PB'n Chocolate Bread Pudding Bonanza (vegetarian) - p174

Review: For me, there was something weird about this recipe. I love bread pudding - but maybe I don't like it with peanut butter and chocolate? My husband LOVED this recipe. Gave it a 5/5 for HG. He's even considering adding peanut butter and chocolate to his bread pudding recipe. Maybe that's a good thing so I won't eat that fatty recipe!

Score: 3/5
Prepared: 10/24/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/thursdaypreview.php?newsletterid=948

Crazy-creamy Crab-stuffed Mushrooms - p162

Review: These little 'shrooms were pretty good. The crab isn't very strong and the whole experience is moist and flavorful! There's SOMETHING missing but I can't quite place it. I opted for white mushrooms instead of brown and there's a good handful of ingredients, but not too bad. My husband also liked them but not as much as the fatty ones I've made in the past with pesto and cream cheese. Although these have cream cheese, his complaint was that they weren't "creamy enough." I would definitely make these again.

Score: 4.5/5
Prepared: 10/23/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/girls/biteoutdetails.php?isid=1049

Cookie-rific Ice Cream Freeze (vegetarian) - p239

Review: This shake was pretty good. I used chocolate graham crackers instead of Oreo Thin Crisps (suggested in cookbook). I only tried the initial sip and then handed it off to my husband. Not because it has coffee but because he's kind of become my shake man. Since he drank the whole thing, he felt that it was too gritty and not creamy enough so all the gritty stuff fell to the bottom. It had a tiny amount of vanilla ice cream but was not an oreo blizzard by any stretch of the imagination.

Score: 3/5
Prepared: 10/22/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/chew/chewdetails.php?isid=781

Rockin Restaurant Spinach Dip (vegetarian) - p154

Review: I had high hopes for this spinach dip (meanwhile, my husband did not). In the end, I think it just tasted like spinach. And it wasn't a very easy recipe. There were a lot of ingredients that had to measured out. I also got to search for shallots for this recipe (found them at Whole Foods, FYI). I don't think I'd go through this all over again just to eat something that tastes like spinach. Salt and pepper helped but just not enough for me.

Score: 2/5
Prepared: 10/22/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/week/weeklydetails.php?isid=864

Wayne's Pumpkin Smash (vegetarian) - p273

Review: This recipe wasn't too bad. But it wasn't great either. I think it tasted a little too pumpkiny or almost sweet-potato-ish. I tried it with some vanilla icecream and it was ok but it was MUCH better with some reddiwhip. Of course, that's how I'm used to eating pumpkin pie, too. The recipe was REALLY easy to make - only 4 ingredients thrown together. My husband complained that his favorite part of pumpkin pie is the crust. Not sure if this qualifies as a crustless pumpkin pie but it tasted like one.

Score: 2/5
Prepared: 10/22/09

http://www.hungry-girl.com/askhg/askhgdetails.php?isid=1885

7-Layer Burrito Blitz (vegetarian) - p116

Review: This dish was pretty impressive. I keep knocking all these overly simple recipes but at the same time, they all have some new twist to them that I wouldn't have considered. This one for instance, has SO many toppings, I couldn't close it. Normally, I would just make TWO medium burritos but this one forced me to shove everything on one and then when half of it fell out, I ate it with a fork, rather than adding points with another tortilla. Not sure if I could force myself to do this any other time but the idea was great!

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 11/2/09

Fiesta Tropical Fruit Salsa (vegetarian) - p206

Review: OMG was this salsa good! I mean, REALLY good. I was really surprised. I had it with some baked cinnamon/sugar pita chips and yummy! Not too hard to make either - 7 ingredients I threw in the food processor and BAM - I got yummy fruit salsa. There's no recommendations with what to eat it with, but I don't think it was intended for pita chips (too high in points). She does recommend putting it on fish or chicken and that sounds pretty good if I was cooking for just me. I'll have to figure out how to work this into rotation!

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 10/29/09