I'm not sure what happened. This recipe is very similar to what my mom makes in the oven. All I can think is that perhaps my slow cooker seal isn't very good. All of the gravy was either absorbed or evaporated, leaving me with stringy chicken and darkened dried beef. It was unattractive/unappetizing, but moist. My guest and husband ate it, so it could have been worse. I won't make this again. Used 1.5lbs chix with a 5 oz jar of dried beef- definitely needs the rinsing. Made full amount of sauce. I did wrap the breasts with uncooked bacon, which I think added a nice flavor. I added some frozen peas at the very end after discovering there was no sauce. Served with egg noodles.

Reviewed On: Dec. 12, 2008

The flavors never melded. The sirloin was tough and never retained the seasoning of the spices and wine. I added the thyme and garlic when I sauteed the shallot. The sauce, once thickened, was delicious over egg noodles, but never blended with the meat, so it was kinda blah. Perhaps cook the beef tips in the sauce next time? I tried this with leftover sirloin from some kabobs that I had grilled, so perhaps that made a difference. I'd almost be tempted to triple the mushrooms and skip the beef entirely, thicken with flour or cornstarch, and serve over noodles. I added more garlic and thyme towards the end, as well, to punch up the seasoning.

Reviewed On: Jun. 8, 2006

This was easy and great! To add to the cooking directions, I boiled the sauce, then put the lid on and cut down to med-low heat for about 20 minutes. I whisked in 2T of flour and let simmer without the cover to thicken the sauce. It would be delicious over rice. The only addition I made to the recipe was that I threw in the tail end (1T) of fatfree huckleberry vinagrette. I doubt this changed the flavor much, though. The marmalade I used is on the tart side, so that might account for the difference in the sweetness. A sweet marmalade would be too sweet overall, imho.

Reviewed On: Apr. 13, 2006