working azmom of 2 Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1)

Italian Chicken Skillet

Reviewed: May 31, 2012

This was REALLY GOOD! I added some onion just because I had it and I doubled the garlic. I think next time I will cook the chicken separate and serve the pasta as a side dish--the chicken ended up being very tough after cooking for so long in the dish. If you want to leave the chicken out, double the spinach--you'll love it. My kids made this dish with my help and each had 2 huge helpings. Thanks!

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Aunt Mary's Banana-Chocolate Chip Bread

Reviewed: May 15, 2012

very sweet, but very good. I followed to the letter and made muffins out of them. Had to lower the temp to 325 and on the second batch added some walnuts. Would definitely reduce the amount of sugar or add an additional banana chunked up--for texture's sake. Tasty!

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Beefy Biscuit Cups

Reviewed: May 9, 2012

Four stars for yours, five for mine (and I did both). Omit the spaghetti sauce and use a package of taco seasoning. I also added minced garlic and onion. YUM.

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Tasty Barbecued Asparagus

Reviewed: May 8, 2012

Four stars your way....five stars mine. Instead of oiling the grate, I cut a piece of foil paper and matched it in size to a cookie sheet, spread out my asparagus and then brushed liberally with the marinade. I grilled everything on the foil, folding the edges up to keep the marinade from falling into the fire. My way also involved a pound of asparagus to the stated amount of marinade, plus garlic and onion powders. I tossed the asparagus twice, and basted liberally both times.

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Grapefruit Margaritas

Reviewed: May 5, 2012

I used fresh pink grape fruit juice, so I had to sweeten it. Very nice and refreshing! I'm sure with the pre-packaged ruby red juice it wouldn't have required sweetener....but fresh squeezed (freshly squeezed?) just tastes SO much better!

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Busy Day Chicken

Reviewed: Apr. 29, 2012

Personally, I enjoyed it, but the other three in my family just considered it 'meh'. They were turned off by the dark color of the chicken breast and all of the chicken 'turned down', which was odd, because when I normally do chicken in the crockpot they are all over it. Thank you from me....because that means more leftovers for me!

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Fiber One® Chocolate-Peanut Butter Haystacks

Reviewed: Feb. 11, 2012

I gave it five based off of ease and taste for me personally. The kids thought they were 'ok' and enjoyed them more for the chocolate/peanut butter than the entire package. I liked everything from the texture to the taste.

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Bear's Picnic Veggie Dip

Reviewed: Feb. 5, 2012

I only had 9 oz of spinach so that is what I used. I had to doctor it up with 1/4 tsp each of onion and garlic powder. I also added 1/2 tsp of seasoned pepper. Everyone loved it but I know it would have been bland without the spice additions.

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2 users found this review helpful

Slow Cooker Oats

Reviewed: Jan. 30, 2012

I omitted the sugar, raisins and butter. I increased the apple to 2 medium gala apples and cooked on low overnight. Luckily I used some non-stick spray, otherwise it would have been awful to get out of the crockpot! Next time I will cook everything on low--it was awful trying to scrape everything out while it was hot. Great for weekday breakfasts--thanks!

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Spaghetti Squash I

Reviewed: Jan. 26, 2012

My squash took nearly 40 minutes to cook. I should have known this recipe would scream of basil from the 2tbsp it calls for. The basil completely overwhelmed the dish--I couldn't taste the feta or anything else. If I make it again, I would omit the basil completely and up the garlic. Kids still don't like squash!

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Ricotta Eggplant Rolls

Reviewed: Jan. 22, 2012

This was SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!! I used 3 medium sized eggplant with the stated amount of everything else (bread crumbs, eggs, and filling). I cheated and used 2 28 oz cans of Garlic & Herb prepared pasta sauce. If you don't want your cheese to ooze out the sides then leave the mozzarella out of the ricotta mixture and sprinkle it over the top of the eggplant rolls. I added more garlic and onion powder to my ricotta, just because. It was phenomenal!!! Thanks!

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Hot Chili Dip

Reviewed: Jan. 15, 2012

It was hit or miss at the party I took it to. Those who don't like olives wouldn't go near it. If I make it again the olives stay out. I used hot salsa and 1 can each hot chili and mild chili. I used a 16 oz jar of processed cheese and 26 oz of salsa as those are the sizes out here and I didn't figure those ounces would completely ruin a dish. Thanks!

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Slow-Cooked Meat Loaf

Reviewed: Jan. 12, 2012

The family was evenly divided on this recipe. Half liked it, half didn't. I didn't do the carrots or potatoes as none of us like the taste of the veggies cooked in the beef fat. There was something 'off' in the flavor, but I can't tell what it was. I will use my regular meatloaf recipe...two snaps up for the crockpot method though. I liked coming home to dinner being nearly done--it smelled wonderful! I took a different recipe's advice of using tinfoil as a holder. Take three equal lengths of tinfoil and place them in a star pattern. Place the molded meatloaf in the middle of the star and lift up the ends over the top of the meatloaf. Lift the entire package, place in the crock pot and then roll the foil down enough close the lid and set to low. When ready to serve, just pull up the foil all at once and the meatloaf lifts out without falling apart.

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Mini Cheesecakes

Reviewed: Jan. 12, 2012

These were very nice! I crunched up my vanilla wafers to make sure there was a good bottom everywhere, not just in certain places. I also did two toppings: cherry and chocolate. I melted some chocolate chips with a little bit of shortening and let it cool to room temp. Once the cheesecake cooled down and sank a little I filled the indentation with chocolate to the top. Those were a HUGE HIT! I made 48 of these and we didn't have ONE LEFT. That says something! Thanks!

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Cream Cheese Frosting II

Reviewed: Jan. 9, 2012

I increased my confectioners sugar to 4 cups as I needed it to keep its piped shape on the cupcakes I made.

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Mexican Pizza I

Reviewed: Jan. 5, 2012

Very nice for a 'quick' meal! I also oven 'fried' my tortillas at 375 for 15 minutes. I made a 'double stack' by spreading the beans on one tortilla then putting meat and cheese on it. I put a second tortilla on top, then covered it with more cheese and green onion. They went back in the oven until the cheese was melted. The kids gobbled them up! I omitted the green chiles, avocado, and olives as I didn't have them on hand. Kids loved dunking the wedges in a mixture of sour cream and salsa. Thanks!!!

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Chicken Primavera with Pasta

Reviewed: Dec. 19, 2011

This is definitely kid friendly and adaptable to whatever you have. Personally, I didn't really enjoy it, even after ramping up the seasonings to include fresh onion and garlic in the 'sauce'. The texture itself screams 'MELTED CREAM CHEESE' which doesn't appeal to this mommy. The kids each had seconds--in a pinch this is useful but won't be in our regular rotation of dishes. I used frozen broccoli as our vegetable and farfalle pasta instead of fettuccine.

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French Herb Bread

Reviewed: Dec. 18, 2011

The filling was nice, but it needed a LOT more garlic. The texture of the bread itself was nice, but I actually prefer the texture of a different Cinnamon Raisin bread on Allrecipes.com. I will use the filling (with more garlic) and the other recipe next time.

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Easy Chicken and Pasta

Reviewed: Nov. 14, 2011

Decent weeknight dish. I added a bunch of garlic and onion powders and it was still bland. I used Cream of Chicken soup on accident, but I don't think it would have made a difference. Great for a pinch, but even my easy going eaters weren't impressed.

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Chocolate Cherry Cake I

Reviewed: Nov. 13, 2011

This was divine! I followed others suggestions in adding vanilla and almond extracts. I also halved the sugar and used powdered sugar. My six year old and I made this together and got rave reviews. We frosted the cake then put it in the fridge overnight. It was absolute divinity, thanks! EDIT: I made this cake again for a birthday party. To keep the cherries from settling on the bottom I added 1/2 cup of the cake mix to the cherries in a separate bowl. Added the eggs to the remaining cake mix, roughly mixed, then added the cherry mixture and mixed until barely combined but not enough to break up the cherries too bad. I also added 1 tsp of almond extract. I baked for 18 minutes in muffin cups and frosted with Cream Cheese Frosting II from this recipe. It was the TALK of the office!

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