personal expectations, I guess, that account for the variation in reviews of this recipe. This is a basic, standard recipe for Dinette Cake that is quite common and has been around forever, so again, liking it or not is a matter of personal preference because there isn't anything "wrong" with the recipe. I didn't like it and won't tinker with it to make it better or different. It IS fluffy and moist, but it has a coarse, open crumb I found unappealing.

Great combination of flavors and beautiful presentation. I had red, yellow, green and orange peppers on hand so I used them all. Rather than the Italian dressing I used a simple marinade of olive oil, fresh minced garlic, salt, pepper and fresh herbs. Another thing I liked about this recipe is that I didn't have to look for a separate rice recipe to complement the kabobs. Great dish for minimal effort.

I'm impressed! I felt like baking today but didn't have much time. This recipe was a good pick. I had these cookies in and out of the oven in no time. But more important, they're really good! I'm really impressed! I used a devils' food cake mix, butter rather than oil, and added one teaspoon each of vanilla and chocolate extracts. For added measure I threw in a bag of semi-sweet & white chocolate swirl baking chips. If not overbaked these taste like a gooey, fudgey brownie. After chilling the dough until somewhat firm, I dropped them by small cookie scoopfuls, didn't flatten them at all, and baked about 10-1/2 minutes. Now here's a good use for a cake mix, that doesn't taste like a cake mix!

Since I love zucchini cooked Italian style, with olive oil, garlic, onion and tomatoes, I thought I'd like this variation as well. But I really wasn't crazy about it. I couldn't see sticking this in the oven once it was already cooked, so I didn't. You run the risk of turning it to mush. I used fresh oregano and basil and found it distracting with the mildly flavored zucchini. I found the same with the bell peppers as well. I found it all overbearing. Since tomatoes are in season now, I used fresh, which is a good choice when they're available. But the flavors just didn't come together for me.

I've tried several basic buttercream frostings from this site and this is one of the best. I made half the recipe, which frosted a dozen cupcakes generously. I did modify it a bit, however - I used hi-ratio shortening, clear vanilla and one egg white to replace the 2 T. water in a half recipe. I find that hi-ratio shortening is best for frostings because it seems sturdier, creamier, and less greasy tasting. I beat the frosting on low speed (Speed 2 on the KitchenAid) for 10 minutes. This frosting is excellent, particularly on the chocolate cupcakes I used it for. Fluffy, delicious, perfect for decorating if you like, and beautiful.

Some cakes, like the Black Magic Cake or the One Bowl Chocolate Cake III, are VERY moist, and have a relatively dense, compact crumb. This cake, being a butter cake, (meaning that the fat and sugar are creamed together to incorporate air), is light, tender and fluffy. Neither type is better than the other, it's either a matter of personal preference or what you want for a particular project. As a butter cake, this recipe is very good, and I know it wil improve by the following day. I halved the recipe, which yielded 12 cupcakes and one small loaf cake. Other than using freshly brewed coffee for the water, I followed the recipe as written and was quite satisfied with it.

Three stars as written. I'm lucky enough to enjoy real Memphis rub (in Memphis!) about 3-4 times a year and, looking over the ingredients, I knew instantly this needed some tweaking. It just didn't seem to have the zest or the complexity of Memphis rubs I've become familiar with and love. First, if you've got a good blend of spices to begin with, the MSG isn't necessary - so I left it out. I also reduced the cayenne by half and used a sweet paprika. The ingredients listed were fine, it's just that it was clear there were also some seasonings glaringly missing. I don't profess to be a Memphis rub expert, but after I added (for a half recipe) 1-1/2 T. of chili powder, 1 tsp, cumin, and 1 tsp. each of dried oregano and thyme, this rub came alive. Hubby grilled our ribs with it, low and slow, then served them with BBQ sauce on the side. Delicious. Wish I would have made the full recipe!

I don't get it. Since this recipe called for no seasoning, not even salt and pepper, I knew it would need something to liven it up. But even after adding onion, fresh garlic, salt, pepper, soy sauce and a dribble of toasted sesame seed oil, this was still, as my husband aptly described it, "nondescript."

This humble salad brought back such memories, all of them wonderful and pleasant, of dinners at my Italian grandmother's table. This, to me, was the ultimate comfort food. All the ingredients blend together deliciously to create a taste sensation. Perfect with the arugula, but this could also be tossed with some rigatoni or penne pasta. This is also good enough to eat on its own with a crusty slice of Italian bread for a simple, light, but satisfying meal. I used all fresh herbs from my garden, and beautiful, shaved Parmegiano-Reggiano. Thank you, kimscookingnow, for the delicious memories. I have to say that of the 700+ recipes I've tried from this site, this is by far one of the more memorable. And for what it's worth, my German hubby raved about this too!

This was certainly pretty and colorful, I'll give it that. Unfortunately, it was WAY short on flavor and definitely needed some perking up. Sure, garlic almost always helps, but I would have thought that the basil (I used fresh) and the red peppers would have contributed plenty of flavor. I used a good olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper but this was just "blah" and forgettable.

Hubs rates this four stars because he missed the typical vinegar usually included in cucumbers with dill and sour cream. I give it five stars because I welcomed no vinegar in this salad! So five stars it is! I love cucumbers prepared this way, but never really liked the tang of the vinegar so much. Using lemon juice instead of the vinegar took away the "puckeriness" of the vinegar while still contributing just enough tang to give it some dimension. I also loved the addition of the chives, something I've never included. Other than using full fat sour cream and adding salt and pepper, I stuck to the recipe as written and found it perfect. Hubs added vinegar to his...