Nikolette T Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (10751864)

D's Famous Salsa

Reviewed: Mar. 4, 2012

I made some alterations based on what I had on hand. I drained the tomatoes to avoid a salsa that is excessively loose. I also used frozen cilantro cubes instead of fresh. I had no lime or lemon juice so I used grapefruit juice and didn't really notice a difference. I also used an entire onion because it was on the smaller side. Plus I added a wee bit of ground pepper. This was pretty good and I'll make it again sometime. I think the garlic is part of what makes it SO good. I'd like to try it with roasted tomatoes and roasted garlic next time to see how that changes the flavor. I bet with fresh cilantro and fresh chili peppers it would be even better!

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Wedding Cake Icing

Reviewed: Feb. 25, 2012

You know those people who don't follow the recipe but then they review it anyway & maybe give it reduced ratings? Yeah. That's me right now. So I was looking for a sugary somewhat stiff frosting/icing for a cake for my boyfriends b-day and this seemed good. BUT a bunch of people were complaining about flavor, consistency & etc. So I made the following changes. Color wasn't vital to us since it wasn't for a white wedding. So I used TRIPLE the amount of vanilla extract it called for & put that amount in the 1/2 measuring cup before I put the water in to avoid too much moisture. I used ALL butter & less salt since my butter was salted. My last change was to omit the almond extract. I used C&H sugar, btw. I followed the vague instructions. Saying to "mix" but not at what setting & saying to mix for 5-10 minutes but not saying what consistency you're looking for is bad recipe writing, in my opinion. I used what felt like "logic" when deciding how to approach those two vague elements. I started out slow & creamed my butter first, then added the wet and then the dry ingredients and upped the speed to about 4 on my KitchenAid mixer. After several minutes the color got MUCH lighter (butter and dark vanilla extract made it come out a pale ivory in the end, color-wise) & MUCH more volume & fluff to it. I add the other half of powdered sugar but w/ powdered sugar "cups" are flexible so I kind of eyeballed it. My results: Very flavorful, pale, tasty frosting. He loved it!!

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Big Soft Ginger Cookies

Reviewed: Oct. 22, 2011

Eh. I followed the directions closely although I did use a little juice instead of water and butter instead of margarine. I found them to be a bit strong on the molassas flavor. I used a darker molasses though so I'm not taking off any stars for that. I am taking one off basically because I found them to be chewy, especially with the sugar coating... not soft. Especially not soft "gingerbread" cookies. I made some without rolling them in sugar and that did make them a little more cake-y than sugary but it still wasn't quite the texture of softness I was looking for. Want a chewy ginger cookie? These are great!

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Janet's Rich Banana Bread

Reviewed: Jul. 9, 2011

I followed the recipe closely only making a couple small changes: ---All brown sugar instead of white ---No salt since my butter was salted ---Mashed bananas instead of sliced (even with this next time I'll mash them even finer) ---Double Vanilla extract ---Roasted the walnuts before chopping them I also altered the mixing instructions. I mixed everything as directed til where it said to mix in flour then fold the bananas, walnuts, and sour cream. I mixed those in and then gently stirredi n the flour mixture. I have found that doing this results in a more tender bread and also makes everything stir together more quickly. I thought that the batter was a little runny but I left it alone and I am VERY glad I did. It came out perfectly 57 minutes into the baking time. I didn't add any spices or anything (a new tactic for banana bread and me) and I'm glad I didn't. The banana really shined and it didn't taste too much like something you'd more predominantly have in autumn or winter. I've made the banana banana bread recipe several times and I'm going to have to try baking them side by side to do a taste test. They're both absolutely delicious though!!

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7 users found this review helpful

Rainbow Pasta Salad II

Reviewed: Jul. 4, 2011

I don't know why I tried this recipe because it's lacks two of my favorite pasta salad ingredients: celery and shredded carrots. However, it was really great. I made a homemade creamy italian dressing (the one from this site with onion, may, italian herbs, salt, pepper, vinegar and sugar). I never buy bottled dressings anymore. They're so easy and so cheap to make at home. I didn't have cucumbers like I thought I did and I did miss them. I used sliced green olives instead... They added extra briney zip that I would only recommend if you LIKE olives already. I'll be serving this for 4th of July. It already got rave reviews from my boyfriend, so its a keeper and great to work from. (One more thing: I used campanelle pasta, it's one of my favorite for pasta salads)

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Creamy Italian Dressing I

Reviewed: Jul. 4, 2011

I made it as is... tasted it... and it needed some more Italian seasoning and garlic powder. I maybe doubled or close to doubled both. I'd recently purchased (from a quality vendor) my herbs and garlic so I'm pretty sure it was just not quite there for me. I like my dressings to be pretty flavorful. I used this on a pasta salad with tomatoes, sliced onions, cucumbers, olives sliced in long quarters and it was fantastic. I had some dressing left over and I really look forward to using it as a salad. As the recipe stands it is not quite up to 5 stars since I had to add more seasoning. However if I try it in a couple days and it's too strong I'll come back and update my rating. I *did* consider that the herbs may marry and get stronger over time.

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Crispy Fried Chicken

Reviewed: Jul. 4, 2011

I'm giving this recipe 5 stars even though I didn't think all that cooking time was necessary, even for bone-in chicken. However since I used chicken strips (thicker ones) of breast meat... I just cooked it for about 5-7 minutes on each side until it was golden (or caramel colored) brown and firm. I use a cookie cooling rack and paper to absorb the oil. Additionally I used more seasoning in my breading and I even infused my buttermilk with fresh herbs from my garden like thyme, rosemary and a little basil. I added dried lavender too since I was trying for an "elegant" fried chicken to be served cold in a picnic lunch basket. I used peanut oil to fry and we LOVED the flavor. For the flour I used sage, margoram, thyme, and smoked paprika. It had a very delicious and delicate herby flavor.

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Blueberry Oat Muffins

Reviewed: Jun. 3, 2011

YES! This is it! This is the best muffin recipe I've tried. But... I confess. I did make it my own. I was out of OJ so I made my own lemonade by zesting 1 lemon then microwaving it for 20 seconds and juicing well. (pulp and all) I poured that juice and zest into a 1/2 cup measuring cup and topped it off with water. I added 2 Tb of sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to that. Then stirred in the oats and set aside. The only other changes I made were pretty basic. I added melted butter instead of vegetable oil and used a heaping cup of fresh blueberries. Instead of Sprinkling sugar and cinnamon on top I put on Vanilla Sugar (just a couple cups of sugar in a container with some post-use vanilla bean pods). These were a little dry when mixing it all together and I was nervous about that so I added in about 3-4 tablespoons of milk before folding in the blueberries. Mine came out moist, but set. I'll probably just make a little more lemonade mixture the next time I make these. Yes ... there will be a next time!!!

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Buffy's Refried Beans

Reviewed: May 28, 2011

This really didn't have much flavor. I chose to perk my beans up by adding a few spices and some quesadilla cheese I had on hand. After adding cheese, ground white pepper, a little cumin and marjoram and thyme I had a delicious filling for my Mexican dishes and a smooth and creamy side. It's a good base recipe to work from, though.

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One Pot Pinto Beans

Reviewed: May 28, 2011

I used the recipe to cook beans to make refried beans. I mainly just followed the measurements. About half way through cooking I had to add about 4 more cups of water because they were getting too dry though they were in my dutch oven. After that I kept cooking them til reduced and they were soft and creamy like restaurant-style refried beans. I used about half the amount of garlic (but next time I'll go ahead and use the full amount) and a whole yellow onion because it was all I had. Instead of adding mozzarella cheese I used 1/3 round "brick" of quesadilla cheese. I sauteed the onion in a tablespoon of bacon grease and 2 teaspoons of cumin, 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika and 1/2 teaspoon of marjoram and 1/2 teaspoon of thyme. I used about 2 teaspoons of salt at the beginning and added another teaspoon at the end and for us, that was plenty salty. I'll definitely make this again. I had about 10-12 cups of cooked, refried beans and very little work. You just have to check on it to make sure the beans aren't getting too dry or sticking/scorching. (I read in a review that you should only add hot water/broth to beans after they've started and I did that and my beans were very creamy and smooth)

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Kafta (BBQ)

Reviewed: May 13, 2011

This beef had kind of an unusual flavor. Even though I pan fried the beef it still tasted kind of grill-y in an odd way. I'd probably recommend using less onion. I did add a little garlic. I might enjoy this more if it had something else in it like green peppers and celery. I'll make this again though because my significant other loved it.

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Best Ever Muffins

Reviewed: May 1, 2011

I made a few standard changes to the recipe like adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract, using 1/2 yogurt & 1/3 buttermilk & cutting back on the oil for more fruit moisture. If these came out dry or lacked flavor for you try this, mine were moist. A reviewer suggested baking these at 350 for half an hour & I did that. I thought they came out great that way. I have issues when baking my muffins at 400. Probably just my bad apt oven though. :( I made them Strawberry Chocolate Chip muffins by taking about a cup of frozen strawberries, somewhat thawed & pureeing with 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 strawberry jam. I was concerned that the strawberries had too much liquid in them but when I mixed it up it looked ok. I put my chocolate chips in a bag with a scant 1/4 flour & shook them up and poured the chips and extra flour in, folding it together gently. I figured that much flour would help the extra berry liquid if it was an issue. The muffins came out great. Delicious & tender. They stuck quite a bit to the paper cupcake cups but after letting them sit in my cupcake/muffin keeper they steamed a little and the paper slid of easily. The only change I'd make when doing these in the future would be to keep my berries diced up. The bits would have been delicious. I'll try adding other fruit and ingredients like 3/4 c apples and 1/3 raisins w/ apple pie spice. So far these have been my favorite muffin recipe to work with. They actually worked & even worked well with all my kooky changes!!!

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Blueberry Cream Muffins

Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2011

I'm not tremendously happy with this recipe. Issues: ---It took much longer than 20 minutes to bake the muffins and longer than 10 minutes in prep time considering the whole beating process and dipping them out. ---The recipe made much more batter than for 24 muffins (or 12 since I halved the recipe). ---Flavor is pretty simple. Nothing too special. I even jazzed it up a bit by using my vanilla bean infused sugar and sprinkling some of that same sugar on top of each muffin. I also doubled the vanilla extract. Still... it was plain. I also added a bit more berries than it called for. Some reviewers recommended making it with half brown sugar, I was out so I just but a teaspoon of molasses in it instead. Other than just adding more vanilla and berries, I followed the recipe completely and also used the method as directed. The muffins were light and fluffy but I lost one due to the bad cooking time. The toothpick came out clean but it seemed not to stand up to a gentle press so I cut one in half to check. Gooey still. Left them in the oven for about 5 more minutes (I'd already baked them an extra 3 or so minutes) and then let them cool in the pan to finish off. I'm still looking for a good, flavorful blueberry muffin recipe, one that works well as written and makes 12 muffins with no extra batter (Btw, you can fry up the extra batter in a frying pan with oil like a pancake. I had enough batter, after filling my cups a touch over 3/4, to make 2 pancakes 6 inches across.)

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Sweet Corn Muffins

Reviewed: Apr. 23, 2011

I love this muffin recipe!!! It was exactly what I was looking for. Sweet. Cakey. Corny. Delicious! I wanted to make some blueberry corn muffins and this was perfect. I added 1 cup of thawed frozen blueberries and drained their liquid off. I ended up adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon extract to it too. I don't use shortening so I used grapeseed oil instead. (Canola would be fine too, I'm sure) I also used 1/4 cup less sugar than called for and they were still perfectly sweet. If you want very sweet corn muffins I'd suggest adding the full amount. The final change I made was adding a little vinegar to my milk to make it buttermilk. This made more than 12 regular muffins. I filled my muffin tin more than 3/4 and still had a bit left over. With my extra batter I heated a small skillet, put a good amount of butter in it and poured the batter in the pan. I flipped it about the same time I would a pan cake and WOW. We will be having these for breakfast sometime. They were incredible. Needed no syrup (I used a tiny splash of maple anyway). Also mine were golden brown 5 minutes earlier than 25min. So all in all a great recipe and one that will happily stand up to changes. Thanks Patty!!! You did the work for me by changing the recipe. PS: A secret to some of the best corn muffins at a favorite East Coast restaurant chain is to add lemon extract and the zest of one lemon and a couple teaspoons of lemon juice to corn muffin batter. It makes a light, delicately lemon corn muffin.

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Excellent Broccoli Cheese Soup

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2011

I have to give this three stars because as written it lacks some zip. First of all... I did not think this was thick enough. I like a little bit thick cheese soup. This was very runny and I used less liquid than it called for. Additionally it needed something. I ended up using 2 tablespoons onion flakes and 3-4 garlic cloves finely minced. I ended up only adding 1 cup of regular cheddar cheese and 1 cup of smoked cheddar and 1 cup of smoked gouda. Mind you, I'd used about 2 cups less milk and 2 cups less stock. Chicken stock wasn't quite flavorful enough so I added a bit of Better-Than-Bouillon to pep it up. Lastly, but by far the biggest issue in my eyes... this needs double or triple the amount of broccoli. I used MORE broccoli than it called for and even with the less liquid it was sparse. I added an entire bag of organic mixed vegetables since I had no more broccoli on hand. After I made all those changes this soup was absolutely incredible. Sadly it doesn't even really work as a good base given that it's too runny for our preferences. But it is work-able which is why I gave it the 3 stars. I'll be making my version again and again though as we loved it. It was so tasty that my boyfriend actually asked "Does this have meat in it?" I said no, just smoked cheesed. :) I urge everyone to sub the cheddar with smoked cheese too. On last thing. Don't waste your time trying to shred Velveeta, I sliced it into slices, then cut those into strips and they melted.

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Buttermilk Pound Cake II

Reviewed: Apr. 10, 2011

I baked this in a normal loaf pan for 50 mins. It appeared set & golden. I poked it & pressed it & it bounced back. However when I cut it (after it had cooled completely) it had a gooey middle. So for those wanting to do 1/2 the recipe & use a loaf pan, go ahead just be careful about ensuring it's thoroughly baked. My oven tends to be a bit screwy, though, in fair warning. 1/2 half recipe makes a perfectly filled to the brim loaf, btw. Someone said they halved the recipe & thought it wasn't enough batter for a normal loaf pan. It's fine, though. I used the recommendation of one of the reviewers & used a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients. It took a little elbow grease but it was worth it, I think. My cake-- where it was fully baked was tender & moist. I think next time I'll use half a cup less sugar or so. I found it to be a little too sweet but not bad. For those with a big sweet tooth it will probably be great as is! Also I used salted butter & left out the salt since the recipe didn't specify which kind of butter to use & lots of baking uses unsalted. I think that it was the way to go: it was neither too salty or not salty enough. Just normal & cake-like. Instead of lemon extract I used almond extract & doubled the vanilla. It had a lot of flavor. I might use a touch less almond next time though since pound cake tends to grow in flavor as it rests. And lastly, I used 2% milk with a teaspoon or so of red wine vinegar to make buttermilk. We loved it!

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Lemon Poppy Seed Bread

Reviewed: Mar. 23, 2011

I substituted apple sauce for part of the oil and halved the recipe but used 2 eggs rather than "1 1/2"... the result was very dense. I wouldn't recommend making the changes. I added lemon zest and lemon juice as well in addition the the extract and it was 'just' lemon-y enough... so for those that like lemon, follow the other user's advice on using zest and juice too. Because I changed it I used it's average star rating at the time I tried the recipe opposed to rating my results.

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The Best Red Enchilada Sauce

Reviewed: Dec. 4, 2010

Wow... I really loved this and I made several substitutions based on what I had on hand but the recipe still stood up to my alterations. I didn't even add the garlic because I accidentally read over it and skipped it entirely. The garlic would be delicious though. Or even a whole head roasted and then pureed. I will certainly try different things. The first thing I'll try is the true way with the ancho chilies though! It seems great. Instead I used one minced Chipotle Chili and some adobo sauce (like the combo comes in a can). Since chipotle chilies (smoked jalapenos) are 10 x as spicy as ancho (and 3 x as spicy as normal jalapenos) I only used one and it came out with some heat! I didn't have tomato paste I had a container of chopped tomatoes in juice so I pureed them til I had 2 c of liquidy tomato puree and added 1 cup of beef broth and 2 bullion cubes (to flavor the remaining 2 c of tomato liquid). I figured all that equaled 3c broth and tomato paste. I used less salt because of the bullion. I simmered mine until it was thickened to my liking. I also subbed 1 teaspoon marjoram instead of oregano and 1 pinch of oregano. I added a pinch of thyme (a nod to the chicken broth) and heaped my 1/4 teaspoon of cumin. I served this smoky, rich sauce over potato and mixed vegetable filled enchiladas with sour cream on the side. They got rave reviews. I really can't wait to try this recipe again but I'm so happy it worked as a base for future times I won't want to roast peppers.

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Golden Sweet Cornbread

Reviewed: Nov. 25, 2010

I made this as directed but subbed brown sugar for white sugar to give a little more depth but only used half the amount because it was for a cornbread stuffing recipe and I didn't want it to be too sweet. I thought this was fairly moist and an easy recipe but the taste didn't stand out too much to me. I've had much more flavorful and tender cornbread.... sadly no recipes for such cornbread yet! However I think this would be great if it was served with something else to help zazz it up a bit. Butter and honey for sure. But also a great pot of beans or chili would go nicely.

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Classic Macaroni Salad

Reviewed: Nov. 15, 2010

Yes Yes Yes! This is a great Macaroni Salad base recipe to work from. I think everyone has their own ideas about how sweet or tart they like their food and as such should start with half the sugar and vinegar and add more as desired but remember that the flavors will get bolder as the salad sits. Especially the sweetness. I used just under the called-for amount of sugar and about half the vinegar because my boyfriend isn't fond of too much zestiness in food. I omitted the green pepper since we were out and the pimento since I do not care for them. I used a smaller onion and diced it instead of chopping it so there weren't large chunks of onions in it. I also added more celery and grated a couple of small-medium carrots into it to make up for the lack of pimento. Any time I can get away with adding more carrots or celery to a dish I always do for the nutritional value it adds. I also used a little less mustard and some ground celery seed (like celery salt but without the salt!). I sliced sweet grape tomatoes in half and cubed some mild cheddar cheese, each about half a cup. Probably more like 2/3 on the cheese but I just eyeballed it. I can hardly wait to eat this as a side with brisket in a couple days. I'm sure I'll have some for lunch tomorrow since it is so good. My boyfriend who typically doesn't care for many of the ingredients on their own, or raw, etc also really enjoyed this. I used mini penne instead of macaroni and I must say it looks a lot nicer.

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