Let's Eat- Recipe Reviews

Here are my reviews for the recipes I made for this month's challenge:

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Chocolate Pie

I followed THIS recipe almost exactly. The only thing I changed was that I bought a graham cracker crust and didn't make one myself. Because of this I also did not add the chocolate to the crust either, so my Triple Chocolate Pie was only a Double Chocolate Pie- oh well!

My review is probably not very fair. I am not a pumpkin pie fan!! I am a huge chocolate fan, so I thought this would sit better with me, but it was still very pumpkin-ish. (Duh! It has a whole can of pumpkin filling, what was I expecting?) My dad likes pumpkin pie and he said it was a good recipe, so take that for what its worth! The best thing about this pie was that it was very pretty- the picture does not do it justice! I just wish my mouth liked it as much as my eyes did!

Apple Walnut Salad
(recipe found HERE)
This would have been a great salad, had I not ruined it!!!! I was in such a rush to get it on the table for Sunday dinner at my parents house that I literally made it in 5 minutes- apples chopped, lettuce washed, etc.
First off, I had no time to bake the walnuts, so those were a tad bitter. (My fault) But the biggest mistake was when I was whipping up the vinegarette dressing- I thought I finished, so I poured it all over the salad only to find it barely covered half the lettuce. So I mixed up another batch and since the lettuce looked wet, I called it good. My first bite almost burned my nose!!! It had so much vinegar in it!!! I ended up grabbing some bottled Honey Mustard Dressing and offering that to my family as I appologized for the awfulness in the salad bowl.

... and then I realized while mixing the dressing, I forgot to add the olive oil!!!! So this was literally a half cup of vinegar and dijon mustard with a pinch or two of sugar! I bet this recipe would be fantastic had I followed the directions! Oops! I will try it again some other time...

Banana Sour Cream Cake
(recipe found HERE)
How un-appetizing does that look?!?!
Let me tell you, while putting it together, I was tempted to throw it right in the trash because of the sad sight! But I am soooo glad I didn't because this was a fantastic recipe!!!
I followed the directions to the T and it tasted fabulous!
Next time I will make it in 2 round cake pans rather than stacking 1/2 of a 13x9 on top of the other half- mine was just leanig too bad and the frosting kept sliding down the side and the walnuts wouldn't stay put so I put them on top too... it looked like a disaster, but the recipe is a good one. I will try this one again soon and post about it- it will look better then, I promise!!!

BBQ Chicken Salad

Add this salad to your "Must Make" recipe list! I followed THIS recipe almost exactly, except I took a shortcut here and there.Here are the changes I made:

1. I used 1 can of corn instead of corn on the cob because its what I had on hand. Fresh corn would probably have a better crunch, but the canned corn was just fine.

2. I did not add jicama- I have never had it and don't even know where to get it.

3. I used cheddar cheese instead of Jack Cheese because its what I had on hand.

4. I used precooked chicken!!! I forgot to defrost the chicken breasts, but I had some of the Foster Farms chicken breast strips in my fridge, so I just chopped them into cubes and brushed them with BBQ sauce. Talk about easy!! That omitted 1/2 of the prep time and 3 ingredients- salt, pepper and oil.

Can I just say I loved the dressing on this, and it was so EASY! All you do is mix bottled ranch (which I am not a huge fan of) with some lime juice!!!

This salad was very filling, but I also served it alongside some cornbread muffins with butter and honey. All together, this meal was FANTASTIC!!!

Maple-Walnut Chicken

I didn't make too many changes to the original recipe, except that I didn't even entertain the thought of spinach as a side! (Ew!) Instead I served corn and green beans, much better!

I thought the flavor of the chicken was good, but I would probably make more sauce because I like a really moist chicken and wish there was more sauce to drown it in. I also would probably not add the walnuts next time- I like nuts an a little extra crunch, but I thought for this meal it didn't add any value and just cost more.