Peckish Sister's Reviews
465 recipes reviewed. Showing 51 to 100Sort by: Book Title 
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This really satisfies. If you have all of the ingredients on hand, you must make this! My only deviation from the recipe was to use dried tarragon (I am not a fan). It was very easy and quick to make. I also added lemon juice at the end and it was just the right touch. I was hesitant about adding much of the pasta water back in at the end, but next time I will be more bold; the sauce was very thick, and I think with more pasta water would have been creamier. It did look just like the picture and there were no leftovers!
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I choose this recipe as it had very few ingredients. I baked them for 30 minutes as indicated and after letting them cool for the 3 hours, I could cut the edges into squares without them falling apart, but not the central section. The honey was the only binding ingredient, so this was not the best choice for cutting into small squares and taking into serve at a meeting. It would have been better to serve them in cupcake cups as they were explosively crumbly. Even with tight wrapping by the second day, they had turned into granola. The taste was very good, but this recipe did not work in my humid environment. The next time I will try her other granola bar recipe.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The sourness of the rice wine vinegar and lime juice was not countered by the sweetness of the mango. I am not familiar with Napa cabbage, and had a very large regular cabbage in my refrigerator, so used that. I did read later that it is sweet and so this dressing may have been perfect with the right cabbage. I loved all the other components and it was strikingly beautiful. Don’t use regular cabbage, you will regret it!
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I ruined a lovely small basket of new potatoes with this recipe. I may have had more potatoes as the amount of the coating was just right. I roasted them until they were a little charred as in the pictures, but they were still raw in the center. I think more oil would have helped. The flavors would have been great, so I will try this recipe again.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This was a fun, fast, simple and fresh tasting pasta dish. My cherry tomatoes were quite acidic and this was not really cut by the bread crumb topping. It would taste even better with the grape tomatoes we usually have available. I would not really call it a sauce; it was more like pasta topped with miniature baked tomatoes.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This turned out too mushy and way too much pudding. The next time I would only make half a batch (use the rest of that can of condensed milk for your tea or coffee), I would use long brown rice to stand up to all that boiling and I would start with ½ cup of less liquid (you can always add more at the end). I took Quezzle Sister’s advice and doubled the raisins, and that was just right. Yes the flavor was very delicious, but I would prefer a slighly sweeter pudding, and the texture was off with the overcooked rice and overblown raisins.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The lemony zucchini with slivers of basil hiding underneath and laying on top of a creamy layer of goat cheese mixed with lemon juice was very different from most pizzas in a very fresh tasting way. I made and used half of a batch of whole wheat pizza dough made in my bread machine. It would have been easier to brush the olive oil on top of the zucchini, rather than try to drizzle it and have great blobs on oil in just a few places, and then sprinkle the additional lemon juice on top. I do think that having a thin layer of oil and some coarse salt on top is critical for the success of this pizza. I did use Meyer lemon, but like conventional lemons just as well. This was a fun, quick recipe that was so delicious, there was just not enough of it.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
It tasted fresh, weird and a little bitter. My son, who does not eat asparagus, squeezed half a Meyer lemon and the rest of the dressing components on individual plates of the salad and then licked his plate clean after finishing it! I love shaved carrots in salads and I think this would be spectacular with half carrot and a then a little Dijon mustard in the dressing.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
The creamy very lemony filling was so luscious, and fun to eat by pulling off small pieces. I baked mine at 375 ºF for the lesser amount of time and it also turned out overly browned just like hers. I recommend using 350ºF and watching it closely. I dislike lumps of bread without filling and so instead of braiding towards one end and folding the extra dough under, I braided each end towards the middle, weaving the ends together and it looked perfect. Smooth the cream cheese filling after filling and it will make applying the lemon curd easier. I choose this recipe as I had a jar of lemon curd, and it made the process a little quicker. The cream cheese and lemon curd taste like one layer, not two and I don’t know why you could not mix them together before spreading. It is not as hard as it looks and it makes a spectacular presentation for special occasions.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
This was very reminiscent of Vegetarian Epicure’s Russian Vegetable Pie, but less fussy to make. I could not bear the thought of another very buttery crust, especially when the original recipe she mentioned called for a yeast version. I was able to find that recipe: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/bread_thanksgiving.html
I successfully used resuscitated dried mushrooms for the 4 ounces of fresh. I made this again the same way and even remembered the outstanding and simple horseradish sauce, it added a lot. I did not brush the outside of the galette with egg this time, but would the next time, it makes it more substantial and also looks even more beautiful.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
I doubled the recipe (as it was one half a recipe) and let it chill overnight instead of for 30 minutes. It worked well to use a small metal ladle to scoop perfect-sized cookies. The first batch must have been too cold as they came out flat and a little gooey. The rest turned out perfect. I can't vouch for the taste as I can't eat oatmeal, but everyone else devoured them and they looked good.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
These turned out perfectly the first time. It is crazy how thin they turn out. I used my non-stick sheet pans and they worked fabulously. Where the kale touched the surface they turned out mirror thin. I ground up my sea salt before dusting just a little on top. The flavor of the kale is really intensified. My husband and I loved them, but the teenager did not. I understand we will be getting a lot of kale from our CSA and look forward to more prepared like this.
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Slow Cooker Revolution
By The Editors at America's Test Kitchen, America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2011
This chocolate pudding cake adapted well to the crock pot and had intense dark chocolate flavor in both the cake and pudding. In the past I have always been disappointed with not enough chocolate flavor in this type of recipe. However to get that flavor, melted butter and chocolate chips are added; this is also not the usual low fat dessert. I do not like chocolate desserts without the texture of nuts or fruit, but past experiments with nuts were not successful as they became soggy. The addition of ½ cup of dried cherries with the chocolate chips resulted in fully hydrated juicy cherries, a delicious complement to the chocolate. I used my round, 5 quart slow cooker which does not run hot, so I did not use the foil collar. It took an additional 25 minutes to fully cook. Be sure to be the one to scrape the last out of the slow cooker as a lot of chocolate goodness is left at the bottom.
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This made an incredible shepherd’s pie that was the first dish to completely disappear at a Pot Luck. The flavor of the gravy and vegetables was intense, and the colors of the carrots, peas, beef, etc were picture perfect. I used a package of instant mashed potatoes (that made 5 cups of potatoes) as I was in a great hurry and it was the perfect amount to cover the top of a round 6 quart Crockpot. The only request my kids had was to throw shredded cheddar cheese on the top at the end.
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This was not an overly sweet bean dish and the coffee flavor lurked just under the surface. All the ingredients worked just fine, and it cooked to perfection in the time allotted. Many of the recipes in this cookbook cook in less than 8 hours, but this one took 9-11, so a good one to make while at work. Maybe the flavors take getting used to, but it was just not too our taste.
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The drumsticks cook perfectly and the broiling makes the additional sauce thick and sticky. Be sure you like the barbecue sauce you use as the flavor gets quite concentrated. The next time I will try their barbecue sauce recipe. This is as good as chicken wings as it makes a big batch and is more economical.
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These were amazingly delicious. The honey mustard sticky glaze is broiled so it is thick and sticky. These disappeared with no small amount of fighting. With the price of chicken wings, these are an excellent alternative. My suggestion is to get out two crock pots and make a double batch. They are that good; otherwise you may be disappointed to have no leftovers.
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This turned out a well seasoned soup with many requests for the recipe. Since I followed the recipe (except for using a cheaper cut of beef and cutting it up instead of leaving it whole and shredding it later) it did turn out more like a soup than a stew. Personally I would have liked more barley, but that was not the general consensus. Interestingly everyone that was on a low carb diet particularly liked it. I will cook this again, both for home or pot-luck.
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The smokey meaty taste of the bacon that was thrown in raw and discarded at the end added wonderful flavor without tasteless bits of meat floating around in the soup. Dried and fresh mushrooms added to the complexity of flavor. The addition of canned tomatoes and greens at the end (I substituted Mustard greens for Swiss chard) gave this bean soup a surprising fresh flavor making it more suitable for year-around dining. I used 19-bean mix as that was what I had on hand. The only change I would make next time is to cut the white mushrooms into spoon-size pieces. The quartered mushrooms were ridicuously large. Definately the best bean soup I have ever had.
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Other than light coconut milk there is not a lot of fat and sugar added. This recipe can be made ahead and sit in the crock pot for an hour or so if you are busy. I was hoping for more intense flavors and I am not sure if I prefer it over baked sweet potatoes. I did the mashing by hand as suggested and think the lumpy texture could be improved with a food processor. If you are looking for an alternative sweet potato recipe that is not all butter, sugar, pecans, etc., then this is a good one to try. It was a very pretty dark orange contrasting nicely with the dark cilantro.
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A flavorful use of ground turkey. Be careful with the chili powder; I laugh at the 1/4 cup called for and at first tried 2 TLBS, the second attempt I used 1 tsp and for me that still makes very spicey taco meat. It is great to have on hand for tacos, burritos, nachos, salads, etc.
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Fruity tender pork in a fruit sauce. I substituted dried mango for the dried apricot and used one cup of homemade apple sauce (The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook). I could not believe the price of thick pork chops and ended up with boneless country ribs which worked fine, but I needed to remove the top layer of fat at the end of cooking. It tasted good, but not overly sweet and just the right amount of dried fruit.
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I loved the idea of this recipe as I hate stirring polenta for 30 minutes. It is a good recipe to use if you are around the house as it cooks from 4 to 6 hours. It seemed a little watery to me so next time I would try 7 cups of water. I used my slow cooker than runs on the cooler side and it took the longer amount of time. The next time I will try my slow cooker that runs on the hot side. I usually think that there isn't enough cheese, but I thought the 2 cups here was too much. I poured it into tupperware type containers and it has been great to have ready to go. It may sound strange, but i liked it in the Roasted Tomato Soup (The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook] and also for breakfast with a boiled egg.
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Very flavorful, no adjustments needed to be made to the recipe. Onions, garlic, oil and spices were microwaved together in lieu of browning the meat and to provide another way to produce great flavor. I liked that it was not spicy, but you may want to add more heat. The companion recipe of toasted couscous made a nice base for the liquid sauce.
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A nice and simple variation on the standard recipe. The grains fluffed nicely after sitting. This is a companion recipe to the Lamb Vindaloo from the same cookbook. It served as a nice base to soak up all the liquid from the Vindaloo but would also be good as a side dish.
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This was a well flavored meaty black bean soup. Watch the black bean recipes, I meant to make just the black beans, but ending up making the soup by accident. This is not the usual black bean soup with lemon juice, garnished with egg that I am used to. I could not see buying a ham hock when I already had a meaty ham bone in the freezer. The soup was well flavored and I like the celery and carrots. I finally have a decent chili powder, so could use the full amount. Don’t do what I did and use a meaty ham bone, I could have done with a lot less meat.
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The flavor is ginger-sweet tomato with a touch of heat. My boys say 10 points on a 5 point scale. You know we will be making these again. One teenage son was left alone to place all the wing parts on a rack prior to broiling. He said that was very dangerous as the chicken already tasted so great. The recipe takes 4 lb of chicken wings, I bought two 3 lb packages, which I cooked in each of 2 slow cookers, and broiled each batch separately as well. This may be the first time we have followed the broiling distance (10”) exactly according to the directions and that part worked perfectly. I suddenly realized that I could make this now that I have a soy sauce substitute. I haven’t tasted wings quite like this before, but we all agreed that they are perfect and even more delicious than the wonderful two chicken leg recipes.
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An easy short time cooking (4-6 hour) potato soup. Some of the potato is mashed to increase the potato flavor. Instead I used my immersion blender in one corner of the slow cooker. Grated cheddar cheese, scallions and bacon are added on top. We thought sour cream made another nice choice.
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The intense curry flavor brought a little heat, the ginger added to the flavor without being able to tell it had been added. This is a thin simple soup with a little bit of cream. I did the pureeing in the slow cooker with my immersion blender. I did not like the graininess of the cauliflower, but my family did. I really liked the cilantro which I used as a garnish instead of mixing in. I paired this with the rich currant scones from The Pie and Pastry Bible and it was a brilliant match. The sweetness of the currents countered the spiciness of the curry soup and added a heartiness to make a great meal.
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This does give one a bit of a heart attack, just thinking of frying some of the packaged fried onions in butter! But it is a smallish amount of butter and you are also browning bread crumbs and you can control how much of this is put on each portion later. I love that this starts with 2 pounds of green beans and 10 ounces of fresh mushrooms. I had desperately wanted a healthier and fresher tasting alternative to the 2 cans of green beans and one can of mushroom soup recipe. But part of the packaged fried onions goes into making the mushroom gravy. Oh my but that tasted delicious as it went into the Crockpot. My green beans were very skinny and it took a long time to cut them all into 1 inch lengths, in the future I would do this preparation the day before. The preparation took me a long time; I would recommend recruiting a helper if you don’t want dinner to be delayed. I tried cooking this in my slow cooker that runs hot for the lesser amount of time in the range given. I checked the beans so often that that probably contributed to slowing down the cooking process. My husband likes crunchy green beans, but the kids are used to the mushiness of canned beans in this type of recipe and would have like them to have been cooked longer. A much superior green bean casserole overall and well worth the extra effort for a holiday meal. I like that this makes such a large amount and since the topping is applied to each portion, it is easy to preserve it for leftovers.
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I made this on the occasion of a vegetarian guest. All diners, vegetarian or not seemed to really enjoy it. The fresh mushroom turned completely black in the presence of the black beans which was a little strange, but the flavor had a nice depth to it, and I loved the freshness the last minute addition of tomatoes added. I had previously tried to make a vegetarian black bean chili by leaving out the ham hock and adding liquid smoke. Needless to say, it wasn’t very good. We served the leftovers as a bean dip with melted cheddar and lots of fresh salsa on top and that was also very popular.
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I found everything for this soup except for the lemon grass. It was completely delicious and very popular with more adventurous diners. The red curry paste gave favor without too much heat. I liked that the spicy chili was on the side. I bought the better quality fish sauce and was glad I did. I occasionally noticed its flavor and felt it added depth to the overall flavor. The soup turned out perfectly in the specified time, and I would make no changes; I just hope to make it again real soon. I think that I would find this more soothing and interesting to have if I had a cold than the traditional chicken noodle soup.
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This robust chicken chowder has a surprising number of different ingredients, but if you don’t tell, even unadventurous eaters will consume and enjoy this. I hate creamed corn, but even I tolerated it in this chowder. The complex and intense flavors come from a little bit of bacon, chipotle chili in adobo as well as the chicken thighs and lots of fresh vegetables and herbs. There is quite a bit of fussing at the end with microwaving remaining ingredients and adding last minute fresh herbs. This was for a potluck where it would have been hard to do that (so I just threw all those ingredients before traveling except for the cream which I did add at the last minute) and it still turned out fabulous.
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This dal dish had a lot of components including many spices. It made for a great vegetarian meal served over brown rice. I loved the color splashes from the frozen peas, tomatoes and carrots interspersed between the split-pea colored cooked lentils. The addition of coconut milk gave it some depth. Unfortunately, not a great dish to serve the unadventurous.
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A very good lentil soup with bacon cooked in it for flavor that is removed at the end. It had great flavor and I particularly liked that Swiss chard is thrown in at the end. I cut it 1/2" across and removed the ribs as specified, but wish that I had cut it into 1" lengths. The long ribbons of Swiss chard tended to be served mostly with the first bowls. I only could find regular sized portobellos and so it was not practical to remove the gills as they specify with the larger portobello caps. There were a lot of ingredients which take a long time to prepare, but worth it.
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This unique and flavorful pasta sauce has no tomatoes, but plenty of vegetables and the lentils and Italian sausage give it a hearty delicious flavor. I choose this slow cooker recipe for the ingredients and was thinking it would make a soup. I served it over a funny big bubbly shaped pasta, and it caught a lot of the sauce and worked well. It would be great for cold weather.
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We serve this for Holiday dinners at the request of the guests! I make it in my slow cooker that can also saute, etc, so I make the cheese sauce in it, throw in the pasta and can forget about it.
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Using the rice type of rice is essential. I make it without raisins or cinnamon. I have under-(too thin) and over-cooked it (too thick). But when you get used to how it cooks in your slow cooker you can get it just right. I take it up into individual serving size containers with lids. Much better than store bought!
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I love this dairy-free, delicious rice pudding made with light coconut milk. I leave out the garam masala. It is important to use medium rice. I had been using arborio rice, but it tasted too starchy. A real comfort food!
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Skinny Instant Pot & Slow Cooker Cookbook
By Taste of Home
RDA Enthusiast Brands, LLC - 2020
I switched up the vegetables and canned beans to reflect what I had on hand. It was my very first use of the Insta pot and I was skeptical of the 3 minute cooking time since I had increased the amounts of fresh vegetables. It turned out delicious, but the vegetables were very soft and I should have stuck with the 3 minutes!
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The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook
By Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins, Sarah Leah Chase
Workman Publishing Company - 1985
The addition of quick oats to this otherwise standard chocolate chip cookie is a good one. It was a little challenging making many batches in a hot and humid kitchen; they really needed to cool to become crispy and chewy. The taste was very good overall, and they were devoured by kids that normally wouldn't consider eating oatmeal.
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The Silver Palate Cookbook
By Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins, Michael McLaughlin
Workman Publishing Company - 1982
Delicious and moist. I am always asked for the recipe. I bake it in a 9 X 13" pan instead of a round cake pan. I also substitute Amaretto for the Calvados. I do not always have all the ingredients for the Apple Cider glaze and it is very forgiving with substitutions. High Altitude (1 mile): Increase temperature to 350, keep eggs cold and don't over beat, decrease baking soda to 3/4 tsp, remove 3 TLBS sugar, and add 2 TLBS of cider. There is a large amount of oil, and the cake seems a little greasy, but I have not experimented with reducing it. Pink Lady apples were flavorful and added some character to the cake.
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The Savory Way
By Deborah Madison
Bantam - 1990
The flavor the cumin seeds and the garlic oil added to the cabbage and beans was mind numbing. I wanted to cook something a little different with my cabbage and this really filled the bill. Substituting navy beans for the cannellini worked great. I couldn't bear to throw away the toasted slices of garlic from the oil and they added extra texture and flavor I am sure. This one is a real winner! My first experience with The Savory Way Cookbook has left me hungry for more!
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I choose this salad as I already had hard boiled eggs on hand. I was a little leary of this salad with uncooked beet greens after I thought the greens were a little tough in another roasted beet salad where they were cooked, but they tasted just fine raw. I also substituted spring onions for the red or yellow onions. I thought the whole salad was good and made a nice light supper. I liked the dressing, and it may have been better if I had the walnut oil. I did not take a picture as my huge mound of greens obscured the beets.
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I had a bunch of beautiful fresh basil and so I made a quadruple batch of this recipe. I should have cut the zest into narrow strips instead of using my zester. After dividing up all of the portions, I found a large lump of lemon zest at the bottom of the bowl. I thought that the lemon juice came on a little too strongand I rcommend tasting the pasta before adding all of the lemon juice. This was a nice and simple pasta dish, the butter and olive oil giving it a little depth.
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This was fun to make clearing out all of the random bags of fresh spring greens out of the refrigerator. I also used new purple potatoes, and fresh carrots. Don't get too enthusiatic about what you are throwing in, you still have to eat it when the soup is done! It does make a lot of soup, but you can vary its appearance by garnishing it with different grains, crackers, or herb flowers.
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The fresh majorum gave this squash dish a hearty flavor. I used patty pan squash and brown rice. Everything cooked up just right. I wasn't sure what a tian dish was, so used a large glass casserole dish and my rice and squash mixture was about 3 inches high. This made a nice light supper.
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Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen: Capturing the Vibrant flavors of a World-Class Cuisine
By Rick Bayless
Scribner - 1996
These were outstanding and quick to make. I used two pickeled Jalapenos. I liked that the dressing was vinegar only, no oil. These had everything we like - the corn tortillas, black beans, onion, bacon, cheese, fresh lettuce and tomato. I finished cooking just as we had to run out the door somewhere, so we just put the food on plastic dishes and took them with us.
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Just Chard, masa, vegetable shortening, baking powder, chicken broth and salsa. I was skeptical, but also delighted to find another use for Swiss chard. I picked up Crisco to use instead of the lard option. Everything went according to the directions. I used the big steamer I have for steaming. My only trouble came when I would check it and it did not unroll nicely, so I would tie it back up and steam longer. I finally just gave up and served it, scrapping it off of the towel and served it. That is why you won't see a picture. I think my two mistakes were: 1 - I probably added extra Swiss chard and so it took longer to cook, and 2 - I used a linen towel instead of cotton and it might have been too bulky. But the flavor was delicious and with his roasted tomato jalapeno, really outstanding flavor.
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I liked that the tomates were drained, not seeded. I also used the griddle method to char the tomatoes and chiles which seemed to take longer that the broiler method. I also used the food processor to grind everything up. This salsa was OK, but our favorite is still the one from the New Moosewood Cookbook.
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