Freakishly Good French Onion Soup - 48

Review: This actually was pretty freaking good. Easy too. My husband thought it was really good but I thought it was lacking something. Maybe my bouillon cubes are old? The first time I had Applebee's French Onion Soup, I thought I had gone to Weight Watcher's Heaven. This soup wasn't that good but that's what I was comparing to. But this soup is soooooo easy to make, why not try it? I've attached a link from HG's website!

Score: 4.75/5
Prepared: 10/17/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=807

Smokin' Salmon Cream Cheese Roll-up - p16

Review: I really almost got sick eating this. In HG's defense, I don't do fish. But cold, seemingly raw salmon? Blech. Really, it was a consistency thing because I couldn't taste the salmon. Most of the flavor was contributed by the red onion (thank goodness for red onion). The other flavors were tortilla and saltiness. But the last bite was the worst. I should've just stopped and saved myself the extra 1 point. It was all salmon. I tried a similar recipe in Hawaii but the salmon and tomato were chopped up and mixed into the cream cheese. Still didn't like it but I think it would be an improvement.

Score: 0/5 (sorry)
Prepared: 10/18/09

Eggs Bene-chick - p26

Review: I've never made Eggs Benedict. After watching the movie Julie/Julia, I was a little hesitant. Poaching eggs looked hard. But HG gave me very good instructions and it was very easy. So, I've also never HAD eggs benedict before so I have no idea how this compares to the real thing. I thought it was pretty tasty.

I can't say I could taste the lemon in the hollandaise sauce but it wasn't too bad. I think some experience poaching eggs will only improve this recipe. Could be good for a Sat or Sun breakfast but definitely takes too long for a quick weekday breakfast.

Score: 4/5
Prepared: 10/17/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=1082

Yum Yum Brownie Muffins (vegetarian) - p180

Review: I didn't have a great photo of these so I thought I'd share this one. I mean, they have to be good for a 4 year old to smother her face in it, right? I definitely think that these improved with age. The recipe is SUPER simple - perhaps the easiest of all HG recipes. Even easier than the box recipe for cupcakes! And I think everyone liked them. It calls for pumpkin but you can't even taste the pumpkin. Amazing.

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 10/11/09

Bestest Baked Apples (vegetarian) - p202

Review: These apples were REALLY good. Everyone who tried them gobbled them up! I think the only complaint that I had was that the recipe calls for the apples to be cored, but not peeled. Once they were cooked, the skins didn't cook the same way, so eating them together was weird. I took all the skins off and it was much better! They were really sweet even though you use diet soda and only a TINY bit of splenda. I'd love to try these again with some vanilla icecream!

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 10/11/09

Portabello Skinny Skins - p160

Review: I don't think I had had portabello mushrooms before so I was a little hesitant of how these would turn out but they were great! I really liked the turkey bacon on these (as opposed to bacon bits on the potato skins-blech!). The scallions also added a lot of flavor. These caps were full of flavor!

Score: 4/5
Prepared: 10/08/09

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cherry Muffins (vegetarian) - p177

Review: These muffins did not get rave reviews from anyone who tried them. I felt like they had a lot of potential and I enjoyed them but I have also gotten used to having Fiber One in everything. I decided to take these muffins to Girls' Night. I used No Pudge Cupcake mix which I have only heard good reviews of - even from my picky husband. The girls automatically told me the chocolate tasted weird and asked me if I put nuts in it because there were crunchy things in it.

Upon further review, I agreed that the Fiber One (crunchy part) was a little strange. However, I thought the flavor was great - the cherry pie filling and No Pudge make a great mix. I was left with the majority of a can of cherry pie filling to find a use for which is kind of disappointing. No other recipes in the book use it but there are recipes that call for fresh cherries. Guess we'll see what I come up with.

Score: 4/5
Prepared: 10/15/09