September Reviews #2

[helene]

Hi,

I am starting Sept. Reviews #2 because the other thread was getting long.

I made the Pork Chop Suey. Everybody loved it. I double the recipe and serve it over Basmati Rice. So the next day everyone was fighting for left over to bring to work.

Have a great day,

Hélène

[mikecox]

Originally posted by helene:
Hi,

...other thread getting long.

Great idea Helene,

The other one *has* gotten very long, I'll watch for new reviews here.

Thanks http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

[MrsReber]

I made the penne with green beans last night from the Sept. issue. Tasty, but nothing to write home about, pretty much the same as any other pasta/veggie toss I've made in the past.

I'll have to try the pork chop suey- it seems to be getting some good reviews and I could stand to make something a little different for dinner.

[This message has been edited by MrsReber (edited 09-06-2000).]

[karen w]

I made the grilled vegetable lasagna last Friday. I made it with homemade lasagna noodles. It was delicious. It is, however, alot of work so I would recommend making the various components ahead of time. This is how I did it. I prepared the tomato vodka sauce and grilled vegetables one day, the white sauce and noodles the next, and then assembled. Obviously, it's not going to become my everyday lasagna for this reason, but it's a nice change of pace once in a blue moon instead of the traditional meat and cheese versions.

I also made the two step mac and cheese and the peanut butter krispy bars for my kids. To quote my four year old, "This is a neat treat, Yummmy." I melted and drizzled chocolate chips over the bars since this was all I had. They were nice. A great snack for the kids.

Tonight my husband and I are going to try the spinach artichoke dip. I am baking it in a bread bowl(a great idea for company, too) and we'll have it with some soup I made the other day with lots of summer veggies.

[MrsReber]

Karen, if you're making the spinach artichoke dip, I suggest reading the spinach artichoke dip thread for some suggestions. The bread bowl sounds great, I had thought of that, too, for the next family gathering. Let us know how it turns out.

I also made the peanut butter krispie treats. They were good, but I usually melt chocolate, peanut butter or butter scotch chips in with my marshmallows. I did like melting the marshmallows in the microwave, though. Duh, I never thought of that and have been melting them on the stove.

[Tally]

Adding my 2 cents . . .
Thanks to those that have provided reviews of this issue. I defintely want to try the Spinach artichoke dip and Ooey Gooey brownies.

I tried the Barbecue Black Beans and Port Tenderloin with Costa Rican Coffee Glaze (pg. 98). A definite thumbs up on the beans - my husband had third helpings. I think next time I would cut back a bit on the molasses and brown sugar, as the beans did taste a bit sweet. However, they would make a good potluck dish or side with a spicy main meal.

The pork tenderloin was OK, but I agree with other reviewers that it was not really worth the effort.

[Peggy]

I made the Warm Potato Salad last night. It was a quick recipe to make, tasty, but not super exciting. It would be a good alternative to a mayonnaise-based potato salad, if that is what you're looking for. I think there are many similar recipes out there for those who like a vinegar-based vinaigrette on their potato salad. I may make it again...

MrsReber, I thought the Pork Chop Suey was very good. Hope you like it when you try it.

I also have made some of the lentil recipes, but will post my review of those under the Lentil Recipes post.

Peggy

[This message has been edited by Peggy (edited 09-06-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Peggy (edited 09-06-2000).]

[karen w]

My husband and I had our soup and dip supper last night. (artichoke spinach dip baked in a bread bowl.) I think my husband ate half the loaf and dip. It was really delicious. I did not seem to have that problem with too thick a dip that people keep mentioning. Perhaps because I was very generous with the sour cream and I included the whole box of spinach. It was great with the bread!

[BethH]

Thumbs up on the Penne with Green Beans and Sun Dried Tomatoes! Quick, easy and tasty! I'm a fan.

[doggerham]

I made the Pasta with Green Beans and Sundried Tomatoes last night. I liked the contrasting flavors of the tomatoes, vinegar, capers and cheese. I also added grilled chicken breast cut into 1" pieces.

I thought it was pretty good, hubby thought it wasn't "saucy" enough -- he's more of the pasta w/ red sauce type.

I also made the ragu from Sept 00. I thought
this sounded good with all the nice, earthy portobello mushrooms supplementing the ground beef. It was tasty, but a little bland for me. If I remember correctly, the only seasonings were salt, pepper and a bay leaf. So where's the GARLIC!!!!

My biggest issue with this recipe is that the color is very unappetizing - kind of a greyish brown, semi-regurgitated looking thing. (Sorry about that. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif If I were to make this again, I would probably add some stuff.

Also, another big thumbs up for the Fresh Tomato Basil Soup. I've made 2 or three batches and need to make more before the basil bolts. Has anyone tried freezing this?

Amy

[Peggy]

Last night I made the Chicken-Orange Stir-fry. The orange sauce was very good. Though it is one in the line of many CL chicken stir-fry recipes, my daughter liked the sauce so much that she actually ate most of the vegetables in it. Usually I find a little pile of veggie discards on the side of her plate when I stir-fry chicken. She said she REALLY liked it! It definately gets her vote! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

Peggy

[Britin]

Hello everyone,

I made the Pork Tenderloin with Costa Rican Coffee Glaze, Grilled Sweet Potatoes, and the Barbecue Black Beans with Rum. All three got rave reviews. I also had some chicken breast on the grill and tried the glaze on that as well. I will definitely make all of these again. By the way, I did have some andouille sausage on hand so I used that instead of the chorizo in the beans. I am sure that it is very good with the chorizo too.

[skylarc]

Originally posted by MrsReber:
I made the penne with green beans last night from the Sept. issue. Tasty, but nothing to write home about, pretty much the same as any other pasta/veggie toss I've made in the past.


[This message has been edited by MrsReber (edited 09-06-2000).]

I liked the pasta & green beans but my husband declared it "unremarkable".

[Nova]

Last night I made the "Braised Eggplant" recipe in the Inspired Vegetarian section. It was a little bit time-consuming, but my husband and I really enjoyed it. It surprised me a little, but was a really great dish. I made it as a main course and served the potatos and some fresh green beans on the side. Delicious! I think it would taste really good with chicken, for those of you who eat meat (we don't). Has anyone tried the "curry shrimp lentil" recipe? I think I might make that one tonight. I'll let you know if its any good.

[KathySC]

I have tried several recipes from September that my family really enjoyed: Farfalle Carbonara, Spicy Soba Noodles with Chicken in Peanut Sauce and Greek-Style Scampi. I also tried the Feta Omlet with Breadcrumbs. It was alright, but I felt it was lacking something. My family loved the ooey-gooey brownies, and I have seen the positive reviews for it, however, I will say that I was a little disappointed with them. They tasted too much like a boxed cake mix to me. Oh well, they were very quick to make so I will probably make them again for my family.

[Carrie W]

We had the Ziti with Tuscan Porcini Mushroom Sauce last night. It had a nice, simple earthy flavor and was quite simple to make. It'll definately be a recipe we keep handy to make on a whim with staples that are usually in our pantry.

[1010]

Originally posted by MrsReber:
Karen, if you're making the spinach artichoke dip, I suggest reading the spinach artichoke dip thread for some suggestions. The bread bowl sounds great, I had thought of that, too, for the next family gathering. Let us know how it turns out.

I also made the peanut butter krispie treats. They were good, but I usually melt chocolate, peanut butter or butter scotch chips in with my marshmallows. I did like melting the marshmallows in the microwave, though. Duh, I never thought of that and have been melting them on the stove.

[1010]

Hi,
I am new to the BB and was wondering what
does it mean when you write long thread? Thanks in advance for your response.

[Grace]

This whole topic titled "September Reviews #2" and all the responses that are included in the topic are called a "thread". A few weeks ago, someone started the topic "September Reviews", but so many people responded to it, it got very long, so Helene started another one. Does that make sense? Have fun on these boards - lots of great information and enthusiasm!

Grace

[JJ40]

I still haven't received September yet. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif

A lot of people have mentioned the soba noodles with peanut sauce, and I'm just wondering how different they are from the peanutty noodles from earlier this year.
This question was asked on the old sept. reviews thread, but no one seemed to answer. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

Julie

[KathySC]

JJ40,
I have tried both of the recipes and I am trying to remember what the Peanutty noodles tasted like. If I recall correctly, the Peanutty noodles are a side dish and the Soba Chicken recipe is a main course. I think they both taste similiar (yummy), but the Peanutty noodles may have a slightly stronger peanut taste and no chicken. Hope that helps!

[kendra]

Let's see if I can remember this. The peanutty noodles used liguine or some other sort of white noodle, while the other recipe calls for soba. The peanutty noodles had red peppers and maybe some other veggies (I don't remember but I definitely remember red peppers). Chicken with soba had only carrot and green onions for veggies and had peanuts on top. Peanutty noodles was a much thicker and more peanutty recipe and served hot. The soba noodles is more of a cold salad type dish - it is very good at room temp. That's my 2 cents. Both very good, but the soba noodles were a little more light tasting and less heavy feeling in the stomach. Kendra

[Nanci]

I made the Italian Beef subs which were quite good and received rave reviews from my boyfriend. I grilled the peppers (and more than the recipe called for) and than put them in a ziplock for 10 minutes and peeled the skins. Very easy to made -- probably took 1/2 hour.

Had a little trouble with the ooey gooey peanuty chocolate brownies. I used Marshmallow Fluff not creme and evaporated skim milk not condensed -- and to my hapyy surprised they came out wonderful.

I am going to give the lentil stuffed peppers a gry later this week.

[MrsReber]

I also made the ooey gooey brownies. My husband loves them. I also used fluff on those. I am wondering if the mixed reviews have to do with the cake mixes that people are using?

KathySC, I am dying to try the farfalle carbonara. I am a very big carbonara fan and was wondering how this one was.

Hopefully this week or next week I will get to try the monte cristo sandwiches. I need easy dinners now that I'll be in school on Monday nights. What was I thinking??

[Jenny-Wren]

I made the pork chop-suey last night and it was fabulous! It's fairly quick for a stir-fry--usually the chopping is so time-consuming. The only bok-choy I could find was limp and yucky looking, so I substituted green cabbage, with a very tasty result. I'll definitely make this again.

[andreajackson]

I made the German Chocolate Budt Cake last night and it was wonderful!! I couldn't believe how moist and rich it was! This is so good that I encourage everyone to try it, if your a dessert fan.

[RunnerKim]

I'll post another thumbs up for the lentils and sausage stuffed peppers. Wonderful flavor. I had no clue where to find the basil, pine nut chicken sausage - boy was I surprised to find a dozen varieties of chicken sausage at my health food store deli/meat counter! Such interesting flavors too. This is a fairly expensive dish (even with red & yellow peppers on sale right now)and used a lot of pots and pans so we probably won't make it often - but it was tasty.

Kim

[Cheryl]

I made the grilled summer vegetable lasagna. It was more work than it was worth. I would give it a C+ at best.

[Cheryl]

I made the grilled summer vegetable lasagna. It was more work than it was worth. I would give it a C+ at best.

[KathySC]

Mrs. Reber,
I have made the farfalle carbonara twice already, since it was very easy to prepare and my family and I loved it. There is only suggestion I would make. When you add the eggs to the pasta, make sure your heat is not too high, since the sauce could become the texture of scrambled eggs. This happened the first time I prepared it. Luckily, the taste was still good. Enjoy!

[Abby]

I made the Spinach Artichoke Dip last week, and after all of the favorable reviews I was pretty disappointed. I thought it was very bland. I had about half of it left after my party so I added a can of Rotel tomatoes (partially drained) and some chopped green onions. These additions really added some zing to the dip. I don't think I'll make the CL version of this again.

[Lchiles]

I made the Penne w/green beans and sun dried tomatoes last night and thought it was delicious. Very easy to make and I used Peggy's advice and soaked the tomatoes in more liquid than was called for because the final mixture looked dry. I didn't use as much as she had, but I would next time. First time I have had green beans in my pasta, will do again. LaurieC

[MrsReber]

I made the pork chop suey on Saturday after all the good reviews. It was very very good!

I have the ingredients for the farfalle carbonara, but haven't tried it just yet. Thanks for the hint KathySC- I have made regular old carbonara before and you usually just toss the very hot pasta with eggs (not over heat) and the eggs cook from the heat of the pasta.

[jd]

Doggerham, I froze the Tomato Basil soup with success. Go ahead and try it!

[food girl]

I hope these were from Sept.

The Monte Cristo sandwich was surprisingly delicious. I made honey mustard out of dijon + honey.

The mocha cheesecake was also tasty.

I was not all that wild about the spinach/artichoke dish or the penne with green beans.

[Holly in KC]

I tried the Italian Beef Subs for lunch today... how can a recipe this quick and easy be so good??

I'm not a big green pepper fan, so I substitued thinly sliced white onions. I also used onion rolls instead of the submarine rolls.

Yummy... I'll make this again! (Maybe I'll add a thin slice of provolone next time...)

[misstapioca]

hi all
I left the Spinach Artichoke dip recipe and
ingredients out for my boyfriend to make one
evening when i had to work. its one of his favorite appetizers so i thought it would be a hit. Well i came home in the morning to see that he had baked it in a 8x8 pan lined with foil wrap!! I thought it was bland and quite thick. I also made the BBQ lentil recipe I liked it. I took some to work to share, i think my co-workers were a bet apprehensive to try this new legume.

[MrsReber]

Have to re-visit this topic! I made the german chocolate bundt cake and it is wonderful! My only problem is that it did not come out of the pan all at once. Seemed that the streusel layer in between kind of separated my cake. Maybe I should've baked it a few minutes longer? Anyhow, I was thinking that my husband would have to take some to work to share. Well, he took some to work, but only for himself! I made him take the last of it this morning before I ate it all! It was so very good. I will definitely make it again.