CAMCHES Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (1950030)

Easy Meatloaf

Reviewed: Mar. 19, 2011

This was pretty tasty. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, because someone decided that the bowl of hamburger defrosting in the fridge was an invitation to make themselves a hamburger for lunch, but I think I was close enough to the original recipe's proportions to review it honestly. I sauteed the onion and about a tablespoon of garlic in some olive oil and butter. I ended up using 2/3c milk and 1 cup bread crumbs (Italian seasoned). The sauce was too sweet and it wouldn't have been enough. I ended up tripling the sauce and adjusting the ingredients (NOT triple the sugar.) to make up for it. I ended up with: 1 c ketchup, 3T brown sugar, 1 T mustard, 1tsp vinegar, 1 tsp hot sauce. It was tangy and just a touch sweet. Overall, a very solid meatloaf base. And it was super moist. Next time, I'll probably use 2-3lbs of meat since it shrank quite a bit in my 8x8 dish.

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Alaska Salmon Bake with Pecan Crunch Coating

Reviewed: Apr. 21, 2010

This was pretty good! Next time, I think I'll increase the mustard mixture (but change the mustard:honey ratio to 3:1) because the taste didn't come through as strongly as I would have liked. Be sure to use FRESH breadcrumbs and Dijon mustard not the yellow stuff! It makes a world of difference. Next time, I might try using my homemade grainy mustard.

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Boiled Bagels

Reviewed: Feb. 17, 2010

These were easy to make, and quite tasty! I felt they were too salty so I couldn't give them a full five stars, but texture and taste (other than the salt) were excellent. Next time, I'll reduce the salt to 2 teaspoons. I found that the easiest way to make the holes was to shape the dough, poke my finger through, and then twirl the dough on my finger like a pizza maker. Don't worry, it's sturdy. I broiled them before boiling them, but I'm not sure that it made much of a difference. I followed someone's tip to add molasses to the boiling water and I liked the depth it added. I ended up cooking mine for about 20 minutes before they were done. I could have kicked myself for not noticing I was out of sesame seeds before I made these.

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Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Reviewed: Jan. 31, 2010

I found these waaaay too sweet. If I make them again, I'll decrease the sugars to 3/4c each and use bittersweet chocolate chips. Also, 1 cup of chopped nuts was not enough. They looked gorgeous and the were chewy in the center and crisp around the edges just like a proper chocolate chip cookie should be. My family liked them but if you're like me and you regularly cross out the 'semisweet' in recipes and break out the bar of 72% chocolate, this one is not for you.

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Grandmother's Buttermilk Cornbread

Reviewed: Jan. 6, 2010

Very good. Not the southern-style cornbread that I'm used to but still good. I thought it was too sweet, even after halving the sugar. I do think it needed more salt. And next time, I'll add the eggs last. I ended up with bits of cooked egg whites in the final product.

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Blonde Brownies I

Reviewed: Jul. 29, 2009

These are fabulous. Next time, I'll half the salt because the saltiness is the first thing that registers on my mind, kind of like eating a chocolate covered pretzel. I melted the butter in a pot on low, stirred in the sugar, and set it aside to cool before adding the egg. I added the dry ingredients right in the pot so I only had one thing to wash. Baked in an 8x8 for 30 minutes. Use a toothpick to test them. A knife will make them sink. Don't mess with the baking soda and the baking powder; you can't taste them at all. They bake up high and then sink a bit at the end. Super chewy texture!

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Easy Oatmeal Muffins

Reviewed: May 7, 2009

These were quite tasty. Even with the oats, they turned out light and chewy. I love this recipe because it's so adaptable. Remember DON'T OVERMIX. That makes tough muffins. You should still see streaks of flour. Muffins are so forgiving to everything but overmixing. I changed the recipe according to my tastes. I wanted orange-y muffins with nuts. I doubled the recipe. I used rolled oats because I like their flavor better. They soak up more liquid so I added a bit more in other places. I used buttermilk and a 6oz container of vanilla yogurt instead of milk and brown sugar. I mixed that together with the zest of two oranges and 1/4 cup of OJ and let it sit. I subbed half the flour with wheat flour, added 1.5 tsp each cinnamon and vanilla, some nutmeg, and a dash of allspice. I added 1/4 cup of applesauce and 1/3c oil. I added 1c nuts and mixed everything together. Then I divided the batter into two and added blueberries to one bowl and bittersweet chocolate chips to the other. I topped them with turbinado sugar. It doesn't melt and makes them look professional and pretty. I love the crunch!

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Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

Reviewed: Dec. 16, 2008

This recipe is fabulous! Not too sweet, not dry, not too hard or too soft. I changed the steps a bit. I creamed the butter and the sugars for about 5-7 minutes before adding the eggs and vanilla. I also added a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of pumpkin pie spice. Then I mixed in all the dry ingredients by hand. I made them with two cups of oatmeal, because that's all I had, but next time, I'm going to add another cup of oatmeal. I left out the raisins, added bittersweet chocolate chips (1 cup), about 3/4 cup chopped pecans, and 1 1/4 cup craisins. The 1 cup of chocolate chips is perfect, but next time, I'm going to add two cups of craisins and a full cup of pecans. These cookies don't melt per se, but they do spread so space them out. I like my cookies chewy but not soft, so I rolled balls of dough and pressed them down. They still ended up baking for 10-12 minutes. These cookies got rave reviews. This recipe is so versatile. Next time, I'm going to try it with dried cherries and almonds.

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Quick Zesty Green Beans

Reviewed: Jun. 15, 2008

This was quite good! I made some changes. I heated about 1/2Tbsp of olive oil, sauteed some diced onion and garlic for a few seconds, added 1/2Tbsp butter, Then I added the vegetables (I'd half cooked them in the steamer). I added some julienned carrots and yellow peppers to the green beans for extra vitamins and color. I made them for Father's Day and my family loved them. Even my notoriously picky sister asked for the recipe. I almost fell over in shock.

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Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip II

Reviewed: Jan. 8, 2008

Fabulous! Every time my friends come over to my house for movies, etc, the first thing they do is look for this. I use real garlic and sour cream by preference, but I've made it according the recipe and it's out of this world. I also bought one of those 'Italian' cheese packages to make it easier. For those who've wondered: you can't make a low-fat version of this. It was dreadful. I used fat-free cream cheese, canola mayo, and a few tablespoons of sour cream. It didn't turn out at all. I just went running the next time I wanted this dip instead of wasting money.

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Basic Ham and Bean Soup

Reviewed: Jan. 2, 2008

This was very tasty. I made a few changes. I soaked my beans overnight. I put everything in the crockpot on low before I went to a brunch and it was done by the time I got back. There weren't enough carrots/celery/onions. I ended up using 1 1/2c chopped onion, 2 stalks celery, chopped, and four carrots, sliced. I also added more garlic. (I can't be the only person who saw '1 tsp' and scoffed. We love garlic here!)It tasted a little flat so I also added one cube of bouillon, another 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, and about a tablespoon of chipotle hot sauce. It didn't make it spicy at all, just gave the soup some body. (It IS 8 cups of water! A little hot sauce won't make it spicy, even for the little ones) I also didn't add any chopped ham. My ham hock had quite a lot of meat on it so after six hours in the crockpot, it fell right off the bone. I shredded it and added it back to the pot.

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Homemade Black Bean Veggie Burgers

Reviewed: Dec. 11, 2007

These were okay. As the recipe is, they come out a little bland. I usually double the recipe, shape half of it into patties, and freeze them. One thing this recipe desperately needed was SALT. I also add a small can of corn, double the hot sauce, and add 1/4c-1/2c of spicy salsa.

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Apple Raisin Bread

Reviewed: Nov. 9, 2007

This is excellent bread. I've made it several times, and I always double or triple the recipe because it goes so quickly in my house. I love this recipe because it's so variable. And I can sneak in lots of healthy stuff! I've even made made a vegan version of it by subbing mashed bananas and apple sauce for the eggs and soy milk for the milk. It was delicious! I finally settled on a 'half-vegan bread'. I use mashed bananas or applesauce instead of eggs (1/4c applesauce or 1 small banana, mashed = 1 egg), I add 1/4c sour cream, 1/2c shredded carrots, 1/4c sunflower seeds, and 1/4c wheat germ. Sometimes I need to add a little more milk depending on the temperature.

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Quick and Easy Alfredo Sauce

Reviewed: Sep. 10, 2007

It was certainly quick and easy but the recipe looked bland so I doctored it. I sauteed chopped onion and minced garlic with the butter. I added a large dash of nutmeg, 1/4tsp of red pepper flakes, a dash of cayenne, italian seasoning, and salt because I used unsalted butter. I added julienned ham and peas to make a more filling meal. I only added 1 cup of milk and that still made it a little too thin but I turned up the heat and it thickened. It was good, but it needed to simmer for a while to let the spices balance out the cream cheese taste. There is a cream cheese taste, although I imagine if you used one full cup of milk, it'd be less obvious. The cream cheese taste was unnoticeable with the pasta, though. I think this would make a good base for another sauce. It was good but a traditional Alfredo sauce is already so easy. But for times when I don't have cream, this will be my stand-by.

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Best Carrot Cake Ever

Reviewed: Sep. 2, 2007

2009 edit: Use cheesecloth to strain the carrots! Wrap 1/3 the carrots in a cheesecloth pouch, twist it shut and squeeze. I've finally figured out how to make this moist without sogginess. My family loves carrot cake so I’ve made this recipe many times since I first found it. First, do what you can the night before and store ingredients in ziplock bags/tupperware. Grate the carrots, strain the pineapple, sift the dry ingredients, etc. The only things I added: 1/4 tsp each of nutmeg, allspice, ginger, and cloves, added 1.5x the vanilla and cinnamon, ½ tsp baking POWDER, and the zest of one lemon. I nuked the raisins in equal parts of the drained pineapple juices and rum. The raisins absorbed most of the liquids and were really plump and delicious. Save a few tablespoons to add to the cake. I didn’t want to risk a dry cake so I compromised. I drained the carrots BEFORE I added the brown sugar. After the carrots sit for an hour, there will still be some liquid; add all of it. My cake ended up moist, flavorful, and TALL. Don't over-mix or let your cake sit too long. Baking soda reacts immediately so if you over-mix or leave it around, the gas will escape and your cake will be flat. Use the good pans. Line the bottom of your layer pans with wax paper or parchment paper. Better safe than sorry! To make a bundt, bake at 325 for 75-90 minutes. Use a cream cheese glaze: beat 4oz cream cheese with 2tsp vanilla and 2c powdered sugar. And 1-2tbsp milk/rum to get spreading consistency.

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Oatmeal Whole Wheat Quick Bread

Reviewed: Aug. 29, 2007

For what these were (a recipe for /quick/ bread) these were very tasty. They had a very nice oat flavor. However, the dough was very, very soft. Even after sitting for ten minutes, the dough was still too soft to form a ball. So I added about a 1/4c of bread flour and decided to make drop biscuits instead. I added sunflower seeds and 2 tablespoons of unground oatmeal, so the biscuits were very dense and very chewy, which was what I wanted from this recipe. I think that next time, I'll treat it like a quickbread and pour the batter into a loaf pan. I bet it would also be a good base for some less-guilt-inducing garlic cheese biscuits.

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Pecan-Oatmeal Pancakes

Reviewed: Aug. 11, 2007

These are AMAZING. And very filling. I ate mine with honey and sliced strawberries. These pancakes also freeze well, so since I'm cooking for one, I cook the whole recipe, put a piece of wax paper between each pancake and stick them in the freezer in a ziploc bag. Toast them for a few minutes in the toaster oven and voila! A delicious breakfast on the run. I only made a few changes: I used wheat flour, added 1tsp each of vanilla and cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. I used pecan chips because that's what I had, but definitely use chopped pecans if you have them for a more satisfying crunch. This recipe is very hearty so if you prefer lighter pancakes but want that oatmeal flavor, try try subbing oatmeal flour in your regular pancake recipe (Oatmeal flour can be easily made by processing oatmeal in a blender or food processor. Like wheat flour, it has no gluten so mix 50/50 with all purpose flour.) I didn't have a problem with soupy ingredients at all because I let the batter sit for a few minutes after mixing. In fact, the mix was thick enough that I had to add more milk to the mix while I was cooking because it had thickened even MORE. These could use a bit more of a punch. As they are, without honey or syrup, they're a bit on the bland side. I think a small mashed banana or 1/4c of peanut butter would make these utterly perfect instead of very near perfect.

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Meatball Sandwich

Reviewed: Apr. 27, 2007

These are really good meatballs. I added some salt and pepper and a few shakes of cayenne pepper because we like it hot. I also toasted some hoagie rolls to make individual servings and used mozzarella. Delicious! EDIT: After making this a few more times I'd like to add some advice. Use the leanest hamburger you can find. Even 85/15 will produce too much grease. Bake over a broiler pan to get rid of the grease. Adding one or two links of fresh, spicy sausage is delicious. Just slice open the casings and add the meat. Use the cheap bread crumbs. I've tried this recipe with fresh, storebought, and panko (Japanese bread crumbs) and it tastes best with the cheap, 'Italian' breadcrumbs.

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Best Brownies

Reviewed: Apr. 25, 2007

These are AMAZING! They're so moist and chocolatey and dangerous. Because guess what I just had for dinner instead of healthy food. I made a couple of changes. I doubled the recipe. I added 1/4 cup of wheat germ, a handful of chocolate chips, and I increased the cocoa to 1 1/4c because I wanted to add booze. I added about 3/4 to 1 cup of booze. If you add alcohol, depending on what kind, you might need to decrease the sugar. I added coffee liqueur and amaretto so I cut back on the sugar. These turned out so well. I was a little worried because I hated the taste of the batter. But I'd done all the work so I baked them anyway. They ended up a tiny bit of dry crust on top and utterly moist on the middle. I'll making this often. I just wish I'd had nuts or raspberries for the batter.

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Herbed Sweet 'n' Sour Chicken

Reviewed: Apr. 25, 2007

I wish I'd read all of the reviews before making this. It wasn't bad per se, but it certainly wasn't sweet and sour chicken so my search continues. This has WAY too much thyme. It was practically the only thing I could taste. I'm not that fond of thyme, but even if you like it, this is really overpowering. I think it would be a good sauce if you cut the thyme in half. It's just not sweet and sour chicken.

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