Notes about Recipes in this book

• Greek-style lemon, rice & chicken soup (Avgolemono)

  • mirage on April 04, 2022

    Made with skinny little egg noodles, instead of rice, as advised by a Greek friend.

  • tarae1204 on November 05, 2021

    This is a soup I know I like, but hadn’t made in years. I thought I’d try this version. It came together easily and tasted fine. I think the sautéed chicken breasts came out perhaps a little too seared and unevenly cooked. The chicken was covered in oil and garlic, and the garlic charred from the extended time over medium high heat.

  • mdagl on December 17, 2022

    We are always on the hunt for a solid avgolemono recipe and were really satisfied with this version. We've made it twice and it's at the top of the list so far for this soup.

• Hot & sour egg-"flick" soup

  • southerncooker on November 12, 2021

    Delicious. Daughter and I both agreed it tasted like the hot and sour soup we've had in a Chinese restaurant.

  • Hansgee on March 11, 2022

    Agreed that this is delicious. My partner requests it often. Not too complicated. May replace baby corn with kernels next time, as I’m not a huge fan, but that’s about it.

• A really great salad with lots of options

  • southerncooker on November 09, 2021

    Daughter requested this for her birthday. I used pecans, pear, garlic & fine herb goat cheese, and some living lettuce for options. Daughter and I loved this. The nuts were so good on this.

  • averythingcooks on January 06, 2022

    I came here for the creamy balsamic dressing and although I loved it as written, T tasted it and felt it was "a bit.....aggressive?" So I added a quick squirt of honey and a spoonful of plain yogurt and we both really enjoyed it over a simple salad of green leaf lettuce with sliced red peppers & red onions.

  • anya_sf on December 19, 2021

    Fruit, nuts, and cheese are a classic, winning salad combination. This time I used pistachios (just roasted and salted, not the sweet-spicy recipe given here - too lazy), mandarin oranges, and Boursin with escarole and red leaf lettuce. The Balsamic dressing was very good (half recipe was plenty).

• Turkey, mushroom & pepperoncini Tater Tot hot dish

  • southerncooker on November 23, 2021

    This is delicious. The tater tots crisp up so nicely. I made a half recipe. I used ground beef instead of turkey.

  • tarae1204 on November 17, 2021

    I wish I’d taken a photo of this because it was lovely out of the oven, BUT it also smelled amazing and we couldn’t wait to eat it. The recipe worked well as written - just keep an eye as you brown the onions. I used a more upscale brand of tater tots to avoid that “cafeteria” flavor and grease factor, and was glad I did. It made a difference.

  • anya_sf on January 16, 2022

    My family loved this and 3 of us finished most of it for dinner. I was skeptical about the pepperoncini (can't imagine a Minnesotan using those), and removed the seeds so they wouldn't be too spicy, but I'm glad I used them as they added some nice acidity. Cream of celery soup was good here, but any "cream of" condensed soup would work. I baked this in a 9"x13" pan for maximum tater tot coverage; the filling only came halfway up the sides, and I'd added some frozen peas to the mixture, so next time I may add even more vegetables.

• Sourdough Jack Hamburger Helper

  • southerncooker on November 19, 2021

    While this was good I've had other homemade hamburger helpers I liked better. I made a half recipe. I used chicken bacon.

  • averythingcooks on December 07, 2022

    This is a perfect example of how EYB can prevent mediocre results.....I read the member comments (always!) and so I used a 50:50 mix of ground beef & spicy sausage, cut down on the bacon and seasoned the pan with Montreal steak spice plus a little seasoning salt. I added sweet peppers to the aromatics and some parmesan to the bread crumb topping. I planned to make 1/2 then decided to go down to 1/3 and still it made enough for 2 dinners and 3 lunches. We both really liked the results.

  • anya_sf on February 02, 2022

    I made 2/3 recipe using 8 oz cavatappi pasta, assuming 3 cups elbow macaroni would be 12 oz. This was good and my family happily ate it, but I did think the seasoning was a little lacking. Maybe some paprika or seasoned salt would boost the flavor.

  • Hansgee on March 11, 2022

    This recipe is pretty mediocre. I love Chrissy’s recipes generally, but this lacked seasoning and dimension. We added less bacon and it still tasted really bacon-y. It also feeds an army and took up all of my 5.5 qt Dutch oven, so keep that in mind!

• Whole-roasted oyster mushrooms

  • southerncooker on December 02, 2021

    I got some beautiful blue oyster mushrooms from my farm share so I decided to try this recipe. They were ok and the crisper ones were the best tasting. I probably wouldn't make this again since I enjoy the mushrooms more in other ways.

• Corned (& ground) beef stuffed cabbage rolls

  • southerncooker on December 06, 2021

    These were delicious. I brought deli corned beef and diced it. I opted for the grainy mustard. A hit with my family. Will make again.

• Lamb & feta smashburgers

  • southerncooker on November 10, 2021

    Son and I thought these were good. I don't think the olive oil is necessary for frying since I had to keep pouring out greese to get the patties to brown. For the spread we used mayonnaise only since my yogurt was bad. I was out of lettuce and jalapeños. I used a red Serrano instead of the jalapeno.

  • ssouss on May 06, 2022

    This is so delicious! Used ghee to fry the patties, cook the onions and toast the buns.

• Grilled pork chops with old-school Marbella sauce

  • hirsheys on February 03, 2022

    Made as written, but with boneless pork loin chops. As a result, chops were thinner and got a bit salty (because they were a bit smaller, I think). Also had to leave out prunes because I didn’t have them in pantry as I’d thought. Otherwise made as written and served on mashed potatoes and found this very tasty. Not sure I’ll make it often, but I definitely enjoyed it.

  • anya_sf on February 25, 2022

    While the flavor of the pork went well with the sauce, since they aren't cooked together, the dish wasn't as cohesive as classic chicken marbella. We had extra sauce since my son didn't like it at all. We ate this with mashed potatoes, but couscous would probably be better. Cooking instructions for the pork chops were spot on, but I think brining the chops would have made them more tender than marinating them in the oil/garlic/herb mixture.

• Wilted kale with apples & bacon

  • julesamomof2 on September 22, 2022

    We liked this alongside the Pork Tenderloin with Rosemary-Apple Cider Sauce from the same book. Delicious!

  • Zosia on June 21, 2022

    Tasty side, especially for pork.

• Pork tenderloin with rosemary-apple cider sauce

  • julesamomof2 on September 22, 2022

    This made a nice dinner served with the suggested Wilted Kale with Apples and Bacon. I thought the two combined with all the apples would be too sweet but it was the perfect pre-fall dinner. Things got a little complicated and rushed trying to execute both dishes at the same time, but they complement one another nicely.

• Bali-inspired chicken satay

  • Zosia on June 23, 2022

    Very tasty though a little sweet even though I used half the sugar in the meat. Half recipe of sauce was more than enough.

• Smoky spinach, mushroom & cheddar [quesadilla]

  • Zosia on November 09, 2021

    Tasty combination of ingredients. I changed the cooking method slightly as my spinach was fresh - cooked it separately once mushrooms were done - and didn't use butter for frying, just a misting of vegetable oil. Everyone enjoyed them.

• Spatchcocked Thai grilled chicken with sticky rice balls & spicy sauce

  • Zosia on November 08, 2021

    Flavours were very good. I made a half batch of rice with sushi rice and halving the time didn't exactly work as it was a little dry though it did stick together. I didn't brown the chicken stovetop, just roasted it at 425.

• Crispy chicken-Caesar wedge salad

  • Zosia on January 25, 2022

    The dressing was fabulous and made the dish. This was a big hit with family and will be made again.

  • averythingcooks on January 05, 2022

    This resulted in a delicious plate of dinner! I was a bit tentative while adding the fish sauce to the salad dressing and then ultimately ended up using it all - it works great here. Using part of the dressing as the panko glue worked perfectly - the chicken was crispy & really tasty (and cooked in the air fryer in this household). I had olive oil braised cherry tomatoes in the freezer & added fresh basil to serve with the chicken (in place of the raw tomatoes in the salad). The thick dressing was wonderful with the bacon & blue cheese over the crispy lettuce and we scraped our plates clean.

  • anya_sf on January 23, 2022

    I used a different baked panko-crusted chicken recipe, served with this salad. It was delicious! Half the dressing was just right for our small head of iceberg lettuce, with the full amount of bacon, tomatoes, and blue cheese, plus a diced avocado.

• Yai's Thai sloppy Joes

  • Zosia on January 28, 2022

    Quick and very tasty. Though it wasn't very saucy, I thought the mixture was a little too wet for a pita filling; I served it with buns (and knives and forks!)

  • anya_sf on May 11, 2022

    These were good, a nice twist on sloppy Joes and not too spicy for my son. I found it easier to cut the pitas in half before filling them.

  • gamulholland on November 21, 2021

    This was really tasty and a hit with the family. I went light on the cayenne and white pepper because of the more mild tastebuds of some family members, but next time I’ll put in the full amount. I also added the toppings in the other “Pepper Thai’s sloppy Joe’s” recipe— canned fried onions and cilantro— definitely adding those again!

• BBQ chicken & rice bowls

  • tarae1204 on November 04, 2021

    Flavorful and adaptable recipe. The baked beans up the kid appeal, the chipotles lower it. The boneless skinless chicken thighs stay super moist thanks to the thick bbq marinade. A few recommendations: (1) Use two sheet pans not one, and roast enough vegetables to serve everyone (e.g., recipe calls for six carrots which can’t be equally divided for family of four or five) (2) Cook 2 cups raw rice to yield enough cooked rice (you’ll have extra). The recipe just calls for four cups hot cooked rice, without tips for timing it with the chicken, (3) Chicken thighs might be cooked sooner than the vegetables depending on size, use a thermometer to check when they hit 165. (4) Finely sliced green onion greens go into the rice, using 3-4 green onions to yield 1/4 cup. Why waste the whites? Roast them or fry them to add to the baked beans.

  • anya_sf on December 09, 2021

    Two sheet pans were needed to fit everything in a single layer (I didn't put the green beans under the chicken) and most things took an extra 15 min to roast. I thought there was more sauce than needed and definitely didn't think more needed to be brushed on the chicken towards the end. The sauce (more like a paste) was pretty good except the tomato paste was too prominent. I removed the seeds from the chipotle chiles so they wouldn't be too spicy. I cooked extra brown rice and let people mix butter into their own portions if they wanted (was out of scallions). Although it seemed like a lot of food, my family of 3 finished all the chicken and roasted veggies. Overall, I loved the concept and my family ate this enthusiastically, so I'd make it again with whatever vegetables I had, possibly just using bottled BBQ sauce.

• John's perfect blueberry buttermilk pancakes

  • tarae1204 on November 28, 2021

    These are good, not too sweet, pliable pancakes. No issues with recipe. Kind of a small/medium batch.

  • anya_sf on January 01, 2022

    Solid blueberry pancake recipe, similar to Smitten Kitchen's, with a higher proportion of leavening and sugar to help make them fluffy and tender. I couldn't discern any difference greasing the griddle with salted butter vs unsalted. Made 2x recipe, got 10 pancakes plus a small bonus one.

• Chickpea crunchwraps

  • tarae1204 on November 03, 2021

    Tasty but not crunchy. If you seek crunch, perhaps crisp the crispy shells as per box directions, prior to assembling taco wraps. When creating the chickpea “glue” that binds the hard and soft tortillas, add some pan liquid to get the right consistency. I also added a spoonful of sour cream to the mashed chickpeas to make my chickpea glue richer, creamier and stickier. Pickling the red onions would also take this over the top. Just, some kind of pickle, a squeeze of lime, etc. it’s a delicious mouthful of mild with warmth from the cayenne and slight bite from the red onion. I also salted throughout and salted to taste, not quite following the directions.

• Beef Stroganoff with buttered salt & pepper noodles

  • meginyeg on January 08, 2023

    My family loved this. I thought the soy sauce and fish sauce were a nice twist on the traditional stroganoff. We will probably make it again.

  • anya_sf on December 10, 2021

    I used beef tenderloin, closer to 1.5 lbs, and wonder if I should have cooked it in batches, as it barely browned and ended up steaming a little; to avoid overcooking, I removed it from the pan when still slightly pink since it simmers more later. Chrissy does say to "leave the juice in the pan", so I think this is expected. The stroganoff was super flavorful, but surprisingly did need extra salt at the end.

• Beer-braised short rib burritos

  • averythingcooks on March 31, 2022

    I prepped the full amount of short ribs (intending to get at least 3 different dinners for the 2 of us) following these instructions except that I put the Dutch oven in a 350 oven to finish braising (rather than try to maintain a 3 hour simmer on a burner.....not an easy task with my stove). The resulting meat & jus are really delicious - as always with short ribs, be sure to leave time to chill/defat the liquid. For dinner one, I took part of the meat and carried on with this recipe, adding corn to the mix and then making some really tasty knife & fork quesadillas instead of burritos. Her homemade salsa and a little lime crema were great additions. And lastly, it will be really easy to find ways to use the remaining meat.

  • anya_sf on April 09, 2022

    I used closer to 4 lbs short ribs, some boneless, with the stated quantity of braising liquid. Made a day ahead since short ribs are notoriously fatty. After removing the fat, bones, and as much of the chewy membranes as I could, I used about 3 cups meat with half of the rest of the ingredients, initially to make 3 burritos, but we got a bonus 4th burrito, which my husband and son shared as seconds. Topped with the salsa, sour cream, and diced avocado, the burritos were really good. My only quibble is that if you crisp the tortilla before rolling, it is difficult to roll. The tortilla softened after being wrapped in foil (I saw no need for parchment), but I would crisp it after rolling if that's how you like it. I can't wait to use the rest of the meat for rice bowls.

• Parm-dusted garlic-butter pull-apart dinner rolls

  • averythingcooks on December 18, 2022

    These are lovely! I did switch to my dough hook when I got to the 8 minute mixing stage which was a good idea and to get 18 even rolls I made roughly 1.85 oz balls of dough. I actually found a video to demonstrate the “cupped hand” roll shaping method she suggests and it really does work. I made them early in the day, gently reheated them in the microwave for dinner and they were VERY popular with my guests! My only issue was that I did have lots of the garlic butter leftover - and I did think I was brushing generously :)

• Spicy sausage pasta fagioli

  • averythingcooks on January 20, 2022

    This is a really hearty & flavourful pot of soup. I had cooked navy beans in the freezer so there was no "bean liquid" to include (& I'm pretty sure we didn't miss it) and I used fresh rosemary in place of dried. I scaled the recipe back to around 1/3 and the yield was 2 big dinner bowls (served with garlic toasts) & enough leftover for lunch for one of us. I would make this again for sure.

  • anya_sf on January 25, 2022

    I used mild sausage with a pinch of red pepper flakes (didn't want it actually spicy). Added a parmesan rind and simmered the soup 15 min before adding the pasta. More like a stew than a soup, this was really delicious. There was a lot less left over than I expected! FYI, 1.25 cups ditalini pasta is around 5 oz/150 g.

• Chicken tikka masala with "garlic naan" pita

  • averythingcooks on June 25, 2022

    I cut this in 1/2 with 11 oz of chicken and added broccoli & sweet potato. I used coconut milk as the dominant creamy ingredient but did top it up near the end with a good splash of heavy cream. I made 1/2 the spice mix and after using what was called for, I opted to just add the rest and that certainly didn't hurt anything. I finished with Thai basil (cilantro = soap!) and served this with Alison Roman's sour cream flatbreads (in place of both the suggested pitas & rice ). A very nice dinner bowl that I would make/play with again.

  • anya_sf on December 22, 2021

    Not true tikka since the chicken is browned in a pan, not cooked in the oven, and I find with this type of recipe that the yogurt marinade browns rather than the chicken. Still, some browned flavor is there, and I appreciate a one-pot meal. This is a pretty good version made with ordinary supermarket ingredients. It's super saucy and pretty rich. I added cooked cauliflower and doubled the peas. Didn't make the "garlic naan" pita, just served with rice. My family enjoyed it.

  • dc151 on August 15, 2022

    I made this to go with some homemade samosas. I didn't read the directions well enough, didn't realize I had to divide the garlic and ginger, so that all went into the marinade. It would likely have been a bit better otherwise, but the flavor was nice, I enjoyed it and it was simple enough to make. The yogurt helped make the chicken nice and tender.

• John's jerk shrimp & grilled pineapple salad

  • anya_sf on May 14, 2022

    I made about 1/2 recipe, but with the full amount of lettuce and avocado and about 10 oz shrimp. Mixed the dressing by hand; there was twice as much as needed. Used less coconut as it seemed like a lot (my coconut was finely shredded). Delicious! My son doesn't love shrimp, but he liked it here. Two of us ate it all for dinner.

• John's jerk seasoning

  • anya_sf on May 14, 2022

    Easy to mix together and really tasty on the shrimp. I used half the cayenne to make it less spicy.

• Panko-Parmesan-crusted salmon

  • anya_sf on December 24, 2021

    I just made the salmon, a fairly thin 1.5 lb fillet, which cooked through in 20 min (it wasn't the greatest piece of fish, so I wanted it well done). The flavorful crumb coating ensured that the fish remained moist. Simple and delicious. I lined the pan with foil for easy clean-up. Had I also cooked summer squash rounds, I would have put them on a separate sheet pan, as there wouldn't have been enough room on the pan with the fish.

  • Nkrieda78 on March 26, 2022

    I halved this recipe for two people and added asparagus to the pan with the zucchini. Didn’t halve the bread crumbs and sprinkled those on the veg too.

• Pad see ew cabbage with a runny egg

  • anya_sf on March 17, 2022

    The flavor was indeed reminiscent of pad see ew, despite having different ingredients. I cooked some carrot along with the cabbage and fried the egg using my normal method rather than her oil-basting one. Very enjoyable.

  • hbakke on November 20, 2021

    Very simple, but delicious dinner. The recipe initially seemed too basic, but I enjoyed the flavor of the sauce and the texture of the cabbage combined with the runny yolk. I would make this again, possibly with some different added veg or protein.

  • kaityblueeyes on October 17, 2022

    This is quite delicious! Perfect when looking to cook on a budget. I had all the ingredients on hand and half a cabbage that I needed to use up from another recipe. Great idea to have in my pocket.

• White chocolate macadamia cookies

  • anya_sf on March 08, 2022

    I made 1/2 recipe = 10 cookies, baked in 2 batches: (1) per Chrissy's instructions, (2) on a parchment-lined pan, slightly flattened, and without flaky salt. Both batches baked 16 min, at which point the bottoms were light brown, edges were set, and centers were still a bit gooey. Batch 1 did not spread much so the cookies were much thicker. Batch 2 spread quite a bit. (Photo shows Batch 1 on the left, Batch 2 on the right.) All the cookies were soft and yummy. We preferred the salted ones to balance the sweetness, and next time I will try parchment without flattening the cookies. They tasted best warm, but reheated easily in the microwave.

• Cookie butter-filled croissants

  • anya_sf on January 17, 2022

    Yummy, sort of like almond croissants. I just used Biscoff cookie butter rather than the gingersnap cookie butter in the book, which I'm sure would be even better.

• Tres leches strawberry cakes

  • anya_sf on April 15, 2022

    Quite delicious, if a bit overkill with both milk soak and butter cake. The cake took a few extra minutes to bake. The cake had very good flavor, slightly coarse texture, and would have been fine without the milk soak, with just the strawberry topping and extra whipped cream. Alternatively, I'd use a more traditional, lean sponge cake for the tres leches. Portions were generous, and the recipe could serve 8, especially if the cake is cut into 8 rectangles (bonus: no scraps).

  • anya_sf on May 08, 2022

    Made again since I had leftover cake, this time cutting rectangles for convenience, skipping the tres leches, and just making extra whipped cream. Delicious.

• Tangy sesame cucumber salad with hot rice

  • anya_sf on April 09, 2022

    Maybe I sliced the cucumbers too thickly, but only 2 Tbsp liquid was exuded after 45 min. Anyway, at that point I patted the cucumbers dry and the salad turned out great. We made a meal of this with extra rice and avocado, some edamame, and Dorie Greenspan's ponzu chicken. So good!

  • Hansgee on March 11, 2022

    We really liked this one with how simple and nutritious it is. We are cucumber salad lovers in any form. It looks nice on a platter with rice in the center!

• Citrus & burrata Caprese

  • anya_sf on April 11, 2022

    While I appreciate the frugality of squeezing juice from citrus rinds, I barely got 1 Tbsp that way. With an additional tangerine, I was able to make half the dressing, which fortunately was plenty for the salad. I skipped the jalapeno pepper as it didn't sound appealing. My family loved this! The extra dressing that pooled on the bottom of the serving dish was delicious mopped up with bread.

• White pizza with cheese-roasted garlic (Pizza bianca)

  • anya_sf on May 14, 2022

    The dough was easy to knead in a stand mixer (and probably would be easy by hand too). I made it in the morning, then refrigerated until evening, and it continued to rise a lot in the fridge. Just having one 12" cast iron pan, I parbaked the first crust, removed it from the pan (easy to do with the foil) and parbaked the second crust while I topped the first one. I finished baking the first pizza in cast iron and the second one on a pizza pan. The first pizza was the pizza bianca, only half with red pepper flakes. I sprinkled fresh basil on top and enjoyed that addition. The garlic didn't really caramelize in the short baking time, but my garlic was mild so it was okay. The second pizza was pepperoni + mushroom. Again with the short baking time, the toppings didn't brown as much as I'd have liked. Pizza bianca was more successful with this parbaking method. The crust was decent considering how simple the dough was to make; the cast iron method probably improved the texture.

• Lemony angel hair with ricotta & pine nuts

  • anya_sf on January 09, 2022

    My lemons just yielded the minimum amount of juice, but that was OK as the sauce was plenty lemony. The instructions don't say to remove the cooked lemon peel from the pasta, but I did (maybe didn't need to?). The pasta package stated a 2-minute cooking time, so I just cooked it for 1.5 min. I reserved some cooking water and did end up using it to loosen up the pasta, which kind of stuck together - a common problem with angel hair. I added cooked broccoli florets for a one-dish meal. This was good and didn't seem that heavy, despite being quite rich. The ricotta really rounded out the flavors. Next time I'd consider using a thicker pasta, such as thin spaghetti, and increasing the pine nuts, which kind of got lost.

• Perfectly pink pasta

  • anya_sf on December 19, 2021

    Yummy, basic creamy tomato pasta sauce. Bucatini (Chrissy's favorite) was a good choice as the sauce clung nicely to the noodles. Next time I will try the extra cheesy version with a short, stubby pasta. No fresh basil this time of year, but it was still good without it.

• Stuffed PB&J French toast with berry-browned butter sauce

  • anya_sf on March 01, 2022

    I increased everything by 50% to make 3 whole sandwiches, but only my teenage son could eat a whole one. Very filling! And it turns out I didn't need to increase the egg mixture as there would have been enough. I also didn't need so much butter for cooking (used an electric griddle to cook all 3 at once). I skipped the salt, powdered sugar and extra butter on top as they seemed superfluous. The overall flavor was good, but the peanut butter overpowered the other ingredients. I loved the caramelized exterior and would try this technique with a more subtle filling - perhaps jam (skipping the jam topping) and mascarpone?

• Two-berry muffins with HBO crumble

  • anya_sf on December 15, 2021

    Marshmallows and white chocolate aren't usually part of my breakfast, but I had them on hand, plus Honey Bunches of Oats, so I figured I'd try these. They were actually pretty good and not sickly sweet like you might imagine. The marshmallows only go on top, so they melted together with the cereal topping for sort of a Rice Krispie treat flavor. Of course, you could always omit the white chocolate and marshmallows and have pretty tasty muffins. My muffins took 5 extra minutes to bake.

• Quiche Lorraine baguette

  • anya_sf on October 15, 2022

    This recipe only has 3 things in common with quiche Lorraine: eggs, cream, and deliciousness. I messed up the filling, adding too much cream (maybe my eyes weren't working?), then had to strain the mixture, add more eggs and seasoning to try and save it - thankfully, I managed. Next time I'll make it properly. The crust did get fairly crisp, so it was easier to eat with hands vs fork and knife; a softer-crusted bread is recommended.

• Smoky chicken, bell pepper & Swiss [quesadilla] with avocado ranch dip

  • anya_sf on December 07, 2021

    I made 3 dinner-sized quesadillas using 7.5" tortillas, which just barely fit on my electric griddle. Only doubled the chicken, but added some black beans and used 2 whole green peppers and a little less cheese. Unless your chicken thighs are super small, you will need to cook them longer; instructions don't say to slice the chicken after cooking, but you will probably want to. I preferred to cook the bell pepper until fully soft and slightly charred. Good flavors overall, but the Swiss cheese flavor was lost, so feel free to use any cheese. I doubled the avocado ranch dip but there was a lot left over. Really, this is just a good, basic quesadilla recipe with a crispy, buttery tortilla.

• Avocado ranch dip

  • anya_sf on December 07, 2021

    I had 2 avocados to use, so doubled the recipe, which made a ton of dip. Made with Hidden Valley Ranch buttermilk ranch, I would have liked more avocado flavor - thought the dressing was too prominent. Next time I'll use less dressing. But we did enjoy this very much on quesadillas.

• Spicy homemade salsa

  • anya_sf on April 09, 2022

    Easy to make and very good. I used white onion since that's typically used in fresh salsa, and removed the seeds from the jalapeno so the salsa wouldn't be spicy.

  • mdagl on December 17, 2022

    VERY spicy, but fresh and delicious. Would make again but would remove more seeds or use less jalapeno next time.

• Mother f*ckin' Islands-style Yaki tacos

  • anya_sf on January 10, 2022

    Delicious! My family of 3 (including a teenage boy) finished it all for dinner (8 tacos). This would also make a great rice bowl.

• Shortcut Thai chicken & rice (Khao man ghai)

  • anya_sf on December 16, 2022

    I made the full amount of chicken and broth, but 2/3 rice, and was happy with that meat-to-rice ratio. Rendered chicken fat from the trimmed chicken skin and fat. The rice cooked in 15 min; it was fairly wet and a little mushy, but I think that's how it's supposed to be. We preferred to eat the chicken warm. Everything was very flavorful and tasted very much like what we've had at Thai restaurants. We didn't eat the extra broth (so now I have it leftover for another dish), but enjoyed this with the cucumber salad from this book.

  • kaityblueeyes on September 20, 2022

    This is very good! Used chicken fat from the sancocho chicken and corn stew (as suggested). The broth is light but tasty (makes great rice) and the sauce is so amazing! Made too much rice and broth for the amount of chicken but they are versatile enough to use with other dishes throughout the week.

• Skillet chicken Marsala with cauliflower gnocchi & spinach

  • anya_sf on May 19, 2022

    My gnocchi (TJ's cauliflower) stuck to the pan so most the browned parts actually separated from the gnocchi; next time I'll try the package instructions. I used 12 oz chicken and 16 oz spinach, and there was just enough to serve 3. The sauce was quite rich, but delicious. I worried it would be to boozy, so I reduced the marsala some before adding the broth and cream. I just used 1/8 tsp cayenne and would probably omit it next time.

• Salmon quinoa salad with carrot-ginger-miso dressing

  • anya_sf on May 11, 2022

    Really good! Maybe I used too much water, but the quinoa seemed a little water-logged, even after spreading out on a sheet pan, but that wasn't noticeable after it was mixed with the rest of the salad. I tossed the salad with about half the dressing, rather than just drizzling on top; leftovers held up well. I used a whole 7 oz bag arugula and a whole can of black beans (because why not?) and omitted the red onion.

  • hbakke on June 14, 2022

    Very nice salmon recipe. The salad, and especially the salad dressing, was delicious. I cooked the quinoa in the pressure cooker using my usual method instead of following the recipe instructions. I also used frozen corn instead of canned corn, and I added the sliced red onion to the pan to be broiled with the corn since we aren't the biggest fans of raw red onion. I would make this again.

  • Misha27 on January 20, 2022

    This was delicious. The dressing is super flavourful with the additions of ginger and miso. It's also filling and very healthy. The leftovers are great cold too. It's going into regular dinner rotation.

  • mdagl on December 17, 2022

    Husband absolutely loved this one. I found it to be a bit on the sweet side, which wasn't ideal for me for this dish. Also found the quinoa to be a little water-logged.

• Veggie & shirataki noodles with yolky broth

  • hbakke on June 07, 2022

    A lot of vegetable chopping, but worth it. This was a nice, brothy vegetable full soup. I would make this again. I used green fettuccine shirataki noodles, but ramen shirataki noodles would be my preference for next time.

• Super-crunchy tofu ginger stir-fry

  • hbakke on November 08, 2021

    Nice, easy dinner. I skipped frying the tofu and just lightly seared the pieces. It was fine that way and I would do that again.

• Sancocho-inspired chicken & corn stew

  • kaityblueeyes on September 14, 2022

    Very yummy! Took a while to make with all the prep but worth the effort. Makes quite a bit of stew so great for meal prepping. I didn’t seed the jalapeño so it had quite a bit of heat. Used 4 cups of broth, 1 cup water and two bouillon cubes and was seasoned great!

• Shawarma-spiced skirt steak salad

  • mdagl on July 21, 2022

    Salad was great! Dressing was very simple -- I feel like that's the only part that could've been improved upon. Loved the pita chips in there!

• #Potatoleeksoup

  • Hansgee on March 11, 2022

    We enjoyed this soup a lot. We served it with warm bread rather than the gimmicky pie crust hashtags. Next time, we may leave more soup unblended for a chunkier texture.

• Couscous salad with apricot basil dressing

  • Hansgee on March 11, 2022

    This is one of my favorite recipes I’ve made from this book so far! The flavors are fantastic and I could eat that basil dressing with a spoon. Perfect item to sit out at a party! Good warm, cold, and room temperature.