BethNH's Reviews
265 recipes reviewed. Showing 1 to 50Sort by: Book Title 
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Weight Watchers One Pot Cookbook
By Weight Watchers
Wiley - 2011
Every boy in my family gave this recipe 5 stars and were looking for more at the end of the meal.
This is a very simple recipe which uses the same glaze for both the roast and the green beans. The glaze is nice and spicy made with plenty of grated ginger, hoisin sauce, sesame oil and chili-garlic sauce.
The pork and green beans roast in the same pan in the oven for about 25 minutes. Served with a side of rice this makes a complete meal in about 30 minutes.
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The Vegetarian Epicure, Book Two
By Anna Thomas
Knopf - 1978
With 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream, 1/2 cup of butter and 1 1/2 cups of parmesan cheese, this dish should have been much better. For some reason, this sauce turned gritty on me and clung to the pasta in a not so attractive manner.
We love Alfredo but won't make this particular recipe again. The recipe I usually use has no additional butter in it (making in lower in fat) and we like it much better.
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Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook
By Isa Chandra Moskowitz, Terry Hope Romero
Da Capo Press - 2007
This is the first time I've ever made homemade baked beans.
I doubled the recipe because I'm bringing it to a large gathering. I followed the directions and cooked the onions and garlic on the stove and started the sauce there as well. I then added the sauce to the beans in a crockpot.
I cooked the beans in the crockpot on low for 6 hours before turning it down to warm. All the flavors came together perfectly - they're not too sweet nor do they taste of molasses. They're just right.
This recipe adapts perfectly to the crockpot and I'd recommend cooking them this way during the summer to avoid turning on the oven. They make the house smell wonderful.
EDIT: I have since made these in the crockpot again. This time I did not precook the onions and garlic on the stove - just tossed them raw into the crockpot - and the beans were still just as good.
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I used canned beans and my food processor and got a nice creamy hummus.
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The Ultimate Muffin Book: More Than 600 Recipes for Sweet and Savory Muffins
By Bruce Weinstein, Mark Scarbrough
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2004
A 2 hour delay due to snow meant I had time to bake muffins for my son before he headed off to school. I took a quick look through this new to me book and settled on this recipe because my son LOVES coffee and I had all the necessary ingredients. Flavored with instant espresso powder these muffins are a nice tan color and have great coffee flavor. They are wonderful muffins that I'll be sure to make again.
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Top Secret Restaurant Recipes
By Todd Wilbur
GuildAmerica Books - 1997
A very nice fettucini alfredo! Alfredo is a simple recipe that I've managed to mess up more than once.
The sauce didn't thicken quite as much as I would have liked but I probably could have let it simmer longer. I also added twice as much parmesan cheese because the amount called for seemed skimpy. In the end, however it had a very nice flavor with no grit (which has been my problem in the past).
Served over a pound of linguine, this served our family of five nicely. The recipe claims that this serves 2 to 3 as an entree which would be WAY too much food.
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Still Life with Menu Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 2004
Very simple, very wonderful recipe!
Essentially a green bean stir fry with garlic and red pepper flakes. Everyone in my family loved them and we'll eat green beans this way again very soon.
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Still Life with Menu Cookbook
By Mollie Katzen
Ten Speed Press - 1988
Very simple, very wonderful recipe!
Essentially a green bean stir fry with garlic and red pepper flakes. Everyone in my family loved them and we'll eat green beans this way again very soon.
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I may have to bake these again to give a fair rating.
The cookies have minimal ingredients and are leavened by only one egg. I added a few drops of lemon oil for added lemon flavor. I expected flat "snap" cookies but the cookies I got were small mounds with crystallized sugar surrounding them.
I used a small cookie scoop to measure them out but the cookies were hit or miss in size. Some just completely melted into piles of brown sugary goo.
The cookies that didn't dissolve (most) are quite good. Perfect for when you want a fruity cookie.
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I made these for someone whose favorite flavors are chocolate and ginger. Sadly, these cookies don't taste strongly of either flavor. I suppose that was to be expected as there is only 1 oz of unsweetened chocolate in the batter but I was hoping for more.
Nonetheless, the cookies do have a nice flavor and I liked them. I just don't think they live up to their name.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
These did not end my search for the perfect brownie. I'm not ashamed to admit I'm looking for brownies with that nice shiny top that crackles and a fudgy interior - basically brownies just like those from a box.
These brownies did not satisfy. They are much too thin - about 3/4 inch. They are not nearly chocolatey enough. They just don't have the right taste.
They are decent tasting but they don't end my search and they're not even close to the best cocoa brownies I've ever made.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
Mother's Day breakfast (a day early) made by my 14 year old son.
I found this version of baked french toast better than others we've tried. The toasting of the bread meant that there were nice crisp edges and a custardy under layer. Most of the work can be done the night before which makes breakfast come together very quickly the next morning. In the time it takes to bake the french toast, one can fry up an entire pound of bacon.
Served with a side of crispy bacon, this was a wonderful Mother's Day breakfast.
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Website: Smitten Kitchen
My middle son won a trail race this week and was awarded a large bag of kale as a prize. Not knowing what to do with kale, I turned to the one recipe I had heard about over and over on the internet - kale chips.
They came out thin, crisp and salty and ... absolutely disgusting. My mother and I both agreed these are inedible. Ugh! Nasty!
My son, however, who won the kale (seriously, who wins kale???) rather likes the kale chips and my youngest son, who likes very little, thought the kale chips weren't bad at all.
I just hope that if he wins the race next week that something else is ripe from the garden.
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Website: Simply Scratch
This is a simple but delicious marinade which we used on some lovely turkey tenderloins.
The marinade is made in a blender or small food processor and includes garlic, ginger, soy sauce, shallots and oil. After a 30 minute marinade the tenderloins were placed on the grill.
The turkey was truly moist and very flavorful. We all loved it and I would use it again for chicken or maybe even pork.
All that being said, DO NOT go to this blog unless you enjoy poor spelling, atrocious grammar, a bizarre attraction and misuse of the semi-colon, and ridiculous cutesy language. I have printed out this particular recipe so I never have to return again.
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Website: Simply Recipes
Delicious! A wonderful marinade made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, garlic and ginger. The kebabs had great flavor!
We'll use this marinade for our kebabs from now on.
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Website: Simply Recipes
Just like the recipe says - super easy, super moist. These are made with common pantry ingredients and require no eggs and no butter (except that used in the frosting). It uses only two bowls and no mixer. The cupcakes are leavened with baking soda and vinegar.
Wonderful moist cupcakes that can be pulled together - including baking time - in under 30 minutes.
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The Silver Palate Cookbook
By Julee Rosso, Sheila Lukins, Michael McLaughlin
Workman Publishing Company - 1982
I was happy to read the reviews before mine. I cut the oil in half as was suggested but kept the rest of the ingredients the same. This has a nice tang to it which works perfectly for the pasta salad it was intended for.
I'm quite happy to add another salad dressing to the repertoire.
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Website: Recipe Girl
When asked what he wanted for his birthday cake, my husband quickly responded with Snickers Pie. Apparently he had this at our neighbor's Christmas Eve party and had been planning to request it for his birthday.
I did a quick Google search and then called my neighbor to confirm this was the same recipe that my husband had eaten. I must confess that this is not something I would have normally made. It is basically a mixture of peanut butter, confectioners sugar, Cool Whip and chopped up snickers bars poured into an Oreo cookie shell.
This may have been the first time in my life I've ever bought Cool Whip. The recipe was very easy to make. I let it sit in the fridge over night to cool. I wish that the filling had hardened some but I guess refrigerated Cool Whip stays pretty soft. Nevertheless, it cut easily.
The boys all LOVED the pie - including the birthday boy. I found it cloyingly sweet and didn't care for the too mushy texture. I feel the need to give it 4 stars as everyone but me seems to love this darn pie. In fact, the recipe makes enough for 2 pies so we have plenty for tomorrow as well. I don't need another piece.
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Rachael Ray's Look + Cook
By Rachael Ray
Clarkson Potter - 2010
Delicious make at home take out food! Essentially a stir fry with chicken, red peppers and onions. The sauce is the star here and was very fragrant with lots of flavor.
The sauce didn't thicken on it's own so I added some cornstarch to help things along. The sauce wasn't quite as spicy as we would have liked - next time I'd add an extra tablespoon of hot sauce.
We'll definitely eat this again.
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Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats--A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners (A 30-Minute Meal Cookbook)
By Rachael Ray
Clarkson Potter - 2005
This is the recipe that taught me to cook mac and cheese. It's very easy and my family loves it.
I leave out the broccoli, add breadcrumbs and put it in a 350 oven for about 20 minutes.
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My 18 yo son asked if he could cook dinner and asked for suggestions. As he's not much of a cook, I pulled some easy cookbooks off the shelf. He chose this recipe despite it containing ingredients he had never eaten before.
Although he needed a little help - basically convincing him to get ingredients together before he started cooking - he was able to pull of this super simple recipe in a short amount of time.
The result was a tasty noodle bowl we all enjoyed and a proud son.
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My 18 year old son picked out this recipe to cook. It's basically ground chicken with spices rolled up in phyllo dough and baked.
We found using the phyllo dough very fiddly and, in the end, it didn't hold up very well to the filling. More layers of phyllo were definitely required. The taste was quite good but too much bother.
We made it again a couple of weeks later using a can of Pillsbury pizza dough. We divided the dough in half and divided the mixture between them. This made for a super simple meal which we all enjoyed even more.
It's certainly not fine dining but it was surprisingly tasty and we all enjoyed it.
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Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals 2
By Rachael Ray
Lake Isle Press - 2003
Having never had authentic Italian Wedding Soup, I find this 30 minute version to be quite good. My husband and I love the little meatballs and the spinach makes it feel like it's healthy. With some good bread, this is a complete meal.
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The Quick Recipe (The Best Recipe Series)
By Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine
Cook's Illustrated - 2003
A super quick recipe that uses only common household panty ingredients. I substituted sour milk for buttermilk and added a dollop of molasses to the brown sugar to substitute for dark brown sugar.
The batter is looser than most other muffins and the muffins don't rise quite as high but they are delicious and have a nice spicy taste that reminds me of fall.
These were baked as muffin tops and mini muffins and made 12 muffin tops and 11 mini muffins.
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I love the idea of coffee cakes bakes as muffins. Almost all of the work is done in a food processor and the batter comes together quickly.
I followed the recipe and added two tablespoons of batter to each muffin cup and then put on the streusel and finally added more batter. The only problem was that I ran out of batter to add to the top of the last three muffins.
The muffins were delicious - even the ones without the added batter on the top. Next time I'd add less batter to the first layer so as not to run out for the the top layer. I loved the taste of the struesel in the middle of the muffins - it stayed nice and moist.
I'd definitely make these again.
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This is an exceedingly simple recipe for refried beans.
Canned beans are pureed in the food processor. They are then added to a pan in which diced slab bacon has been rendered. In addition to the bacon there are onions, garlic and spices. The beans thickened in the pan while the rest of dinner was cooked.
The beans had a very pronounced bacon flavor and, while they were quite good, I was the only person in the family who liked them. It would have been good to know ahead of time that no one cares for refried beans.
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The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl
By Ree Drummond
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2009
Oh. My. Bob. These muffins are totally delicious.
I've been wanting to make these for years - ever since I tasted them on Cape Cod about 17 years ago. I don't know why I waited so long.
They are very easy to make and are sinfully good. They're quite terrible for you but they're supposed to be a treat. Next time, I'd ignore Ree's advice to really soak the muffins in the butter. They're better with just a tad less butter on the outside before the rolling in cinnamon sugar.
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I'll have to try this again before I'm certain of the rating. This dough just seemed too loose and oily to me. It rose nicely but it was still too oily.
It was able to be rolled out easily and made a nice calzone dough but I prefer a dough that doesn't have quite as much oil.
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The filling for these calzones is delicious. A combination of ground beef, sausage, onion, ricotta, mozzarella and monterey jack cheese is so good I couldn't stop eating it as I was filling the calzones. There is more filling than is needed which would taste good scrambled with some eggs for another meal.
The calzones themselves were also quite good. The filling leaked out of about half but I believe that was a problem with the dough being rolled out too thin in spots. The onion is added to the pan at the same time as the beef and sausage and my son complained that the onion tasted raw. Next time I'd cook the onion by itself for a bit before adding the meat.
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The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Dinnertime: Comfort Classics, Freezer Food, 16-Minute Meals, and Other Delicious Ways to Solve Supper!
By Ree Drummond
William Morrow Cookbooks - 2015
This was an excellent week night meal. The flavors are delicious and there was plenty of sauce to serve over rice.
I added some snow peas toward the end to make it a more balanced meal. I'd add a bit more sriracha next time to make it just a bit more spicy.
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These were the best chicken enchiladas I've ever made. They were a little too much work for a weeknight meal but were perfect for a Saturday night dinner.
My youngest didn't care for them but I think it was a combination of the texture of the corn tortillas (I'd make them with flour ones next time) and the green enchilada sauce (I'd use red next time).
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Oh. My. Bob. These muffins are totally delicious.
I've been wanting to make these for years - ever since I tasted them on Cape Cod about 17 years ago. I don't know why I waited so long.
They are very easy to make and are sinfully good. They're quite terrible for you but they're supposed to be a treat. Next time, I'd ignore Ree's advice to really soak the muffins in the butter. They're better with just a tad less butter on the outside before the rolling in cinnamon sugar.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
YUM!
These are simply delicious and very easy to make. I got some vinyl gloves to protect my hands and was glad I did. I stuffed half the jalapenos with cheddar and half with cream cheese. Both were equally good.
I brought the leftovers to my neighbors and they loved them as much as we did. They're equally good hot or room temperature (we don't have any left to test them cold).
I will definitely make these again.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
This was very good. I halved the recipe but forgot to halve the amount of chipotles so it was pretty darn spicy. I think we'd like it better just a tad less hot. I look forward to trying it again.
Edit: I made this a second time with the correct proportion of ingredients and it was delicious. Everyone loved it.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
This is the second broccoli cheese soup I've tried this year. While this one was definitely better than the last, I can't say it was very good.
I love the broccoli cheddar soup I get at Panera Bread and I've been trying to replicate it. This soup was good but it definitely needed something in the spice department. After using the immersion blender to make the soup smooth, it had a somewhat gritty texture.
My husband and I enjoyed the soup but the boys weren't terribly fond of it.
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Website: Pioneer Woman Cooks
Although I've made plenty of pasta salads in my life, I do not have a macaroni in my repertoire. With only a half hour to prepare a macaroni salad, I found this one on the Pioneer Woman's website.
The dressing is made with mayo, vinegar, pickle juice and a bit of milk. In addition to the macaroni, I added chopped pickles, onions, an egg and cucumber because it's what I had available.
The salad was very good without overwhelming mayo or vinegar flavor as is common in store bought macaroni salad. I'd make it again when I had a few more veggies to add but we were quite happy with it as is.
I'm quite sure this is not the BEST EVER macaroni salad but it was good enough for a family meal served with grilled hot dogs.
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Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking
By Editor
Viking - 1993
Nice looking vanilla bundt cake studded with mini chocolate chips.
Delicious cake made with butter, cream cheese, vanilla and mini chocolate chips. The batter is quite thick and needs to be scooped into the pan.
I was sure to grease the pan thoroughly and the cake popped right out after cooling for about 20 minutes. This makes a great snack cake as it requires no icing.
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I couldn't really tell you whether or not this is the perfect apple pie but I can tell you that it's awfully good. This is the first recipe for apple pie I ever tried and I've been making it for years. It has just the right amount of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for our tastes.
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This is a nice, quick coffee cake. It's different from many quick coffee cakes as it has no streusel on the top or mixed in. Instead, holes are poked throughout the cake after it comes out of the oven. Melted butter is then brushed on and cinnamon sugar is sprinkled on top.
It tastes rather like a buttermilk donut or muffin but is super quick to make. It can be eaten within 15 minutes of coming out of the oven.
The cake comes together very quickly as all of the ingredients are added to one bowl before being mixed briefly and poured into a 9 inch square pan.
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Perfect fall dessert!
This pound cake is baked in a bundt pan. It is very rich - as all pound cakes are - and wonderfully moist but not at all heavy. The pumpkin flavor and spices are subtle but noticeable which made the cake a hit with the pumpkin fans and non-fans in my family.
This was so easy to make that I'll be sure to make it again.
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Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie
By Ken Haedrich
Harvard Common Press - 2004
Perfect way to celebrate Pi Day!
I had everything I needed to make this pie in my pantry - even coconut extract! The custard comes together in minutes. In fact, just as I was beginning to wonder if it would thicken at all, it became thick and creamy in seconds.
The pie was creamy but firm. It was topped with whipped cream (to which I also added a splash of coconut extract) and shredded coconut.
Although the pie takes a while to cool, it comes together easily and quickly.
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I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I've never made pie crust before. Generally, I use those very convenient Pillsbury pie crusts.
I followed the stand mixer directions for this crust and the dough came together easily. As I was rolling it out, it seemed a bit thick to me but it was difficult to get much thinner and it was the right size for the pie pan.
I prebaked this crust for use in a custard pie and it baked nicely with no bubbles on the sides. Served straight from the fridge with the coconut cream, it was rather tough. It had good flavor but it was rather difficult to cut with a fork.
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This is a super simple recipe that comes together quickly in a food processor. After baking the texture is quite nice with a nice chew. It is not overly sweet like some nut pies.
We thought that it would be improved by some chocolate and will have more pie tonight with Alice Water's chocolate sauce.
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Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers
By Pam Anderson, Judd Pilossof
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt - 2010
Looking for a light weight treat to mail to my son in college, I stumbled across this recipe.
They're made chocolatey with the addition of both cocoa and mini chocolate chips as well as a topping of the mini chips. This recipe called for marshmallow cream instead of marshmallows.
They came together easily, cooled quickly and are on their way to New York.
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The Pasta Revolution
By Editors at America's Test Kitchen, Editors at America's Test Kitchen
Boston Common Press - 2012
We eat a lot of pasta during track and cross country season and we really like Alfredo.
This particular recipe uses much less butter than the previous recipe I've used (2 Tbl vs. 8). Although the sauce didn't seem like it had reduced enough, once I added the pasta it clung right to it and thickened up.
This is our new Alfredo recipe.
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My son went through this cookbook last night to choose a new pasta recipe for a pre-meet dinner. I turned down the first recipe that involved American cheese and pickles. And, while this recipe wouldn't have jumped out at me, I didn't want to turn him down twice.
This is a super simple weeknight meal that is all cooked in one pan. It's basically hamburger and tomato sauce with tex-mex spices and pasta. It's later put in the oven to melt the cheese on top.
Everyone ate big helpings and it was surprisingly good for such low effort.
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Old Fashioned Country Cookies (Gooseberry Patch)
By Gooseberry Patch
Gooseberry Patch - 1994
One of my favorite cookies to bring to a cookie swap. These are basically thumbprint poppy seed cookies. The thumbprint is filled with melted chocolate.
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Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast
By Nigella Lawson
Hyperion - 2007
My middle school aged son chose Hokey Pokey to make for a school project as a food that comes from New Zealand. The recipe he found online included Lyle's Golden Syrup. It took me a while to find this ingredient locally but we were able to track it down.
When I looked at the recipe he had printed it had no directions - just ingredients. I found this Nigella recipe but it used dark corn syrup instead of golden syrup. There was no way we weren't going to use the golden syrup that we worked so hard to obtain so we substituted the golden syrup for the dark corn syrup.
The resulting candy was not very honey combish. It was more like peanut brittle without the peanuts. Nonetheless, my son is happy with it and plans to bring it to school to share with his classmates.
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This was super easy to make but none of us enjoyed the soggy texture.
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More Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: 200 Brand-New, Budget-Friendly, Slow-Cooker Recipes
By Stephanie O'Dea
Hyperion - 2010
Super simple recipe that would be great to throw in before work. We decided to have this over rice instead of sandwiches and everyone said they'd eat it again. It's hard to beat a two ingredient dinner on a night when everyone gets home late from sports practices.
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