WHITE BEAN CHICKEN CHILI from She Wears Many Hats

This comes from She Wears Many Hats and it's real good. I made half using just one can of beans and made soup, not thicker chili, and I didn't mash any of the beans to thicken it. I was going to add a little ditalini pasta to this but forgot, so this is pretty brothy. I used mostly chicken broth and a lesser amount of water. I omitted cilantro and jalapenos and used a lot less chicken, just one boneless skinless breast.

I rate this 5 stars.

 

HOMEMADE COOKIES-AND-CREAM ICE CREAM from Southern Living

This is pretty good and comes from Southern Living. I did add 1/8 t. salt and used just 1/4 t. pure vanilla extract and 2% milk in place of whole. I used 10 Oreos but didn't add the 8 that were supposed to be left in bigger pieces. It took just 22 minutes in my Hamilton Beach ice cream maker and another 30 seconds or so to blend in the crushed Oreos at the end. It started to come out of the bowl some towards the end and filled my 5 c. glass container all the way.

To make, this cost $3.05 with tax plus whatever 1/4 t. vanilla and 1/8 t. salt cost.

I rate this 5 stars but with the full amount of vanilla I'd have to give it a lower rating.

BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES from Dear Crissy

These come from Dear Crissy and they're far from the 'best' chocolate chip cookie. They're very very basic in flavor and I wouldn't make them again. They do spread out nicely and that's about all I can say about them. I made half using 3/4 c. chocolate chips and got 22 1 T./1.5" dough balls. I let my cold dough balls sit at room temperature for 30 minutes and they baked in just under 8 minutes. 

I rate these 3 stars.

HAMBURGER POTATO CASSEROLE from South Your Mouth

This comes from South Your Mouth. I made an alternate version of this. I used a 10.25"/2.5 qt. pan. I omitted ground beef completely. I used two large russet potatoes that weighed less than two pounds total. I mixed up the sauce recipe but only needed 1/3 of it, which was one cup, and froze the rest. I omitted salt because the condensed cheddar soup was very salty. I layered 1/2 c. sauce between each of the two layers of potatoes, which was just enough sauce to cover the top. I sprinkled a light layer of pre-shredded cheddar cheese between each layer. This baked in 75 minutes. It's very easy to make but I don't like the flavor of the condensed soup so I wouldn't make this again. I do make a pretty similar version that uses condensed cream of mushroom soup, milk, shredded cheddar, paprika, salt, pepper.

ONE-POT PASTA WITH CHICKEN

This comes from Spend With Pennies and it couldn't be better. I made half and used half of a 10 oz. box of thawed frozen spinach though that wasn't in the recipe. It sure gave it nice color. I also used her recipe for Italian seasoning and used about 1/4 t. more than the recipe called for. Instead of using diced tomatoes I pureed a can of fire roasted ones and used half. I like my pasta well done so my penne took almost 30 minutes to cook. I used just one boneless skinless chicken breast, which I baked in the oven and shredded and added to the pan after the pasta was finished. I didn't top this with cheese and put under the broiler.

I give this 5 stars.

CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE from Pretty.Simple.Sweet.

This comes from Pretty.Simple.Sweet. My only complaint is that the pudding part is very bitter from way too much cocoa powder. It only needed no more than half the amount called for but I stuck with the recipe and used the full amount. I shouldn't have and I'm ticked at myself. I've been making these cakes for 15 years and have had to adjust the amount of cocoa most of the time.

I used half the amount of vanilla and it was enough. The full recipe called for almost one tablespoon (2/3 of one, anyway.) I like the combination of both brown and white sugar in the pudding and for that reason alone I'll make this again. The amount of salt and cocoa in the cake was perfect and I added a pinch to the pudding mixture too since I always do. I put my piece of cake upside down in the bowl so you could see the pudding and I always eat it with vanilla ice cream.

I grade this an A- and not an A solely because of too much cocoa in the pudding.

IMPOSSIBLE PEACH PIE from Food.com

This comes from Food.com. I made this in a 9"/1 qt. pie dish and used two cans of peaches, not 3 cans in a 10" pie plate. I added 1/2 t. salt because the recipe called for none. I used half the amount of cinnamon and left out the nutmeg. I left off the streusel topping. This is very good but a little soft from the juice that cooked out of the peaches, I guess. I'd definitely make this again. I'm wondering if I could leave out some of the cream next time to make up for the juice in the peaches. 

I made this once before but used milk instead of cream (I used heavy cream this time) and it was a soft mess. The 1 c. cream and 2 cans Del Monte peaches for this cost $4.82.

I give this 5 stars.

ONE-POT CREAMY SUN-DRIED TOMATO PASTA

This comes from Budget Bytes. I just slightly less pasta, 7 oz./2 c. of penne, and a little less sun-dried tomatoes. I cooked some onion though onion's not in this recipe. I cooked some frozen broccoli in this and added a cooked and shredded boneless skinless chicken breast after the pasta had cooked. I omitted cream cheese and added a big pinch of salt and 1/4 t. pepper.

This is very good and I rate this an A.

COOKIES AND CREAM CUPCAKES from The First Year Blog

These are good and come from The First Year Blog. They're moist but not nearly as much as I was expecting, considering they have almost one cup of sour cream in them. In that way I'm disappointed. The Oreo crumbs don't really do anything flavorwise for the cake. I ground my Oreos finely. 3/4 c. equals 6 regular Oreos. It would have been nice had the author told us that. I added an extra 1/8 t. salt but they need more. I used 1/2 t. less vanilla because the cookies have some in them. I used this Wilton mini loaf pan and these liners and filled the cavities with a heaping 1/3 c. batter. This made about 3 c. of batter. They baked in 18 minutes. I didn't bake them at 400 degrees for 5 minutes then longer at 350. I preheated the oven to 400 then turned it down to 350 once I put them in. I made my own frosting for these and added 1/4 c. finely ground Oreos (2 cookies) to it and reduced the usual amount of vanilla extract since Oreos have some in them.

I give these 4 stars but I wouldn't make them again because I've made moister white cakes before that didn't use sour cream, which is an added expense. 

My white frosting (enough for 12 cupcakes/One 9"-10" cake): 1 3/4 c. powdered sugar (not weighed out), 2.5 tablespoons softened butter/margarine/spread, 2 tablespoons shortening, 1/2-3/4 t. pure vanilla extract, and milk or water, up to 2 tablespoons but start with just one. 

 

CLASSIC APPLE CRISP from Pinch of Yum

This is from Pinch of Yum. I used about 5-5 1/2 c. of apples, not 4 like the recipe said to use. I didn't add more sugar or flour but did add 1/4 t. salt, 1/2 t. cinnamon, and I used a 10"/2.5 qt. pan. It baked in 35 minutes. I accidentally left the baking soda out of the crumb topping. The author didn't say why it was used. I googled and found that it makes toppings crispier. This topping is very very crispy so it wasn't needed after all. I used tart Pink Lady apples and they're perfect, as is the topping. 

 I rate this 5 stars and I'd make again.

BACON LENTIL SOUP from She Wears Many Hats

This is a great recipe and it comes from She Wears Many Hats. I made half in a 3 qt. pot. I omitted bacon and the bay leaf. In place of a can of diced tomatoes, I pureed the tomatoes and used just 3/4 c. and used an extra 1 1/2 c. water to make up for the lack of liquid. I used chicken broth in place of vegetable broth. My greenish-brown lentils took 40 minutes to cook, not 1.5 hours like in the recipe.

I give this 5 stars. It couldn't have been any easier to make.

 

CORNMEAL JOHNNYCAKES from The Spruce Eats

This recipe is from The Spruce Eats. My batter was runny, worse than pancake batter and I did nothing wrong. I even added an 1/4 c. flour to thicken it but it didn't help much. I left out the sugar and added 1/4 t. chili powder, 1/8 t. cumin, 1/8 t. each onion and garlic powder, and about 1 t. dried parsley. I used 1/4 t. fine salt, not 1 t. kosher salt, but it needed a little more. I made a cheese sauce to drizzle on top using Monterey Jack cheese. I got ten. These taste great but I'm highly irritated that these turned out thin and so unlike the ones in the photo on the site an in the demonstration video. My batter was too runny yet someone left a comment on that recipe that they needed MORE milk, implying that there's was too thick. 

I can't rate these accurately, I don't think. I will make these again using just half the amount of milk, more salt and I'll add shredded cheddar cheese to the batter.