Erimess Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (1486835)

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

Reviewed: Apr. 7, 2012

Very good stuff! But unfortunately on the fattening side. (And "fat free" half & half sounds like a bit of an oxymoron!) I do not like pieces of chilies or peppers so I cheat with the dry powdered stuff, but since the jar was sitting there I grabbed that when I went for the cumin and it was a bit hotter. But it was no big deal - I thought this was close to a spice level that I would like so I can just adjust next time and see how I like it. I also just tossed some tomato on top for garnish and never put it in the soup. I didn't add any potatoes or anything -- just TRY without them and see what you think. I do like the idea of using a crock pot and then shredding the chicken - cutting up raw chicken is not my favorite activity.

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Microwave Corn on the Cob

Reviewed: Mar. 10, 2012

I gave this a 4 because it did work and it did taste like corn. It didn't get a 5 simply because I don't see the point at all. I tried it because my neighbor said corn cooked in the husks in the microwave was really good, but someone else said the hunks would get really hot, so I opted to try this without the husks. It wasn't any better, and it didn't take any less time. (I don't consider boiling water "time" because there's always something else to be done anyway.) Yes, a plate is easier to wash than my big pot, but washing a pot that's had nothing but corn in it is not exactly a toil either. Most things I have tried to "cook" in the microwave I've decided the old-fashioned way was better and usually just as easy, and continue to believe microwaves are for melting, heating stuff up and defrosting. But hey, I tried it.

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Crispy Rosemary Chicken and Fries

Reviewed: Mar. 9, 2012

I used 4 boneless chicken breasts cut in half since I don't favor dark meat. I also used 1/3 dried herbs (probably one of the few who prefer dried). I only cut the oil back a bit. Really easy - I like things that I can just dump all in a pan, with little prep, throw in the oven and forget it. I turned everything over after 30 minutes, and it did not take an hour for everything to be done (tho I forget how long it was). The wedges weren't crispy like French fries, but that's actually a good thing cause if they aren't actual deep-fried regular fries, I prefer something a bit softer. (In fact, my biggest fear about this recipe was chunks of potatoes getting too crisp.) Pretty good and extra points for being fairly easy.

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Razzy Blue Smoothie

Reviewed: Mar. 2, 2012

Pretty good, but I like the berry/grape smoothie better. This was a bit too much raspberry for me, surprisingly since there's only so many pieces of fruit in a yogurt. It was also difficult to get it good and cold, despite that my fruit was (already) frozen and I even put the liquids in the freezer for a while ahead of time. I did leave out the almonds (preference and I'm not attempting a protein-punch) and the flaxseed (since my flax is actually in a gel cap :-)). But I did include the oats as that usually makes them more filling. It'll go in my line-up, but I probably just won't make this one quite as often.

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Housewife's Asiago Parmesan Pasta

Reviewed: Mar. 2, 2012

I have to mostly agree with the other reviewer on this. Bit bland. Nice cheesy flavor but it just needs "something." I've not very good at finding "something"s so I'm not sure what that is - I tried just adding a bit of pepper, I tried savory, I sprinkled on a bit of garlic power (maybe it needs 2 cloves?). (I probably should have tried some Italian herb or other.) I feel like there's something that belongs with this cheese. It was OK. I've made it twice, since it's pretty easy and a good way to use up asiago (which I rarely have around). Seems like it might be better as a side dish. Unlike the other reviewer, I didn't really have trouble mixing in the cheese - I think about one little teaspoon clumped up but that wasn't a big deal.

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Alice's Sour Cream Chicken Breasts

Reviewed: Jan. 18, 2012

Unique. Good but not excellent. I don't like the sauce by itself much (i.e. I would not like this mixed in with noodles, or worse, rice) because the wine and sour cream didn't seem to match, in my opinion. But once put together with the chicken it was fine. Kinda grew on me as I went. I did add more salt and lemon pepper because otherwise it seemed a bit dull - a pinch of those just didn't do anything. I did everything on the stove. I don't get the point of the microwaving - it's really not faster or easier, probably doesn't thicken as well (tho I didn't try it), and it just dirties another dish since I put everything in the pan I cooked the chicken in. I also cooked the chicken fully and added to the sauce when it was done just to heat. A weight on the chicken would be helpful. I'd also suggest not listing the broth as an ingredient, but simply say in the instructions to reserve 1/4 cup of it - first time I made it I measured out canned chicken broth before I realized.

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Welsh Coffee Cake

Reviewed: Jan. 2, 2012

Oh my, this is awesome. I made this as is, though I didn't go too crazy with the cinnamon sugar. It didn't seem to need much. I think having the brown sugar in there made a huge difference. I only made half since it was just for me, but I'm pretty sure I could eat the entire thing. :-)

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Delmonico Potatoes

Reviewed: Jan. 1, 2012

This was pretty good - a 4.5 for flavor. But I have to agree with Christine about the confusing directions. I too melted the butter and it was much easier to dribble that on as a layer rather than trying to spread just softened butter. And I used velveeta. In addition to what she said, we're instructed for the spice/butter layer to only mix half of it and then to put all of it (implied but huh?) on as a layer, but instructed to just use all of the other ingredients and layer half of them (as it should be). And then it never instructs to actually mix the other half of the spice/butter ingredients. This is one of those cases where you better read through the entire directions first, otherwise you'll find yourself wasting time mixing the other half of the spice/butter stuff. That's just silly, and even an experienced cook might need to do a double-take of that. But in the end, it was tasty. Next time I think I'd try the frozen hash browns. Grating potatoes wasn't my favorite activity, and I might try a different cheese as well. I also might mix it all together as some have. (Another note, some people might not get what 3/8 cup is. Call it 6 tbsp or 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp.)

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Creamy Swiss Tuna Casserole

Reviewed: Dec. 31, 2011

Made this as is, except for running the soup thru the blender to get rid of the chunks. I thought this was an interesting blend of ingredients for a tuna casserole, but I would have liked to taste the cheese more. I'm a cheese lover so not happy if I can't taste the cheese! :) I can always try using a little more. Overall fairly good and different.

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Black Bean Enchilada Casserole

Reviewed: Dec. 31, 2011

This was OK. I thought it was a bit strong on the mushroom taste. I used colby but could not really taste it through the mushroom taste. (Which is odd since they're fairly mild.) Makes me feel like all that fattening cheese goes to waste. :-) (I could try cream of chicken - I'm not a vegetarian.) Even after sitting, the tortillas were soft and sorta blended in with everything rather than making layers, though I don't see that as a big deal. It actually makes a pretty good tortilla chip dip!! You should try that. :-)

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Holiday Pumpkin Bread

Reviewed: Dec. 29, 2011

I have made this twice now. It's not super spicy or pumpkin-y either one, though it does taste better and more flavorful the next day. (There's really nothing wrong with it being less spicy.) So good overall. Here's my problems though. I've cut the recipe in half, which fits perfectly into an 8x4 pan, but it doesn't get done in the middle without overcooking on the outsides and then ending up dry. I have also used my little 3x5 pans and it does get done more easily in those, though you want it *just* done as it can get too dry easily. It appears to work better in smaller pans, though I've never seen a 7x4 in my life. (Since it makes a lot and you may want to cut back, do it yourself instead of the auto thing here, which screws stuff up.) The other issue I have is the ingredients all out of order. The first ingredient used is listed last!, one spice is totally out of place with the others, the pumpkin (used w/the wet) is behind all the dry stuff. Etc. This makes it difficult to follow and make sure you get everything in there. And I absolutely will never understand what is so difficult about putting them in order... it's not rocket science.

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Ham and Cheese Puff Appetizers

Reviewed: Dec. 25, 2011

These were only OK. There wasn't a lot of flavor to them and I could not taste the cheese at all (gouda) despite how much of it there is. I don't have much reason for wanting to make them again.

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Grilled Roast Beef Sandwiches

Reviewed: Dec. 19, 2011

These were pretty good, but I like a ham & swiss combo better, but this is certainly a good thing to make if I have sliced roast beef around. Since "thin slices" isn't real definitive I used about 1 oz per sandwich. Couldn't handle the idea of chilies on a sandwich but I added a bit of the convenient powdered stuff in w/the mayo to get the kick. And I believe I used a 5 grain bread. And it was working for me like this, so I didn't even try the salsa.

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Easy Chicken Posole

Reviewed: Dec. 19, 2011

Very good stuff. I like the spice level. I thought chicken fried in a pan would be a hassle to shred, so I did it in the crock pot with the water and broth, cooked it on high maybe 2-3 hours. After that it almost shreds itself. Then I cooked the garlic w/just a bit of oil in my mini saucepan, and didn't use the onion. From there, everything was as is. Though I did only use the tortilla chips and cilantro for garnishes.

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Wake-You-Up Banana Coffee Loaf Cake

Reviewed: Dec. 19, 2011

Sorry, but this just really didn't do it for me. I don't use coffee to wake me up but wanted to get the taste as close to "as is" as possible. All I could taste was coffee and chocolate chips. Not that there's anything wrong with chocolate chips :-), but the coffee is way too strong IMO, and I couldn't taste banana at all, even subtly. (These were even over-ripe ones.) And it was a hair dry - otherwise I'd maybe just try it without the coffee.

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Scottish Shepherd's Pie

Reviewed: Jun. 23, 2011

I've never had a shepherd's pie before, so I wouldn't know the difference between Scottish and otherwise, but I hope it's true that this isn't really like it. It was OK, but nothing beyond that. I normally get that there are differences of opinion, but this time I quite honestly don't understand the 5 stars. I made it as is, except that I didn't totally mash the potatoes down, but left a lot of small hunks, which merely changed the texture a bit. I didn't have issues with it being too wet or anything, but it certainly did need something. It also did not heat up very well. Won't be making again, sorry.

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Spiced Chicken Loaf

Reviewed: Jun. 17, 2011

I made this as is except for using some onion powder instead of onion - personal preference. It had a good flavor, but the thing I didn't like was that it had a bit of a rubbery texture that was odd. Well, I didn't totally dislike it or I wouldn't be giving a 4, but it did kind of lower the level for me. It isn't something about being different than beef or something, cause rather than this being "a nice change" from beef, for me beef is the change cause I use chicken and turkey a lot. I don't recall anything having that texture. Dunno. But otherwise good.

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Mayan Couscous

Reviewed: Jun. 13, 2011

Pretty good. I like the heat of jalapenos but not the specific flavor of them (unless it's mostly covered up by other stuff) so left those out and just tossed in a bit of cayenne to put some kick back in it. Unlike many, I would never cook the onion because I don't like cooked onion in most things and preferred it stay uncooked and crunchy. I did follow the instructions but I see no reason to not just cook the couscous in a pan the normal method - seems easier, and I could use the same pan for everything. I liked this best cooled down a bit but still freshly made. Nice blend of flavors. I refrigerated some to take to work - didn't like it as well cold but it was still an easy thing to take to work and that's always a bonus.

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Veggie Breakfast Sandwiches

Reviewed: Jun. 13, 2011

I'm not a vegetarian but I also don't have to have meat all the time, and occasionally I've used soy crumbles, bean burgers, etc. (I just take things for what they are instead of thinking of them as 'fake meat'.) I've not tried the veggie sausage so I thought I'd try this variation on an egg mcmuffin. I cheated a bit in that I don't like mushrooms and prefer a crispy lettuce over 'wilty' spinach. I used the whole eggs. Not bad. The cream cheese and combination of spices put a different twist on it. For those who like mushrooms, that might really 'make it' for them, don't know. (One unfortunate issue is that the veggie sausage is very expensive and I discovered I do not like them by themselves. This might sound odd but they're not bad with mayo on them. I now still have some in the freezer so perhaps I'll just do this again next time I have cream cheese around. :-))

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Oven Fried Chicken II

Reviewed: Jun. 11, 2011

I used chicken breasts instead of thighs since I don't like dark meat. Well, the concept's good. I have a deep fryer, but the deep fryer is a bit of a hassle to wash and *way* more oil is needed for that, and I think this is probably still less greasy & fattening this way. Which is why the concept is good. Despite that, this just didn't taste like anything. I haven't had fried chicken for a long time so it was certainly something different, but it was really lacking in any real flavor. If I find a good mix of ingredients, I may try this method on it.

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