A & R's Mommy Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (10463053)

BC Cherry Jam

Reviewed: Aug. 27, 2011

Being a born and raised Calgarian, cherries from a tree are something that is bought, not grown. What I do have are two bushes of Nanking cherries, those teeny little red berries that are more pit than fruit, but oh so tasty. So I picked my Naking bushes clean... And got me about a whole cup once pitted... I went to the farmers market and made up the difference with some BC cherries and the results were fabulous! I probably didn't even need to go through the process of canning the jam since we're consuming it faster than a Cullen can run ;)

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Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

Reviewed: Jul. 15, 2011

My tomatoes were italian stewed, my onion was red, my soya sauce was low sodium as all were what I had on hand... I spiced my beef with salt, pepper and red pepper flakes in addition to the garlic powder just because I'm a rebel... Oh Man, this was a great dish :)

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4 users found this review helpful

Donut Muffins

Reviewed: Jul. 15, 2011

Adding 1/4 to 1/2 tsp of salt to the batter would really make these little gems pop. A really fun, easy and tasty recipe to do with the kiddos :)

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Fresh Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Reviewed: Jul. 14, 2011

... Meh...

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Lemon Coconut Loaf

Reviewed: Jul. 11, 2011

Tastes great, but it's so crumbly that it's hard for me to give it more than 3 stars because it's so difficult to eat :(

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Middle Eastern Rice with Black Beans and Chickpeas

Reviewed: Jun. 18, 2011

I didn't have any of the 'optional' cilantro, but I wish I did. The flavour definitely would have added to the dish. My whole family (kids and all) really loved this dish, but I'm only giving it 4 stars as opposed to 5 because serving it with yogurt or sour cream is so essential to the finished product that I feel it should be written into the recipe :)

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White Texas Sheet Cake

Reviewed: Jun. 13, 2011

"It was a rainy day, too wet to go outside. Mommy said 'Let's make cupcakes. What colour would you like?'. 'Pink!' I said. 'Pink! Pink! Pink!'". Needless to say it was a rainy day, too wet to go outside and after reading one of my little girl's favourite books, Mommy had to consult AR to find a recipe for cupcakes that could be made pink. Pink! Pink! Pink! ;)

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Bada Bing Bada Banged Potatoes

Reviewed: Jun. 11, 2011

I had am undetermined amount of cooked, cubed potatoes left over and this recipe happened to be in the Daily Dish email... LUCKY ME!... AND LUCKY MY FAMILY!... I estimated the potatoes I had to be a quarter of what I needed and 'eyeballed' the recipe down to a quarter of the original. I know I could have gotten 'exact' measurements if I changed the quantity of servings, but where's the fun in that ;) Put everything in a sealed container and shook. Eezy-peezy :) Even though my potatoes were cubed, even though I was out of both thyme and rosemary delicious, Delicious, DELICIOUS! Rave reviews from the husband and kids too :)

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Apple Dumplings I

Reviewed: May 25, 2011

I have a very convoluted story as to how I came to trying this recipe that starts out with me thinking about Mr. Furley from 'Three's Company'... ANYWAYS, I'm a notorious 'half-reader' of recipes which a good portion of the time comes back to bite me in the butt. When a recipe call for store bought, refrigerated biscuits, I always sustitute it with Baking Powder Biscuits I from AR (made with butter instead of shortening) with beautiful results. So AFTER I had finished making up a batch of baking powder biscuit dough, I then read that it was supposed to be FLAKY biscuits... (sigh) Will I ever learn? Never the less, I made the most often reccommended changes and even with my little snaffu the were FANTASTIC :)

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Banana Pancakes I

Reviewed: May 20, 2011

Ol' Butter Fingers here dropped a bunch of bananas, which then turned black in a hurry so banana pancakes for breakfast it was! These were great! Next time I would double the salt to a 1/2 tsp to better enhance the banana flavour. Also, medium high heat is a disasterous setting for my pancakes. I always do medium low and have great results. One last thing, because these pancakes have banana in them, cooking them thoroughly means that they will be darker than the usual 'golden pancake'. Think of it as the difference in colour between a regular loaf of bread and banana bread :) Oh, and you can't lose if you throw a few blueberries or for special occasions chocolate chips into these bad boys. The best technique for add-ins to any kind of pancake is to pour the batter into the heated griddle first, then plunk in your blueberries or chocolate chips or whatever on the raw side while the other side cooks. This method is also great if you want to use the add-in to make a design like a smiley face or initial in the pancake :)

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Alicia's Aloo Gobi

Reviewed: May 10, 2011

When I was reading the recipe, I said to myself; "A TBSP of salt? Really?" But yes, a TBSP of salt. Really. It's all that salt that really opens up your taste buds and then ALL that cayenne makes you want to cry from the fire-hot sensation coated across your tongue. To be clear, I didn't mind this dish, but I agree that there is something not quite right about the spices. The salt should be cut at least half and that a TBSP of cayenne is waaay too much. Honestly, I'd probably only add a TSP since all you can taste is heat past the first bite. Garam Masala is pretty much just an exact repeat of the spices that are already in this dish, but it also has some clove and nutmeg. I didn't mind it, but it's not a necessity for this dish. UPDATE: Okay... I was totally dreading the leftovers, but I enjoyed this WAY more after it had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days. The flavours worked a lot better, but it was still too salty and too hot. I decided to try this dish again. Given how saucy the dish is, it is perfectly adaptable to the slowcooker. Follw step 1, then everything into the slowcooker. Frozen cauliflower and potatoes slightly smaller than 1" cubes on high for 5 hrs cooked everything to the point that some was stuck on the the sides. Could have cut cook time to 4 hrs and been fine. Used about 1 tsp salt and about 1 tsp cayenne and used the garam masala. Much preferred the heat, but had to add salt after cooking. Great to be able to do this in the slowcooker :)

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Quinoa Chili

Reviewed: May 3, 2011

I was doing a cleanse and decided to give this recipe a try (without the ground beef) to add a little variety to my boring cleanse diet. What a pleasant and tasty surprise this dish turned out to be! I never would have thought of using quinoa this way. Thanks for the recipe! It is now a part of our regular rotation :)

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32 users found this review helpful

Zucchini in Sour Cream Sauce

Reviewed: Apr. 14, 2011

:9 Wow! Wow! Yummy! Wow! Wow! :9

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Austrian Peach Cookie

Reviewed: Mar. 9, 2011

My Brother in Law had the odd request of Austrian Peach Cookies for his birthday dessert which I had never made, seen or tasted before. Since AR had two versions of this recipe with similar doughs, but vastly different fillings, I decided to make both. This recipe was our favorite by far. What made the filling so special was the instant tea powder. I used iced tea powder (in the US, what we Canadians call 'iced tea' you refer to as 'sweet tea'). I photo journalled my process of making the cookies in hopes that they may help out anyone who wants to try this recipe, but might be intimidated by it :)

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Austrian Peach Cookies II

Reviewed: Mar. 9, 2011

My Brother-in-law made the very odd request of Austrian Peach Cookies for his birthday dinner dessert. I am ALWAYS up for a cooking challenge and since I had never seen, heard of, or tasted these cookies before I turned to good ol' allrecipes who never fails me :) There are two recipes for these cookies on here. Both of the cookie doughs were similar, so this was the exact dough recipe I used. My BIL also requestd that I make some with a strawberry jelly filling so I combined a 1/2 cup jelly with 2 or 3 tbsp of the cookie crumbs, 1/4 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg which filled about 10 cookies. Of the three versions I made, the filling in Ausrtian Peach Cookies II was our least favourite. The Austrian Peach Cookie filling recipe on here was our favourite, and the strawberry jelly filling was second. I photo journalled my making of these cookies in hopes that I could help someone who was intrigued by the recipe, but intimidated to try it. I highly recommend diving head first into a recipe that you have never attempted before. The best thing that can happen is an incredible epicural discovery that is received with high praise leaves you feeling proud of your accomplishment. The very worst thing that can happen is you now have an epic tale of cooking disaster to tell which will humour all who hear it for ages :)

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Grandma's Green Bean Casserole

Reviewed: Mar. 9, 2011

... Meh... The search continues for the absolute, best green vegetable dish to serve for large family dinners

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Vanilla Junket

Reviewed: Mar. 9, 2011

My husband's Grandmother used to make junket for him as a child. I've heard about it for years and for his 34th birthday I decided to surprise him with his beloved childhood dessert. It was difficult for me to tell whether or not I had made it correctly. After settling and refrigeration, when jiggled it still looked almost like liquid, but my husband said it was correct because when gently and slightly tipped, the Junket would very slightly pull away from the side of the dish. 5 stars for the flavour, which was just as my husband and his family remembered it. I had to have the rennet tablets mailed to me from a relative in Australia. The package directions were vastly different from the ones listed. The first round I made, I followed the directions of this recipe and it did not turn out. For the subsiquent rounds I used the directions from the package: For flavoured dessert and whole milk, dissolve 2 tablets in 1 tbsp cold water. Gently warm 1/2 litre of milk to (37 degrees Celsius MAX) e.g. the temperature to which you would warm milk for a baby's botlle. If the milk gets too hot allow it to cool. NOW: Remove milk from stove, add dissolved Junket tablets, stir quickly for a few seconds only and pour into individual dessert dishes. THEN: Let stand UNDISTURBED in a warm place. The Junket will set in approx. 15 minutes. When firm, place in fridge to chill. LAST: Just before serving add topping of choice.

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Garlic Butter

Reviewed: Feb. 3, 2011

Taste before you add the garlic salt to determine if you just need to add more garlic powder, or if you actually need garlic and salt. Follow that advice and you will love this recipe :)

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Manicotti Alla Romana

Reviewed: Feb. 3, 2011

I tasted all components of this dish as I went along since there were some fairly mixed reviews by other members. Before I had even read the reviews, I knew that I would be subbing half of the beef for Italian sausage meat. I used Johnsonville mild italian sausage meat from my local grocery store. To my meat filling I added salt, pepper and a pinch or red pepper flakes. After reading a few reviews, I decided to play it safe with the white sauce and instead of adding all of the chicken stock right away, I added 1/4. Just a note, when making a roux it is equal parts fat and dry. Since I had taken away 3/4 of the chicken stock, I replaced that amount with flour so that my sauce would thicken properly. After tasting, I added almost all of the chicken stock back since you needed the salt and flavour to cut through the heavy cream flavour. For my red sauce, I used Best Marinara Sauce Yet from AR, made with Italian Stewed Tomates from AR which has always been a favourite of mine. There is no need to add additional basil to this sauce. To stuff the noodles, I used Jen G.'s technique of slicing the backside, spooning in the filling, rolling them back up and placing them slit side down in the pan. My 9x13 pan could only fit 8. I yielded about 20 from this recipe. I alternated red and white sauces in ribbons across the manicotti and baked as directed. When baking some of the leftovers a few days later, I used mozzarella instead of parmesan and pereferred the mozza. (WHEW!) :)

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Marshmallow Fondant

Reviewed: Feb. 3, 2011

To get a TRUE RED colour, use cocoa powder instead of icing sugar when kneading, then use the gel colour red from the little tub that you can only buy at specialty stores (like Michael's) as opposed to the little bottles of liquid that you can purchase at any grocery store. Dying icing or fondant red from a white base will result in pink without the addition of A LOT of dye, and even then I have never been overly pleased with the red I ended up with. Starting from a brown base will take you to a deeper red tone with less colouring.The fondant may be a little more brittle than other colours after refrigeration, but kneading with more butter will bring back the elasticity and prevent it from cracking when working with it. I apply the same technique when going for black as well :)

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27 users found this review helpful