BethNH's Reviews
265 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title 
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Website: All Recipes
Finding a bag of Trader Joe's white chocolate chips in my pantry, I searched for a recipe to use them in. This cookie recipe had great reviews at allrecipes.com so it seemed like a good one to try.
I altered the recipe slightly by lessening the sugar from 2 cups to 1.5 cups. I used white and brown sugar instead of all white. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly.
The cookies came out of the oven looking very nice. They held their shape and didn't flatten even though I used all butter which had really gotten too soft on the counter.
They have a nice chocolate flavor and a balanced sweetness. They'll never be a favorite because I don't really care for white chocolate (and really don't know why I had a bag of it in the pantry) but they are quite good. Kind of like a fudgy brownie with white chocolate chips.
If you're a fan of white chocolate, I'd highly recommend these. Even if you're not, they're worth a try.
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Website: All Recipes
I was looking for a Greek dressing that would taste just like the one I buy from the supermarket but without the stabilizers and other nasty things. This dressing uses olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and dried herbs. It's quite good and will be my go-to recipe for Greek dressing.
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Website: All Recipes
This marinade is very good and kept the pork tenderloin nice and moist on the grill. I did not have enough time to let the pork marinate for very long so the flavor did not penetrate as much as it could have. I will try this again soon when I have time to let it marinate longer.
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Website: All Recipes
Delicious marinade! Used it for steak tips which were grilled and they were tasty and tender. Made with common pantry ingredients it's easy to pull together in a two cup measuring cup.
I used red winer vinegar in place of the balsamic as I didn't have any good quality balsamic and other reviews stated the vinegar flavor was pronounced.
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Website: All Recipes
Quite a nice thing to start simmering on the stove while you enjoy your coffee or get breakfast started. It makes the house smell wonderful.
This recipe does take about an hour to complete - 30 minutes of simmering and 30 to rest.
We served it with pumpkin pancakes (not the ones included in this recipe) and it was delicious! It wasn't as thick as I might have preferred but that wasn't a problem.
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Website: All Recipes
A two hour delay due to bad road conditions left me with a bit of time to whip up some muffins for the boys for breakfast. Alas, my pantry was almost bare. I did, however, have a bag of mini chocolate chips and a search through the internet and Eat Your Books led me to this recipe.
The only change I made to the recipe was to swap butter for shortening. The recipe made 18 mini muffins and probably should have made a few more but I made mine just a smidge too large. The muffins are quite nice little things - moist and chocolatey.
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Website: All Recipes
After buying a bag of peanut butter chips on a whim, I decided to bake some chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips.
This recipe is wonderful. Nice chocolate flavor. Plenty of peanut butter chips. A perfect marriage of chocolate and peanut butter.
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Website: All Recipes
2013 is the summer of the cocktail at our house! We've been enjoying new cocktails on at least a weekly basis.
This is a very refreshing summer drink made with ginger ale, vodka, cranberry juice and lemon. We've substituted lime because that's what we always have on hand. It's light and a bit fruity and very delicious.
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Website: All Recipes
Although I linked this particular recipe, I actually used a combination of recipes to make these pretty accordion potatoes. I kept the skin on and used the trick of cutting the potatoes between two cutting boards to prevent cutting all the way through the bottom.
They took much longer to cook than any of the recipes called for. In the end, although the potatoes were good they weren't anything special and certainly no better than regular baked potatoes.
I couldn't see going through the effort of making these again.
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Website: All Recipes
I saw this recipe in the All Recipes magazine while waiting for the doctor. I saved it in my phone to try someday and today was that day.
Although there were a number of flavors - honey, brown sugar, Thai garlic ginger sauce - we didn't find any of them contributed to making the chicken sweet, spicy or sticky. I even added some cornstarch to thicken up the sauce and it still didn't cling to the chicken.
This didn't taste bad in any way but it was under whelming and I wouldn't make it again.
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The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook, Heavy-Duty Revised Edition
By America's Test Kitchen, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Carl Tremblay
America's Test Kitchen - 2006
Very easy, one pot meal. Lots of flavor - just a bit of spice. The sauce covered the ziti really well and the chicken stayed moist.
Next time I'd add the broccoli closer to the end as I like my veggies with more crunch.
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I suppose most folks don't really need a recipe for fajitas but, having never made them before, I thought it might be nice to have a general guideline.
I made the Latin American Dry Spice rub (pg. 390) for the flank steak and it was quite good. The flank steak was grilled with the spice rub. Flank steak, sauteed onions and peppers, and flour tortillas - simple and delicious.
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Light, fluffy waffles. Perfect!
These require a bit more effort than using a mix as they require whipping egg whites and melting butter but they are SO much better. I used soured milk in place of buttermilk and you couldn't tell the difference.
I believe we have discovered our new family waffle recipe.
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Tastes just like a regular Tollhouse cookie only bigger!
I was looking for a recipe for large chocolate chip cookies like the ones found in bakeries and this recipe fits the bill.
This recipe uses melted butter and additional egg yolks which are designed to ensure a chewy cookie. If you put the cookies in an airtight container soon after they cool the cookies will remain nice and chewy.
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Very fast and easy chicken fajitas! The spices were perfect.
Great dinner for those nights when you have almost no time to cook.
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Everyone in my family is a big fan of pork but I've never really been able to make decent boneless pork chops until now. This recipe is wonderful! All the boys gave it two thumbs up.
The coating is made with crushed Melba toasts and spices and the chops are coated with mayonnaise before patting on the coating. It sounds strange and rather 70s but it's amazing. The pork stays very moist and the topping is delightfully crisp.
We'll be adding this to the regular rotation.
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Alfredo sauce is pretty basic and recipes don't differ much from one cookbook to another.
The boys are used to jarred Alfredo sauce and didn't care for this at all. My husband and I liked it but it had a funny consistency - kind of grainy - and tasted sweet. I may not have chosen the right cheese. None of this stopped my husband or me from eating large portions.
I'll make the sauce again with different cheese.
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These are very good buttermilk pancakes. The recipe comes together quickly and is enough for 16 good sized pancakes.
As usual, I did not have buttermilk in the house and used sour milk. The pancakes don't rise as much as my boys prefer and they were a little more floppy than they like but they tasted delicious.
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I used this marinade for chicken breast prior to stir frying. The taste of the sesame oil was a bit overpowering. I believe 1 Tablespoon of sesame oil is simply too much.
Everyone ate it without comment or complaint but I probably wouldn't make it again.
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Fail.
It's hard to believe it's the fault of the recipe so it must be the fault of the cook. I followed the directions exactly but the batter didn't stay on the fish and left a huge mess on the bottom of the pot. I rescued dinner by scooping the fish out of the hot oil, putting it on paper towels for a bit and then putting it in a 375 oven.
In the end, the fish was actually pretty good. It retained some of the spice from the batter even if it wasn't battered.
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Absolutely, totally delicious marinade! There is no vinegar in this marinade - it's made with typical southwestern spices like cumin and cayenne pepper along with soy sauce and canola oil.
The steak tips marinated for about 7 hours and the flavor was very good when we grilled them.
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A simple pulled pork crockpot recipe. I used store bought bbq sauce and it was still quite good. This recipe advises taking the pork roast out of the crockpot and then shredding by hand so the fat and gristle can be thrown away. The meat is then added back to the pot with some additional seasonings.
Even those in my family who are not big crockpot fans loved this meal. The pork was not shredded into tiny pieces nor was it mushy. It was delicious - especially served on the homemade hamburger buns that I made.
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Homemade cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning!
This is the first time I've attempted cinnamon rolls. I made the rolls the day before and placed in the fridge overnight. The sweet dough came together easily but took a full 2 hours to rise - even in the same room as the woodstove.
The dough rolled out easily but because I read the directions incorrectly I ended up with a longer roll than called for. This meant I had 3 extra rolls.
I warmed my oven to 200 degrees, turned it off, and put the rolls in there to rise in the morning after I took them out of the fridge. They were good to go in about an hour.
Although the recipe calls for a 30 minute cooking time, mine were done in about 20 minutes. Oh my! Warm, gooey, cinnamony rolls for Christmas breakfast.
I used this icing to top them off : http://www.food.com/recipe/cinnamon-bun-icing-19239
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It's freezing cold outside and two of the boys have fevers. Seemed like a good day for some soup.
French Onion Soup recipes don't really vary all that much. This particular one uses Spanish onions and both chicken and beef stock.
The most difficult part was cutting all those onions. They caramelized nicely. I covered the individual bowls with toasted pieces of bread that I passed under the broiler with Swiss cheese rather than putting the bowls under the broiler.
The boys weren't excited about the soup but my husband and I both enjoyed it. I believe next time I'd use a recipe that didn't call for vinegar. I found the taste of the vinegar distracting though not overwhelming. I think I would have preferred the soup without it.
All in all, a nice dinner for a cold winter night.
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Who knew that making chicken pot pie was so easy?
While my husband and I love chicken pot pie, I've always been happy with the refrigerated Mrs. Budd's. My children have never had pot pie because there's not enough in the premade ones I buy for all 5 of us.
This recipe is very simple and used mainly ingredients that I tend to have on hand. The filling was all cooked on the stove top - including the raw chicken which was cooked in the already thickened broth. The only change I made to the recipe was to add cubed potatoes which I cooked partway in the microwave (and perhaps should have cooked just a bit longer).
After cooking on the stove top, the mixture is poured into a 9x13 pan, covered with cream biscuits (or a pie crust), and baked for only 20 minutes. From start to finish, the whole pie took less than 45 minutes to cook.
A perfect meal after a cold day out on the slopes!
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This Northern girl had never made biscuits before. I've made lots of breads and rolls but never biscuits.
From start to finish, these biscuits take only 30 minutes. Put ingredients in bowl, mix together, knead briefly, cut out and bake.
I used these biscuits as the topping for a pot pie and they were delicious. I'll have to make them again so I can taste them on their own. I was impressed at how quickly one could have a bread like product on the dinner table.
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A very nice Mexican rice dish which bakes in the oven while you cook dinner.
I made a few modifications - substituting canned plum tomatoes for fresh (because that's what I had on hand) and pickled jalapenos for fresh. I also used three different kinds of rice - medium grain, basamiti and jasimine - because I needed all three to come up with two cups of rice.
The rice is started on the stove in a Dutch oven and moved to the oven. I should have kept a closer eye on the rice once it was in the oven as it was probably done about 8 minutes earlier than I had anticipated. The rice was still very good but a little dry.
This was a bit spicier than I had anticipated but quite good. It made a huge amount of rice, however, and I would probably try to half it next time. This is a dish that is well worth trying again to see if I could perfect it.
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These are exactly the same recipe as the chicken fajitas from the same cookbook (though not listed together). Although my boys prefer beef, we didn't love these. I usually have great luck with flank steak but this was just too chewy.
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Although this recipe keeps you in the kitchen near the stove for a bit, it's a simple week night dinner. It's easy enough to prepare the ingredients as other parts of the recipe are cooking.
I used boneless pork chops as that's what I had. Pork chops and onions are browned separately before going back in the pan with spices and chicken broth. Bacon is fried in the same pan and a gravy is made from the fat left over.
In the end, the reduced sauce is poured over the chops and the bacon is sprinkled on top.
I cooked the chops for about 15 rather than 30 minutes and they were cooked perfectly. There was an abundance of sauce which was very flavorful. I'd use less chicken broth next time. The bacon was good, of course, but it didn't really seem like a necessary part of the recipe and I'd probably omit it in the future.
The chops were moist and tender and everyone enjoyed this dinner.
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This dish takes only as long to prepare as whatever you choose to serve with it. I served orecchiette. While the pasta boiled I shelled the shrimp and made the sauce.
Shrimp take only 2-3 minutes to cook and then the sauce is added. The sauce is wonderfully sweet and spicy due to the hoisin and ginger.
Delicious and super fast dinner!
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America's Test Kitchen
(, 2010)
Needing to bake something for a middle school potluck dessert using only ingredients in my pantry proved difficult. Thankfully, I had all the ingredients for these peanut butter blondies on hand.
Basically, a peanut butter bar cookie, these are made with peanut butter, butter, flour, eggs, and chocolate chips. They're spread in a 9x13 pan and baked.
Although I checked the blondies at the short end of the baking time, they would probably have been better had they been baked about 5 minutes less. Nonetheless, they have good peanut butter flavor and were super easy to make. They should go over well with the middle school crowd.
Next time, I'd make these in a smaller pan to get thicker blondies as that's my personal preference.
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America's Test Kitchen
(December, 2012)
A sugar cookie made chocolatey by the addition of Dutch processed cocoa and chewy by the addition of molasses.
Simple drop sugar cookie with just a hint of something different.
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America's Test Kitchen
(, 2010)
I love a simple coffee cake with streusel topping. This one from America's Test Kitchen seemed promising.
The dough is made in the food processor and includes sour cream just 3 Tablespoons of butter. It's then spread into a baking pan and the topping is scattered over the top. Easy enough.
The cake tastes fine but it's more spongy than a coffee cake should be. I like coffee cake that is more crumbly than spongy. This was fine but I wouldn't make it again.
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America's Test Kitchen
(, 2013)
The latest in my attempt to find the perfect brownie recipe.
This recipe uses three kinds of chocolate - unsweetened, bittersweet and cocoa. These are melted together in the microwave with butter before being added to eggs, sugar, and finally, flour.
The brownies come together quickly using only two bowls and a few utensils.
Alas, although my husband thought they were very good, and my youngest son said they were good, they are still not what I'm looking for.
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The America's Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook: A Faster, Smarter Way to Cook Everything from America's Most Trusted Test Kitchen
By America's Test Kitchen, Daniel J. Van Ackere, Carl Tremblay
America's Test Kitchen - 2012
My 17 year old son chose this recipe to cook for dinner tonight. It starts with frozen breaded chicken cutlets so is low on the actual "cooking".
Nevertheless, it's a pretty good simple dinner or lunch made with simple ingredients. We all enjoyed the sandwiches.
The best part of the cooking was when the recipe instructs the reader to use a Dutch oven to weigh down the sandwiches. My son insisted he didn't want help but had no idea what a Dutch oven was.
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This recipe is not authentic nor does it claim to be. In fact, it didn't taste like any Pad Thai I've ever been served.
That being said, it was a good noodle dish. We all enjoyed the mix of noodles, shrimp and sauce and we'd happily eat it again.
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Website: Appetite for China
Delicious but not for the faint of heart!
The recipe is very well written. The different parts of the recipe - marinade, sauce, and main ingredients - are separated on the side bar which makes it really easy to prepare each part of the recipe.
Although there are many ingredients, they come together easily. While the chicken marinates, it's easy to pull together the sauce and additional ingredients.
I doubled this recipe to feed my family of five and hesitated to double the dried red chilies called for. The recipe calls for 8-10 and I went with 10ish. Everything else in the recipe was doubled.
Thank goodness I didn't double the red chilies because this dish was HOT! It was delicious but very spicy. It was hilarious to watch the sweat break out on the brows of my family. We all loved the dish but agreed that next time we'd cut the number of peppers in half.
The chicken was very flavorful and the sauce nicely covered everything. We'll definitely eat this again with one minor change.
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The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution
By Alice Waters
Clarkson Potter - 2007
Excellent hot fudge sauce made to celebrate National Ice Cream Day. The sauce comes together in no time with only a minimal amount of heating needed. It does need a little bit of time to thicken so plan accordingly.
I used a mixture of dark chocolate, semisweet chocolate and bittersweet chocolate - all various Lindt bars I had in the pantry. Yummy!
The recipe makes a very large amount so now we need to come up with ideas for the leftovers. What a problem to have!
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Just starting to make my own salad dressings and this recipe couldn't be easier. Red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper and Italian seasoning. Comes together in under a minute.
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Light & flaky & delicious!
To the best of my knowledge, I've never had authentic biscuits so I'm not really sure what they're supposed to be like. These biscuits were super easy to make. I tried very hard not to overwork the dough though it seemed like it didn't want to stay together.
I rolled out the dough and got 9 biscuits. I brushed cream on them before baking. They came out wonderfully! So light and flaky. My middle son ate 3 and kept trying to convince me not to save any for Dad to eat later.
I could eat these every day.
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I suppose it's rather silly to review a recipe for whipped cream unless, of course, one does not know how to make it.
I substituted confectioners sugar for granulated sugar because I don't like the grit that granulated sugar can give to whipped cream. Otherwise, a few minutes in the KitchenAid and three simple ingredients makes wonderful whipped cream to put on top of our Easter sundaes.
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Baking Sheet
(Winter, 2010)
These no bake squares have a peanut butter, graham cracker, butter, confectioner's sugar base and a chocolate topping. The base is pressed into a pan and the melted chocolate is poured over the top.
Although it came together quickly, once the chocolate hard hardened, the bars were a mess when I tried to cut them to take them out of the pan. The peanut butter base was simply too crumbly and fell apart. Perhaps I didn't have enough peanut butter but I used my scale to be sure to have the correct amount.
I wouldn't make these again.
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Baking: From My Home to Yours
By Dorie Greenspan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2006
These are very good fudgy brownies. They have a nice shiny crust on the top and are soft in the middle. They're made with bittersweet and unsweetened chocolate for a rich chocolate taste. A mere 1/2 tsp. of espresso powder gives them a nice mocha flavor.
Why they're not perfect:
1. I'll have to try them without the espresso powder to see how the chocolate flavor fares on it's own.
2. They're quite thin - thinner than I'd really like. I wonder how the recipe would double.
They're quite easy to make - the entire recipe can be made in one bowl if you use the microwave to melt butter and chocolate as I do.
I would make these again.
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A nearly perfect cookie. Chewy, fudgy, chocolatey, moist ... pretty much everything you need in a cookie.
The recipe is super simple - especially if you use the microwave to melt the butter, chocolate and brown sugar together. I was a little bit nervous when I baked the first sheet of cookies as the dough seemed very loose. I needn't have worried because when I returned to set out the second sheet, the dough had firmed up nicely and the cookies in the oven had set up into nice looking cookies.
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I hope the squirrels like this cake more than my family.
I've had this simple cake bookmarked for years. I was looking for something simple to bake today and had everything necessary for this small cake.
This is basically a glorified coffee cake. Half the batter is added to the pan, a sprinkling of chopped chocolate and a cinnamon mixture is placed on top, then the remaining batter is added. Finally, a very simple chocolate frosting graces the top.
Sadly, nothing about this cake is good. I checked it at the minimum time and it was already cooked though the center looked wobbly. Shortly after coming out of the oven the center caved dramatically. Thankfully, the frosting covered this up.
Even my teenage boys, however, would not eat this cake. Perhaps it was overcooked - though I don't see how. The cinnamon taste is completely overwhelming. Besides the cinnamon mixture in the middle there is a full tablespoon in the batter for a 9x9 pan. No one finished their piece of cake. It will go out to the squirrels tomorrow.
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The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
By Ina Garten, Martha Stewart
Clarkson Potter - 1999
There's not much to say that hasn't been said.
I cut the butter and oil in half which worked out fine. I also used low fat sour cream and lite mayonnaise and the dip was plenty rich.
If you're going to be in the kitchen anyway and can watch the onions for 30 minutes, there's just no reason to use onion dip from an envelope.
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The Best Casserole Cookbook Ever
By Beatrice Ojakangas, Susie Cushner
Chronicle Books - 2008
I'm not sure what baked french toast is supposed to be like. I was surprised at how much the bread puffed up. The top of the bread was nice and firm while the middle was soft. I would have preferred a less soft middle but it firmed up a bit after it sat.
Even if I'm not sure about the texture, the dish was delicious and I'd make it again.
I halved the recipe and it made the perfect amount for three hungry people.
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Yummy! Easy scalloped potatoes with cheddar cheese and homemade white sauce. There was plenty of sauce to cover all the potatoes.
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Best Loved Hershey's Recipes
By Publications International
Publications International - 2007
Super easy chocolate mousse pie. This pie has become a Thanksgiving tradition in our family.
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No more difficult than a cake mix and twice as delicious. Comes together in minutes with common pantry ingredients. Keeps well.
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