Aredendra Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (10436908)

Roast Beef and Gravy

Reviewed: Jun. 17, 2011

This made a great gravy and a dry meat. I had a 1.5 lb roast and I only cooked on low for 5 hrs with a huge mess of vegetables and it was still quite dry. The gravy saves it--I used white wine and homemade cream of mushroom soup and three cloves of garlic just smashed and tossed in. Salt and peppered the roast, seared the outside before adding to the pot (very briefly; I doubt this would've added to dryness). Combined with potatoes, leeks, carrots, broken corn on the cob and thyme scattered about. Vegetables were good but if it hadn't been for that gravy (added butter and reduced to thicken on the stove), the meat would've been a tough thing indeed.

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Sirloin Steak with Garlic Butter

Reviewed: Jun. 17, 2011

This was good but not great. It didn't do anything spectacular to the meat--the fact is you can slather almost anything in garlic butter and make it taste better.

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Spiced D'Anjou Pear Bread

Reviewed: Jun. 12, 2011

Delicious recipe; I made mini loaves and baked for approx 30 min. Also added walnuts pressed into the top--will incorporate next time. Used half whole wheat flour. Diced pears for more immersion of fruit within the bread.

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Chipotle Smashed Potatoes

Reviewed: Jun. 1, 2011

I, for once, have nothing to add to this. Fantastic in all regards.

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Pan-Seared Chicken Breasts with Shallots

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2011

I made a few adjustments/additions, but stayed true to the recipe overall. Adjusted the recipe for two. In addition to the listed ingredients, I used two cloves of garlic (left it in larger slices; after cooking for fifteen minutes, it's not bite-y enough to matter), about a Tbs and a half of fresh thyme, chopped, mushrooms, as someone else suggested. I also added a split leek in there. I was actually braising them to go with dinner as a side-dish, but I love the flavor so having them in with the other aromatics was perfect. I thought the sauce amount was good as it was, however after tasting it, I wanted it on everything, including my mashed potatoes. So next time I might double that. Lovely, flavorful, perfection!

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Bill's Sausage Gravy

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2011

I wasn't crazy about this. I added maple since I didn't have that type of sausage and a bit of cayenne as another reviewer suggested. I didn't skip steps, and it still tasted floury to me. Not a nice mouthfeel. Could be I'm just not a fan of/used to white gravies. This is the first I've tried to my recollection.

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Laura's Lemon Roasted Potatoes

Reviewed: Nov. 4, 2010

It's a little unfair of me to rate these as I didn't make them as written and rather used this recipe as a guide. Anyway, here's what I did. I was trying to mimic some roasted potatoes I would get at a Mediterranean fast food place. I eyeballed the oils, using a spicy herbed olive oil I have. I used kosher salt to get a bit of crunch on the potatoes, red pepper flakes instead of dill and tripled the garlic. This sounds extreme but I was trying to get the heavy garlic flavor of thoom (a Middle Eastern garlic sauce) that is always spread over the potatoes at previously mentioned restaurant. What I learned is that the garlic roasted and gave it not at all the same flavor (thoom is made with raw garlic). A nice flavor, but not the one I was looking for. I also sprinkled some parsley over everything and juiced half a lemon so there was significantly more lemon flavor than the subtle flavor some others mentioned.

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Pork Chop and Feta Skillet

Reviewed: Nov. 4, 2010

This was nice. The recipe just didn't blow my mind, but it was nice. I added Worcestershire sauce to the chops with the lemon juice and did a great sear (had to add butter for that and furthermore, who browns meat with raw garlic on it? It would have burned to awful bits of black bitter--I used powdered. Overall, nice, just not a repeat.

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Tabbouleh II

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

Excellent tabbouleh. Made one small adjustment and chopped up two green onions instead.

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Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

Both hubby and I thought this was great! I actually halved the marinade as we only had about 3/4 lb of steak total. Still made a ton. I heaped on some extra garlic (despite title, didn't find resulting steak particularly 'garlicky'), Worcestershire, liquid smoke and cayenne per our tastes. Might cut down on the balsamic a little, though I'm glad I made it and set the steaks in the fridge before reading the detractors who found this overly vinegar-y. We had no such issues (husband not a vinegar person to boot), though it was a touch strong. Marinated for approx. 6 hrs turning halfway through.

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Elaine's Sweet and Tangy Loose Beef BBQ

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

This was fantastic. I never saw this smokey ketchup other reviewers were talking about, but I just added a bunch of shakes of liquid smoke myself. My only reasons for downgrading this are for one, the servings are way off. I changed it to 7 as I had a much smaller roast (pork roast, in my case). I probably only made about 3 or 4 meals for myself out of it? Secondly, as I'm not a ketchup fan in the first place, I took the advice of others and downgraded the ketchup. (My resized recipe called for 3/4 cup. I only used 1/2 cup; it was still very moist so no worrying about that.) I made everything else as-is except perhaps adding a little more cayenne per my tastes. As with others, I also made this a two-day affair, cooking the first time for 6 or so hours as it was impossible to shred previous to this as others have noted. The fat was easier to remove when cold from the fridge the next day. It was wonderful; I was standing up eating it out of the pot.

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Chicken Scampi I

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

I left all ingredients as is and enjoyed it thoroughly. Will double the marinade next time so I can use as sauce over pasta.

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Chicken Pot Pie IX

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

Although the pie was fabulous, I'm only rating four stars since I made some reviewer-suggested adjustments. I added a ton of garlic powder to the onions; probably upward of a teaspoon and a half, although I was just eyeballing. Enough to make it quite aromatic, anyway. I used low-fat margarine instead of butter, extra celery seed and 2 pillsbury pie crusts, one baked for five minutes before filling. The chicken and veg were boiled in stock rather than water and there was only 2 cups of cooked chicken in the mixture off a roast I had already done. There was still a ton of filling and it ended up spilling out over the course of the cook time. Didn't find it dry at all, though.

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Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

The reduction itself was a five for sure; I used a maple balsamic I have and the little bit of extra sweetness was wonderful. Plenty flavorful. The flour-browning with sauce, however, left the outside of the chicken mushy. I had left the breasts VERY lightly floured so I thought I would be safe, but leaving them naked would definitely be better next time. Won't change a thing otherwise.

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Busy Day Barbeque Brisket

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

I *really* enjoyed this recipe. Basically I followed all of these steps (without doing the dry rub overnight--didn't have time) on a 3ish lbs pork roast as I couldn't find non-corned beef. There was a little extra dry rub at the end so I just dumped it on top. Dropped about four cloves of garlic in with the onions 'cause that's just me. Also mixed 1/2 cup spicy Diana sauce and 1 cup regular BBQ sauce to give it a little extra umph. Cooked for 1 hr on high, 5 more on low and 1 last hr on high to make sure it was heated through. Tore up the pork afterward and it was wonderful! Was eating it for days.

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Black Bean and Artichoke Burritos

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

Changes: Made this for four servings instead of eight. Like others, I found the amounts a little short; more like three servings than four. I also added a bunch of cumin and a couple shots of chili powder to my pan (which contained the artichokes and the beans, making it a one-pan meal on other's suggestions). Lastly, the hearts were fresh from small artichokes I'd torn down myself since I couldn't find the canned. I'm not sure what the difference would have been, but this version was delicious and filling. I think a hit of lemon juice and maybe some of that avacado others have suggested would make it just incredible.

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Baked Spiced Chicken

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

I did this one with two boneless, skinless breasts and it was quite good. A little mild on all counts; will be amping up the sugar and the mustard powder next time.

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Slow Cooker Barbecue Ribs

Reviewed: Oct. 12, 2010

I was actually not overly impressed with this recipe. The sauce was, as others have noted, ketchup sauce. Also, I wouldn't have liked the ribs straight out of the slow cooker; setting them back in the oven at the end to caramelize was key to finishing them, imo. The method is a decent base for the ribs, but overall this needs adjusting.

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Big Al's K.C. Bar-B-Q Sauce

Reviewed: Oct. 9, 2010

This was OK as stated, but I feel like there are almost no spices to go with the sauce. Plus the sauce is overwhelmingly sweet. I wish I'd left out the molasses. I added a lot of chili powder and a good whack of cayenne because I don't know where else this supposed "bite" comes from. It certainly isn't in the originally-prescribed half teaspoon. I'll be trying another recipe next time

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Orange-Ginger Tofu Triangles

Reviewed: Oct. 8, 2010

This was edible but I have most of the complaints that others have listed. Too oily; not enough orange flavor (even though I added several inches of orange peel to enhance it). The vinegar and soy more or less took over the main flavoring. Wasn't particularly impressed with this dish.

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