All Seasons Marinade Haiku: "Not making again. 'Pretty Chicken' is better. I'm glad that I tried!" AR's "Pretty Chicken Marinade" is far superior to this marinade, and of similar ingredients. Something about this one just made my stomach turn - the saltiness, the mustard, I'm not sure. I let some chicken bathe in it for awhile, and it certainly smelled nice while cooking, but my tastebuds just couldn't mesh w/ this particular blend of marinade ingredients.

Strawberry Muffins' Haiku: "Eek, too much nutmeg. Not enough strawberry jam. But they were alright." I wasn't blown away by these muffins; I followed the recipe exactly, w/ the exception of decreasing the nutmeg a bit, but it was still too strong. I thought that they might taste good w/ a smear of peanut butter, but turns out, they taste best w/, surprise, a glob of strawberry jelly.

Simple Spinach Salad Haiku: "Vibrant and unique. Almonds, raisins are a must. No need for bacon." I used all of the ingredients called for (minus bacon bits, blech), but my measurements were more of a chop-cut-add. I made the dressing to serve on the side, along w/ a choice of other dressings, to my BBQ guests, only b/c I was doubtful of how mayo/sugar/RW vinegar would taste together, and plus, mixing the dressing into all of the greens would yield soggy leftovers, if there were to be any. In any case, there weren't any leftovers of the actual salad, but nobody liked the mayo dressing, and instead preferred a balsamic vinaigrette.

Adobo Herb Salsa Haiku: "Increased cilantro. And I dropped the tarragon. Nice adobo kick!" I love the smoky bite and spicy aftertaste that the adobo sauce gave this salsa; I didn't deviate from the recipe, except to scale it to half, so that I only had to use a 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes. The longer it sits in the fridge, the tastier it gets, so aim for more than the recommended 30+ min. Simply scooped up onto tortilla chips, this is a tasty, and easy, alternative to store-bought salsa. (Oh, and as a random side note, once you open the can of chipotles to measure out the adobo sauce, the perfect sized container for what's remaining in the can is a leftover Spice World 8 oz. jar of minced garlic.)

Corn & Black Bean Salad Haiku: "Too much vinegar. Maybe add lime juice instead? Wasn't too impressed." I served this at a BBQ and followed the recipe faithfully, but despite everyone saying "mmm!", the bowl remained nearly untouched. I think the balsamic vinegar just threw the whole thing off, and would've preferred a little EVOO and lime juice in its place. The only thing I added was a little diced red onion. I'm going to yank the leftovers this afternoon and try to salvage them w/ more cilantro, diced tomato, lime juice and a bit more sugar, but I much prefer the similar AR "Super Summer Salsa" recipe to this.

Sue's Taco Salad Haiku: "I wouldn't use Ranch. Otherwise, a great salad. (Can't keep leftovers.)" I'm glad that I made it a build-your-taco-salad-station night b/c otherwise, leftovers for this wouldn't keep and the dressing and chips would soggify. I let my husband guinea-pig it w/ Ranch, and we didn't like that at all (although I'm intrigued by some of the reviewers saying that they mixed a little taco seasoning, or chili powder, into their Ranch), so I went w/ Catalina. I was smitten w/ this recipe, b/c my mother-in-law, whose name is also Sue, introduced me to making taco salad this same exact way. The only changes that I made (other than using Catalina) was to eschew taco seasoning mix for AR's brilliant "Taco Seasoning I", swapping Doritos out for reg. tortilla chips, and adding some red onion slivers. I'm happy that I separated the salad fixins' so I can take some to work tomorrow b/c this was very tasty.

Spinach & Whole Wheat Quesadillas' Haiku: "Healthy, tasty lunch. I wouldn't mind more veggies. But it was still great!" I followed the recipe exactly, only using Mexi-cheese blend instead of Cheddar. I think I would've been happier if I'd lightly sauteed some onion with garlic and wilted the spinach first, rather than using raw green onion and garlic powder, but my belly was still happy w/ the results. And giggle all you want, but I adore the "Xtreme Wellness High Fiber" tortillas (anything w/ the word "Extreme", or minus the "E", makes me shudder), but when they're grilled w/ tasty fillings, I can ignore the goofy name of them and revel in the fact that they're super-good for you.

Spence's Pesto Chicken Pasta Haiku: "This IS elegant. Flavorful, vibrant colors. A couple small tweaks." I was doubtful of putting that many "special" veggies all together, thinking their flavors would compete w/ one another, but it turned out to be a lovely dish. I didn't have quite as many mushrooms, and I had to sub hearts of palm for the artichoke hearts (close enough); I also added a handful of diced onion to the initial saute. Otherwise I was completely faithful to the recipe and was pleasantly surprised w/ the end result. When I make this again, I plan to increase the spinach, and stir a bit of the pasta water into the chick/vegg mixture for additional moisture b/c it was a bit dry. (Or instead of just tossing the linguine w/ the pesto, split the pesto into the chicken/vegg too.)

Extra-Yummy Fluffy Pancakes' Haiku: "Not 'extra-yummy', the cinnamon was too strong. But fluffy, they were." I should've known better than to dump a whole TB of cinnamon into this, as directed, b/c whew, that's all that I tasted. I figured w/ that being the dominant flavor, I'd eat them w/ hunks of apple and a drizzle of syrup, but I couldn't quite shake that overwhelming cinnamon taste. But the title including "fluffy" didn't disappoint - these were thick and filling, but nowhere near as good as the "Fluffy Pancake" recipe on here. Oh and I couldn't bring myself to use additional oil in the skillet, so I just went w/ a heavy squirt of Pam in b/t batches.

Lime Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad Haiku: "Unusual mix, but the lime and caesar worked. Nice summer salad." I didn't know whether the lime/mesquite would compliment Caesar dressing, but this ended up being a tasty, easy salad. Not a big fan of croutons here, so skipped those. Salad consisted of romaine, baby spinach, cucumber, red onion, bell pepper and tomato (pretty faithful to the recipe) and I used Marzetti light Caesar (one of the only low-cal Caesars that tastes good.) Didn't have Parm so skipped that as well, although I'm sure it would've been even better w/ it.

Chicken Tortilla Soup Haiku: "This soup needs some more ... Both seasoning and veggies. Fun, fiesta soup!" Followed some other reviewers about amping up the seasoning and tossing in additional veggies. (I found a lonely bag of "fiesta-blend veggies" in the freezer that I threw in, along with increasing the chili powder and cumin. It was still kinda lacking in flavor, so when I reheated the leftovers, I added a generous TB of diced chipotles in adobo sauce and woooo that made it great! With a much heavier increase in minced cilantro (1 TB, c'mon!) and broken hunks of tortilla chips, this was a mighty tasty soup.

Haitian Rice & Beans Haiku: "There's too much liquid. I had to change a few things. Cloves make it special!" I used a can of drained, rinsed kidney beans instead of dry, and onions instead of shallot - I also browned 1/2 lb. smoked sausage w/ the onions and garlic for a carnivorous husband. I used 1/2 c. basmati to 1 3/4 c. water and it was still too liquid-ey upon serving. Despite having the scoop it w/ the slotted spoon, the taste was incredible! My only complaint though is wondering whether or not I have some super-human immunity to spice b/c the scotch bonnet didn't make this fiery at all. But ohhhhwow the smell, the cloves, the beans - this was a fantastic way to make a standard rice'n'bean bowl much more interesting.

Quinoa Side Dish Haiku: "I love quinoa's 'bite', such an earthy, tender taste. Easy, hippie food!" My family's not the biggest fans of quinoa, but w/ the delicate addition of thyme, lemon, parsley and garlic, they couldn't get enough of the stuff tonight. Mine took closer to 25 min. to absorb all the liquid, and as a preference since I know that I wouldn't have liked the raw onion mixed in prior to serving, I softened the garlic and onion in the butter before adding the dry quinoa. While not screamingly-flavorful, this recipe's an easy way to prepare a healthy side dish.

Rosemary Ranch Chicken Kabobs: "Rockin' chick kabobs. Tender, ranch-ey, grilled perfect! Love the rosemary." I'd never made a marinade with a creamy dressing before, so I was a little put-off by the unattractive color of it, but wow were the results awesome! (I used my fave, Naturally Fresh Lite Ranch.) I added some zucchini, bell pepper and red onion to the skewers and dribbled what was left of the marinade over them. The chicken was definitely the star of the meal though - truly amazing.

Quinoa Chili Haiku: "Magical quinoa, elevates chili to 'wow!' A little too thick." This chili is heavenly, and we adored the earthy bite of the quinoa addition. I only wish that I'd added some diced canned chipotles in adobo, per the other recipe on here for "Black bean quinoa chili" b/c I think that would've added a special flavor that this seemed to be missing. Otherwise, I was faithful to the recipe's ingredients, but I put everything (save the cooked quinoa) in the crockpot b4 leaving for work in the a.m., and stirred the quinoa in when I got home. The quinoa balloons up so I only made about 3/4 c., and then it begins to absorb all of what remains of the liquid in the chili (which really, is only that from the canned tomatoes), so I had to add a little water to counter the gummy thickness. With a sprinkle of cheese and a handful of cilantro, this recipe has transformed us into quinoa+chili junkies.

Janet's Rich Banana Bread Haiku: "So close to perfect. But bananas should be mashed. Otherwise, so good!" I gave up on reading through reviews b/c it was nearly unanimous - the mashing instead of slicing bananas - so I did just that, along w/ creaming room temp. butter w/ the sugar. I doubled the recipe for 2 loaves (1 for teacher appreciation day, the other for me to inhale) - and wow, did I toss back some banana bread! I think the sour cream is the magic element to making this so moist, so delicious, and so nearly perfect, if it wasn't for the recipe calling for the bananas to be sliced and not mashed.

Easy Cucumber Salad Haiku: "Yup, this was easy. Nice that it wasn't 'creamy', like other salads." With a plethora of cucumber salads available on AR to sample, it was hard to settle on one, but with "easy" in the title, and a lack of a heavy addition of mayo, this one was a great recipe to land on. I went just a tad lighter on the sugar, but otherwise, followed the recipe exactly, with the exception of adding a couple slivers of red onion. Served alongside BBQ fare on a sunny weekend afternoon, and this was a crisp cool cukey side dish that we enjoyed.

Super Summer Salsa Haiku: "First day taste OK. Second day, salsa heaven! Just a few changes." So, without a doubt, I was floored at how much better this tasted the 2nd day, after it had had ample opportunity to fridge flavor-mesh. I didn't have rice wine vinegar (used red wine vinegar) and although I was skeptical at following another reviewer's suggestion of fresh basil (I would typically use cilantro w/ black beans), I was amazed at how wonderful the basil complimented the vinegar. Oh and I had to use green bell instead of red. Small changes aside, this was out of control rad.

Waffles II Haiku: "I'm a waffle w40r3. I will eat them anytime. No complaints with these!" Ahhh is there anything better than a golden fluffy waffle on a lazy weekend morning? I'm working my way through sampling all of the AR waffle recipes, and this particular one didn't disappoint. Only change that I had to make was subbing applesauce for the veg oil (Shocker, right? Who is ever out of veg oil?), but that didn't diminish the simple, and scrumptious, end result of zee tastee Waffles II.

Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Haiku: "Nice, perky method, to dress up cauliflower. Dull veggie made good!" Chuckle all you want, but we ate this as an alternative to chips or fries alongside grilled hot dogs last night. With the lightly-browned top and satisfying seasoning of garlic, we really liked how the ingredients, and preparation, of this recipe made a typically boring vegetable more tasty. But, I find the AR recipe "Cauliflower alla Parmagiana" far superior in taste to to this, which I think is due to the use of panko sprinkled on top.