Recipe Reviews

So, remember my goal of trying one new recipe a week and posting a review? Yeah, that's not going so well. I have tried a few new recipes so far this month. I'll do my best to combine reviews in this post.

Chicken Rollups

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This was an interesting recipe. I was a little skeptical about it from the start, because of the issue with the crescent rolls being baked in a sauce. Can you say soggy bread? But, the picture looks so yummy that I wanted to try it.

My additions:
I added bacon into the cream cheese and chicken filling mixture. I also added a little sour cream to the sauce and the filling.

Taste:
The flavor was alright, but not exceptional. I got it a little too salty, probably because I added the bacon. Otherwise, the flavor was a little one-dimensional. It needed something to jazz it up or add a little pop.

As I was afraid, the texture was a bit icky. The crescent rolls were soggy, which wasn't so yummy in my mouth.

Ease:
This was a fairly time-consuming recipe. I sauteed some onions and cooked the chicken as I was making the dish, which added some time. If you had pre-cooked chicken and didn't add onions, the prep work wouldn't be as time consuming.

Overall:
2 1/2 out of 5 stars

Hawaiian Sweet Roll Ham Sandwiches

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I made this dish for Friday night supper of our annual meeting. I had been seeing it float around Pinterest for quite some time and was anxious to try it. The ingredients were a bit expensive, but not outrageous.

My additions/changes:
I didn't use the Hawaiian Sweet Rolls. I could only find a small package and they were super expensive. I used small potato rolls instead, which I thought were good.

Taste:
This was a winner in the taste category! Every last crumb was eaten. The combination of the sweetness from the rolls, spiciness of the Dijon, and the zing from the poppy seeds was a perfect blend.

Ease:
The great thing about this recipe is that it can be put together earlier in the day, kept in the refrigerator, then just popped in the oven before time to serve. It's a perfect potluck dish or would be great for Superbowl Sunday.

Overall:
Five stars!

Cabbage Rolls - - my combination of two recipes

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I was visiting with my Grandma when they were here over the holidays and we got to talking about ideas for suppers. I asked her what kinds of dishes she likes to fix with ground beef. One dish she said she fixes often is cabbage rolls. I had never heard of them, but it sounded good from her description. I hunted for a good recipe and ended up combining two recipes.

My additions/changes:
I sauteed half an onion in butter and added a pound of ground beef to let it brown just a little. I don't like putting raw ground beef in the crock pot. It just weirds me out. I added 1/2 cup brown rice, one small can of tomato sauce, salt, pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano, celery seed, dill, paprika, and a dash of cayenne. I didn't have a package of onion soup mix like the first recipe calls for, so I just threw in some spices I thought would taste good. Once I rolled the filling in the cabbage leaves (I had to look up a video on how to core cabbage!), I made a sauce out of tomato soup and beef broth. I cooked it in the crock pot for about 5 1/2 hours.

Taste:
I really liked this dish! It smelled delicious as it was cooking and made my mouth water all day. I thought the flavor was just right, but Chris said it was a little too sweet. I really liked the taste of the cooked cabbage with the meat filling.

Ease:
This was a little time consuming to prep. The good thing is that you can do it earlier in the day and have supper done. It does make a mess and uses a lot of dishes to get it together. If you don't brown the ground beef, then you could mix the filling up in one bowl and use another bowl to steam the cabbage. Then you wouldn't have as many dishes. But I seem to like to dirty a lot of dishes as I'm cooking.

Overall:
Four stars (I would give it 5, but I gave it 4 since Chris wasn't a huge fan.)