naples34102 Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (18863788)

Lemon Broccoli Pasta

Reviewed: May 30, 2012

Hubs and I really enjoyed this side dish, prepared in a most unusual way! Never before have I cooked pasta in such a small amount of liquid! Cooking the broccoli and pasta together is a step saver, time saver and pot saver, tho' it's not as easy to control the doneness of each that way. The broccoli turned out a little more cooked than the currently fashionable “crisp-tender,” but that was just fine by me, as I prefer my vegetables cooked! While the pasta (I used a good quality pappardelle) and broccoli were cooking I sautéed some fresh minced garlic in butter which I added along with the sour cream when I mixed it all up. It was wonderful – rich yet fresh tasting at the same time, creamy, satisfying and delicious. The chicken broth and lemon worked their magic together to contribute soft and subtle flavor. One of the best pasta side dishes I’ve tried in awhile, ideal with the chicken rolled with prosciutto, cheese and roasted red peppers I served it with.

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Chicken Roll-Ups

Reviewed: May 30, 2012

I had to do quite a bit of tweaking on this recipe but it has such great potential and turned out so incredibly delicious I just had to rate it five stars nonetheless. First, I didn't coat the chicken with the eggs and crumbs until after I had it rolled up. That just made sense to me. As for the crumbs, I added some melted butter as well as a handful of chopped fresh herbs - parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. When I rolled up the chicken I first gave it a good peppering, but no salt - didn't want to take a chance of it being too salty since prosciutto is salty enough. I sprinkled the chicken with minced fresh garlic, then rolled it up with the prosciutto, cheese and roasted red peppers, which I found worked better chopped than in strips. Once the rolled breasts were coated with crumbs and laid on the cookies sheet I drizzled them with melted butter and baked them for 35 minutes, (not 20!) at 350 degrees. All I can say is, I’m sure glad I saved this recipe before it disappeared with its sponsor!

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Mexican Cream Cheese Rollups

Reviewed: May 28, 2012

Everyone seemed to like them well enough but me -they have a big olive taste but that also made them a little too salty.

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Wisconsin Cheese Curd Potato Salad

Reviewed: May 28, 2012

This was interesting to try for its novelty of the Wisconsin cheese curds, but other than that it had little else going for it. Three stars is being generous for a basic potato salad that calls for too much of both mayonnaise and mustard. How much you use however, should depend upon what "8 red potatoes" means to you. In my case, using tiny red potatoes in an amount that approximated what the submitter must have had in mind, I used a cup of mayo, a half cup of sour cream and just 1 T. of mustard which I found to be perfect. I also added fresh dill, green onion and celery for that proverbial "crunch." I coarsely chopped the eggs and added them right into the potato salad along with some cooked, crumbled bacon. Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt and Lawry's Seasoning Salt gave it a little boost. Catchy title and idea but it needs more than that.

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Crab Stuffed Lobster Rayna

Reviewed: May 25, 2012

Four stars, and darned near five! I baked these, 425 degrees, about 15 minutes, using the four (6 ounce) tails as directed. They were tender, sweet and moist - perfectly done. I highly recommend cold water tails rather than warm if possible. The crab meat filling seemed like it could use a little spunk, so I used about 2 T. of chopped red bell pepper instead of celery and I believe that was a positive change and contribution. I also added about another 2 T. of melted butter to ensure the topping would be sinfully rich and moist. With my usual consideration of Hubs' sensitive innards, I omitted the cayenne pepper, choosing a few grinds of freshly ground pepper instead. For the bread crumbs I crushed some crostini and added a little Parmesan cheese. Bottom line? This was excellent - not "overworked and overdone." When you're paying big bucks for jumbo lump crabmeat and lobster tails, you want to taste THAT, not a bunch of other stuff.

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Blueberry-Topped Custard

Reviewed: May 24, 2012

This is a lovely dessert – pleasantly sweet, light and pretty. Portions are easily determined by the serving dish you use, as is the ability to dress it up or down. Individual tastes vary and I preferred less lemon peel, so I used just a few shavings. I also reduced the vanilla to an adequate one teaspoon. I didn’t want to diminish the fresh, creamy custard taste. For my taste buds, this turned out to be just right. I had fresh blueberries on hand so rather than the sauce in this recipe I made “Blueberry Sauce” from this site tho’ “Blueberry Breakfast Sauce” would have been a better choice. It hardly needs mentioning that this is conducive to many variations – strawberry sauce, lemon curd, chocolate, bananas, fresh berries – the possibilities are almost limitless.

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Blueberry Sauce

Reviewed: May 24, 2012

This was not my favorite and I know I would have liked it even less had I followed directions exactly. Looking over the recipe, it appeared the blueberry flavor was going to be lost in orange, almond and cinnamon - TOO much going on here - and for me, these were competing rather than complementary flavors as well. I reduced the orange juice by half (while at the same time reducing the cornstarch to compensate) and it still had more orange flavor than I would have preferred for a BLUEBERRY sauce. I eliminated the almond extract and cinnamon altogether. Finally, I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup and the sauce was plenty sweet - an extra quarter cup would have been cloyingly sweet. So...by eliminating the cinnamon and almond extract, and reducing the amounts of both the sugar and the orange juice this would be greatly improved - but then it wouldn't be this recipe.

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Cabbage Rolls II

Reviewed: May 21, 2012

This is a good, reliable reference recipe, one you can put your own spin on and still feel confident about its basic structure. That said, I added fresh garlic and parsley, and cooked the rice in beef broth. I used a multi-purpose steak type seasoning in lieu of just salt and pepper. As for the sauce, I skipped the sugar and lemon juice and used my own tomato sauce put up from my garden, about three cups worth – plenty to spoon over the cabbage rolls as well as for the garlic horseradish mashed potatoes I served them with. Rather than the slow cooker, I baked them in the oven, about an hour and 15 minutes, covered, at 350 degrees. I had extra meat mixture which I just rolled into Porcupine Meatballs and baked alongside the cabbage rolls. This was nothing fancy, just plain good old–fashioned comfort food, but do add some seasoning.

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Cream of Fresh Asparagus Soup I

Reviewed: May 20, 2012

Too many changes required to rate this any higher than three stars. First, taking the cue from other reviewers, I reduced the amount of milk by about half. Good call. Second, I reduced the amount of tamari (by necessity I used soy sauce) to only one-third the amount called for - again, good call. Third, the soup calls for water and I'm not sure why - it contributes no flavor and only dilutes what flavor there is. I used chicken broth instead. Finally, I would have much preferred the soup pureed completely. The chunky tips almost seemed as tho' they didn't belong and added a little bitterness as well.

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Shrimp Remoulade Galatoire's

Reviewed: May 20, 2012

Neither Hubs nor I much cared for this with the shrimp. We found it too tangy from the vinegar and just "too much" for the delicately flavored shrimp. However, inspiration struck me and it occurred to me that because of its zingy flavor and tanginess it just might be good with raw vegetables. Just as I thought, I liked it a lot better. Hubs gave it a whirl and agreed. So for us anyway, this sauce was much better suited as a dip for raw vegetables than as a sauce for shrimp.

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Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Reviewed: May 20, 2012

In Hubs' words, "I can't really say WHAT it tastes like, but it's strangely addicting." He rated it four stars. I asked what it might take for him to rate it five stars. "I don't know, maybe more banana," he said. Regardless, he cleaned up a two serving recipe lickety-split. I think it also deserves recognition for its uniqueness - it's not your typical berry-yogurt smoothie. Using frozen bananas as well as the ice cubes made this super thick and frosty!

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Quick Zesty Green Beans

Reviewed: May 19, 2012

These were agreeable but certainly nothing extraordinary or memorable. After all, when push comes to shove this is still nothing more than seasoned green beans. In consideration of Hubs’ sensitive innards I substituted cooked and crumbled bacon for the pecans which should have made this even better but these were still rather average green beans.

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4 users found this review helpful

Hearty Minestrone

Reviewed: May 17, 2012

Good foundational blueprint for minestrone which, by definition, is simply a vegetable soup (meat optional) that includes making use of the vegetables you have at hand. Every time you make it, it will be a variation of what you made before. I did the same, following the general recipe but with some liberty – added garlic and fresh parsley, mini beef tortellini for the pasta, ceci (garbanzo) beans rather than Great Northern, eliminated the potatoes (not a fan), skipped the zucchini only because I didn’t have any, used my own tomatoes put up from my garden, some leftover mushrooms, and added some leftover spinach at the end, just long enough to wilt it. No need to measure anything; toss in broth, pasta, tomatoes and vegetables as it pleases you. This soup was a lifesaver tonight – after a day of a couple of long mishaps that ate up most of my day, this came together quickly to produce a nutritious, delicious and satisfying meal.

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Sesame Beef

Reviewed: May 15, 2012

Hubs and I really enjoyed this, just as we do most stir fries. However, the amount of sugar called for is about four times more than you need – so I did reduce it to just a fourth of what was directed, and used brown sugar rather than white. It was just right. As for the meat, I wanted something more tender than round steak for this quick cooking method so I used sirloin (No Name Steak, to be exact, that I always keep on hand for this very purpose). I also included some good-sized shrimp and, to make this a complete meal, I stir fried some vegetables as well - baby bok choy, mushrooms, bean sprouts and onions. I sprinkled on the toasted sesame seeds and green onion just before serving, in an amount that seemed right to me rather than measuring. What I loved best about this recipe was its simple, clean flavors, not bogged down by lots of different spices or “heat.”

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Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler

Reviewed: May 15, 2012

Excellent. Period. Recipe calls for vegetable oil so I used vegetable oil (not butter) and followed the rest of the recipe to the letter as well. The crust scared me off at first, because it is oily - I mean really oily. But it curiously bakes up flaky, crunchy and golden. The filling itself is perfect - just thick enough, just juicy enough, just sweet enough and just tart enough. Five star perfect prepared exactly as the recipe directs.

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Ginger Broccoli Stir-Fry

Reviewed: May 13, 2012

Pre-cooking the broccoli before stir frying, if the florets are small enough, isn't even necessary. But even if they're larger, however, the cooking time is off - if you steam or microwave before stir frying, it will only need another minute or two. The seasoning is quite nice, tho' as a personal thing I could easily skip the ginger.

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Breakfast In A Glass

Reviewed: May 13, 2012

Because I used both frozen bananas and frozen strawberries (and a lot more strawberries than called for) this was so thick my Vita-Mix wouldn't even cut through it, which necessitated my having to add a lot more milk to make it run. The end result was a pleasant surprise! This was fresh and fruity tasting, and not as bogged down by the slightly sour tang of yogurt as some smoothies can be. I added a little honey to sweeten it up and this time Hubs actually commented on how "really good" this was without my prompting him. (Hmmm, I have to remember that - frozen fruit and LOTS of it, more milk and less yogurt) What is particularly nice about this smoothie is that there are no "exotic" ingredients you are not likely to have on hand. Smoothies,at least for me anyway, are something made on the spur of the moment and bananas and strawberries are simple, basic ingredients you can always have available in your freezer.

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Barbecued Baked Beans

Reviewed: May 12, 2012

These beans were excellent and I happily saved the leftovers. But I did make several changes, some intentional, one not. Most important, I used only a quarter of the chili powder called for. I was even somewhat inclined to omit it altogether and had I done that I’m not sure I would have missed it. I added the lemon juice but totally forgot the vinegar – the beans certainly didn’t suffer for it. To give this a little more flavor I sautéed diced bacon (instead of olive oil and butter), then cooked the onion, garlic and some finely chopped green pepper (in lieu of jalapeno). Hubs and I both agree the barbecue sauce was the key ingredient and, because I used Corky’s Barbecue Sauce we brought back from Memphis, it was even more delicious. In consideration of Hubs’ sensitive innards I skipped the cayenne pepper and, given that I made only a small recipe for the two of us, I skipped what would have probably amounted to a drop of liquid smoke as well. Finally, I’m not convinced the long baking time is necessary – 30-45 minutes is adequate. Keep in mind when you make your grocery list for this recipe that it appears as though the once 15-ounce cans of pork and beans have now kind of suspiciously shrunk to 11 ounces…

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6 users found this review helpful

Southwestern Pasta Salad

Reviewed: May 12, 2012

To put it in the words from Hubs, this "isn't bad," but that's because I used less than a third of the chili powder called for. One look at the ingredients list told me this was a necessary call. I can't imagine how unpleasant this would have been with three times more than what I used! But I should have cut way back on the cumin too. Nice assortment of ingredients in the salad itself as well as in the dressing, but the dressing needs work.

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3 users found this review helpful

Calabacitas

Reviewed: May 12, 2012

This was such an interesting recipe that I prepared it exactly as written - and wasn't strongly moved one way or the other. I don't often assign the overused word "bland" to a dish but in this case it is appropriate. While this dish doesn't offend the taste buds, it certainly doesn't excite them either.

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