lutzflcat

Scaled this recipe in half, and it turned out pretty well. I had some fresh jalapeño and chopped red onion in the fridge, so I added that. It didn’t look too appetizing coming out of the oven. I’d used up my salsa, so I added some chopped fresh tomato and cilantro which gave it a bit of eye appeal. I felt a little more ground beef would have made it more of a one dish meal, but it certainly was quick-and-easy to make, a good choice for a weeknight dinner. The frozen tater tots cooked up nice and crunchy. I used cheddar, but it was habanero cheddar, which kicked up the flavor and heat. Thanks for sharing.

I wouldn’t change a thing, it’s that good. That juicy, not-overly-sweet layer of apples in the center is exceptional, and the cake is very moist. For sure, this isn’t a coffee cake that you’ll have in the oven in 10 minutes, but it’s not difficult and worth your effort. I can’t say how other fruits will work, but will say emphatically that apples DO work! BTW, when I started to clean up, I saw the nuts sitting on the counter. I failed to add them, still good without them, but I would think even better with them. Out of the oven at 50 minutes, perfectly baked.

I added 3 oz cake flour to the yellow cake mix to reach the 18.25 ounces required, sub’d Egg Beaters for the eggs, and used a small box of sugar free vanilla pudding. I threw in a handful of Craisins which added another layer of flavor. I only have one 8x4-inch dish, so I used a bundt pan which came out of the 350ºF oven at 47 minutes. Baked up well and breaks down well nutritionally. Not what I’d call a WOW cake, but it was good.

I used bone-in, skin on thighs, sliced the garlic rather than crushing, and used chicken broth for a delicious, quick-and-easy Saturday evening meal. The chicken browned up beautifully, it was juicy, and the sauce very tasty. I’ll probably double the sauce next time to have enough to drizzle over the chile mango rice. Do keep your eyes on the sauce, as it thickens quickly. Checked meat temp with a thermometer, and the timing was spot on. Enjoyed this, and it will be made again.

I made it exactly as written, tasted, and had to do some tweaking. After 10 minutes, the macaroni had started to stick to the pan. II’ll start checking on doneness at 7 minutes if I make again. I added quite a bit of chicken broth to improve consistency and threw in a handful of frozen peas and carrots to give it a pop of color. Definitely needs another 2-3 ounces ground beef, as well as more seasoning. I added more garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper and put some sriracha on the table. After the cheese was melted, it was “gummy,” so more chicken broth and sour cream, and a garnish of some parsley. I’ve never had Hamburger Helper, so I don’t know if this recipe measures up. As written, I’d give this 3 stars, but with tweaking, it ended up 5 stars, so a 4 star rating from me. I know I made changes, but they were necessary to salvage the dinner. It really is an easy recipe, and I like the one-pot cleanup. Finally, this is 5-6 servings for us, not 4, and it is a budget-friendly comfort food meal. Apologies for the long review, but bottom line, I think it’s worth your effort to adapt to your personal taste, if necessary.

This has a subtle orange flavor, and the poultry seasoning brings interesting flavor to rice. The confusing thing is that at the end of the recipe description at the top it says to “Stir in raisins plumped in sherry and segments of mandarin oranges prior to serving.” But they’re not listed in the ingredients where they should be along with amounts? I made this without the raisins or mandarins, and it was pretty good, although I could definitely see the sherry-raisins bringing another tasty layer of flavor. We eat a lot of rice, and I’ll make this one again (with some sherry-raisins).