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Apple Walnut Salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette

Reviewed: Sep. 18, 2009

This has become an all time favorite of mine. I am a big time salad eater where my meal consists of a huge bowl of salad. The dressing for this salad is wonderful. I double the cranberries and keep everything else the same. Yummy! Yummy! I got the idea from seeing other salads to try this recipe with candied walnuts. So far, I've tried this recipe with cinnamon candied walnuts, regular candied walnuts, and store bought candied walnuts (Diamond brand, from Sam's Club) and all are excellent! I also add cucumber, carrots, red bell pepper, sliced onion, apples, (grapes if I have some on hand), lots of spinach and some salty feta cheese to finish on the top with the walnuts. Remember, this is my meal! I absolutely love this salad and all the fruits/veggies I add to this salad all compliment one another. The only thing I have found that doesn't fit are olives and tomatoes! Excellent recipe! Thank you!

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Easy Mexican Rice

Reviewed: Jul. 13, 2009

So, so easy and yummy, too! As the description suggests, this recipe was altered easily to what I had on hand but I followed the gist of the recipe. The best mexican rice I've made and, by far, the fastest and easiest! I had leftover brown rice (~1.5 cups) that needed to get used up. I sauteed some chopped onion, red and orange pepper, and a handful of chopped fresh tomatoes until all was tender. I added my rice, and poured in some leftover italian flavored tomato sauce, basil, oregano and garlic I think (b/c that is what I had on hand!) I had a tablespoon of chopped cilantro that I needed to use after making burritos, so I threw that in with some leftover canned corn (I usually do not care for canned corn...), and probably 1/3 can of pinto beans I had in the fridge. I sprinkled taco seasoning to taste as well as salt and pepper and I enjoyed this more than the burrito. Thanks for the great recipe and suggesting that it is practically made to be altered to your tastes or what you have on hand! I was worried about my tomato sauce, but it had all the tex-mexican flavoring that I hoped for. Yummy! Great way to use up leftover ingredients!

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Zucchini Brownies

Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2009

This was awesome! I was trying to find a good zucchini brownie recipe since I tried a different one over a year ago with terrible luck. I crossed my fingers and tried this one. I was iffy about it because it doesn't call for any egg, but I went ahead with it any way based on the strong reviews. I used frozen shredded zucchini, but I had to do a little experimenting with my zucchini. I used two quart size bags. I had originally put approx. 2 1/2 cups of fresh zucchini in each bags giving a whopping total of 5 cups for this recipe! However, what I did do is this: I drained one bag really good by squeezing it a bit (discarding the liquid)and added it to a blender. Then I drained the second bag into a measuring cup and added the remaining zuccini contents into the blender and added enough of the zucchini liquid to allow the mixture to blend easily. It ended up totaling 3 cups of blended zucchini of which I added to the wet ingredients before adding the dry ingredients. This turned out perfectly! The frosting with the brownie base is a match made in heaven and is even more heavenly on the second day! I didn't care for the frosting by itself and the brownie by itself was rather bland, but the combination makes this recipe a true winner!!! Try it, you will like it!

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Fluffy Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Frosting

Reviewed: Nov. 22, 2008

Yuck! I have made other vegetable muffins/quick breads before, and they have all tasted better than this recipe. I followed the recipe to a "T" and I would not be able to eat the muffin "as is" without putting the frosting on it. The frosting is this recipe's only saving grace. They were very oily and tasted oily as well. Sorry for the glum review, but I guess my taste buds are different than others.

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Fried Zucchini

Reviewed: Aug. 5, 2008

Great, Great recipe! The best fried zucchini recipe I have ever tried! Very easy to make, too! I couldn't make mine the night of, so I ended up sticking it in the fridge until the next night. The veggies were pretty soggy looking, but I fried them anyway (since I went through all the work!) and they were delicious! Even the fried onion rings which didn't take the batter as well as the zucchini were yummy! I did double the breading recipe since I had more zucchini than the recipe called for and used half cornmeal, half italian seasoned bread crumbs with the normal, proportional amount of flour. Also added 1/8 to 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese, probably 1/2 to 1 tsp of italian seasoning and increased the garlic powder to 1/2 tsp or more. (I am not an exact measurer, so bare with me here...) I premixed the dry ingredients and put everything in a gallon ziploc bag. So easy! The mess is minimal compared to traditional methods of frying zucchini, so that was a pleasant change! The fried result was crunchy and very flavorful. My husband and 18 month old loved it too!

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42 users found this review helpful