Notes about Recipes in this book

• Garth's breakfast lasagna

  • JeffALNY on February 13, 2026

    My family went crazy for this dish. I made it twice over the holidays!!

• Pimento cheese & bacon grits

  • averythingcooks on February 13, 2023

    I cut this to 1/3 which was lots for the 2 of us. I used asiago in place of the gouda and instead of pimentos, I diced roasted red peppers & hot pickled peppers. My choice of grits (Bob's Red Mill Organic) resulted in a creamy dish that still had some texture & the add-ins given here certainly gave it lots of flavour. Neither of us grew up eating grits, so we have no baseline for comparison, but we thought these were very good.

• Cheesy beef & potato hash

  • averythingcooks on August 04, 2023

    By no means is this fancy but it was a very satisfying, comfort food dinner served with scrambled eggs. I always find that this style of potato needs more time so I gave them a quick microwave head start and then allowed considerably more than the 15 minutes suggested.

• Overnight cinnamon rolls

  • MarciK on February 15, 2024

    I played fast and loose with the instructions, and it still came out well despite my inexperience, so I’d consider this foolproof. My personal taste is for more cinnamon brown sugar filling and more icing, or cream cheese icing. The way the recipe is written, it is well balanced with the cinnamon and sweet icing. If you’re feeding a group, this will appeal to the most people. I did have to cook it longer than the recipe says, measured in the center to 190°. I would use this recipe again.

• Nashville hot chicken meatball sliders

  • averythingcooks on June 26, 2023

    I used pork in place of the chicken and still...I thought these were delicious. I cut the meat mixture in 1/2 and made 4 slightly bigger meatballs (that still fit the slider buns) for the 2 of us and cut the sauce to 1/3 which was lots. A little cheese melted out of a couple but I just scooped the melty cheese back on top. We used a sweet cucumber relish in place of pickles and added some shredded lettuce to each slider for crunch. I was worried that overall they might be too spicy but oh boy - like I said - absolutely delicious.

  • debakken on April 14, 2025

    I used ground chicken for these and made slightly larger meatballs (9 count rather than the 12 in the recipe) and they fit nicely into slider buns. I liked the meatballs and the sauce, but I agree with averythingcooks that the sliders needed something more than a pickle on top. I like their idea of a cucumber relish (I had thought also of a vinegary cole slaw) and some lettuce for crunch. As I have two-thirds of the meatballs frozen for later meals, I will definitely try out new toppings next time.

• Ricotta tartlets with cherry tomatoes

  • averythingcooks on June 27, 2023

    She calls for store bought pie crust for these but I made my own pastry...1 recipe of Dorie Greenspan's galette dough + half the filling ingredients made 3 x 6" tarts and although they are simpler than some tarts I've made, they were very tasty. I did add basil to them after they came out of the oven and served them with a green salad for a simple, summery dinner.

• Sweet-&-spicy meatballs

  • averythingcooks on December 08, 2022

    These meatballs are made a little more special with the addition of diced jalapenos & red pepper jelly. My current jar of jelly is more sweet than hot so after a test cook of the meat, I upped the jalapenos. I improvised "bloody Mary mix" for the sauce (passata thinned with broth + Lea & Perrins & horseradish), used pomegranate molasses in place of juice and I added some hot sauce to taste (same problem re the jelly). I made extra sauce as I was adding sweet peppers & red onions to the pan and serving it over cauliflower rice. A very tasty & repeatable dinner bowl.

• Chipotle chicken taco-stuffed potato skins

  • averythingcooks on December 24, 2021

    I made this as a simple dinner beside a green salad. I cut it back to just under 1/2 (3 medium'ish russets & 12 oz of chicken). I added some chipotle chili powder to round out the flavour and I cut back on the cream because I also threw in a couple of small chunks of Velveeta. Topped with melted cheddar, sour cream and chopped tomatoes, this was a great meal for 2 (with 2 smaller lunch portions leftover). I would do this again for sure.

• Instant Pot collard greens

  • JaniceKj on October 25, 2021

    First time I made and have eaten collard greens. I halfed the recipe for 2, it was super delicious. I added a bit too much honey, will cut a bit. Red Lobster biscuits instead of cornbread, I was just testing the collard greens. DELICIOSO!

• Giant meatballs in marinara

  • averythingcooks on January 24, 2022

    This makes a good classic marinara (this time used for spaghetti & a different meatball recipe). A 1/2 recipe made enough sauce for dinner for 2 and one container for the freezer that could generously serve 1. One issue I have is the use of fresh basil to simply sprinkle on top of the finished dish - I actually want mine simmered IN the sauce and so that's what I did.

  • averythingcooks on April 29, 2022

    I have already made (& commented on) the marinara but this time I made a 1/2 recipe of the meatballs using 2/3's lb of ground beef topped up with hot Italian sausage. The mix of veg never really turned into an "almost smooth paste" but adding the milk to the processor at this stage did help and the veg themselves were not discernable as "chunks" in the finished product. I made smaller meatballs (30 g) destined for sandwiches and although I know we prefer ours made with ricotta, if I didn't have any in the fridge, these are a great alternative.

• Chili mac

  • averythingcooks on April 28, 2022

    Neither of us grew up in "chili mac" households so we have no base for comparison but having said that - this was really good! I scaled it way back to 1/3 and still had plenty of food for 2 (+ leftovers). The chili is easy to make early & to heat up to your preference (I added jalapeno & poblano peppers to the mix) and the mac & cheese is a pretty classic version. We sprinkled our bowls with broken tortilla chips for some crunch and we agreed that this was worthy of repeat.

• Company chicken

  • Soulkitchenjen on January 15, 2024

    The sauce and concept is delicious. What’s not delicious is the gigantic, freakshow chicken breasts these days. If I was to make it again, I’d use boneless, skinless thighs. If you use breasts, know that it takes at least 50 minutes in the oven to reach 165.

• Turkey meatloaf

  • JeffALNY on March 04, 2026

    This is was pretty tasty but, unless the instructions need to me made more explicit, it feels like the recipe for the glaze is way more than needed. Maybe you use it as a dipping sauce afterwards too? I like to make meatloaf sandwiches so I just don’t need this much glaze.

• Hot chicken chili

  • Soulkitchenjen on January 17, 2024

    This tastes like dry ground chicken in a vague Tabasco broth. Adding sour cream was the only thing that made it vaguely interesting. Trisha is on her second strike here.

• Hard cider cheese soup with sautéed appples & pretzel croutons

  • averythingcooks on January 13, 2022

    I made this to compare to a beer cheese soup we love and although I was worried early about the sweetness of the hard cider, the final verdict was that this is really good! However, I do have a few comments - why give me the mass of the carrots needed BUT only say "medium Vidalia onion"? My sweet onion was big (ie close to 16 oz unpeeled)...is that standard? I have no idea....so I guessed at how much onion to grate. I have also never seen Colby Jack cheese in a store anywhere so I subbed pepper Jack. For the cheddar I subbed in a 2:1 mix of extra old & medium in place of the mild. To offset some sweet, I added some chipotle hot sauce and I always put cubed ham in cheese soup. So yes, I messed with it a bit (knowing what we like) but I would for sure make this again. Oh - I did not make the garnishes and it was still really delicious without them.

• Creamy sweet corn spinach enchiladas

  • Soulkitchenjen on January 19, 2024

    Just no. How a recipe this inherently comforting can come out so bland is beyond me. Also, zero mention of oven temperature in this recipe. I feel like none of this cookbook was tested or edited.

• Janine's no-bakes

  • averythingcooks on May 22, 2025

    With everything measured out ahead of time & a very specific timing schedule, these were really easy to make. My heaping tbsp's resulted in 16 (rather than the expected 13 for a 1/2 recipe) but I would not want them any bigger. My verdict was "tooooo sweeeet" but somewhat surprisingly, T thinks they are great. Despite that, I doubt I will repeat.