Recipe Reviews #2

Ok, Round 2 of my take on recipes that I found on Pinterest. Well, two of them I actually found on  websites I read often and I pinned it so I wouldn't lose them. Anyway, there's a couple of salads, a treat, a copycat version of a restaurant favorite of mine and a crockpot recipe. I know, I'm going totally crazy posting all 5. However, don't be tricked that I made all these this week or anything. (Instead I made 5 different meals I found online!)

Angry Chicken is a blog that I keep up with in my Google reader. She sews, homeschools, and makes food stuff. I liked the sound of this one and was excited to try it. She mentioned that her kids wouldn't eat her Wild Rice Salad, but I figured I'd try it on the entire family all the same.

Other than having a hard time figuring out and then finding radicchio, it came together easily. One of my favorite parts of the recipe was the topping made from seeds and nuts and dried fruit. I am not a blue cheese fan, so that was served on the side for my husband sine no one else likes it. Everyone had their one serving and the left overs were pretty much consumed by me. I thought it was pretty good and had an interesting texture, but it went in the do not keep pile. If no one else wants something at our house and I'm not totally in love with it, it's not worth my time to make it.

I think my mom used to make something similar to these Cheerios treats by Kathie Cooks.

They were also easy to make, but one must move quickly and things can get sticky! For mine I just used plain Cheerios.

I added chocolate chips to half the batch thinking they would be good. The treats were already so very sweet that I didn't like the chocolate and ate the plain ones first. They were good - maybe too good. I think I gained like 5 pounds eating them. They were definitely a hit. If I dare make them again I think I will use a chunkier peanut butter.

I don't eat at Chili's all that often, but when I do I MUST order the Southwest Egg Rolls. There was one time we went for lunch after we hadn't been there in years. I was so excited to order my usual and was heartbroken when they told me they weren't selling them at the time. (Apparently someone had a rock in theirs - I guess someone wasn't sorting the black beans very well!) Anyway, I have been able to indulge since. And even though I had just eaten these at the restaurant earlier in the month, I was very excited to try out this copycat recipe from Cake & Allie.

  My assessment? Good. Really good. Same as the restaurant? No. I liked that they were baked and not fried, but there was something off seeming about the egg roll wrapper. And they seemed just a little too spinachy. So, not comparing them to the restaurant, I'd go with great. My husband thought they were better than I did. He's less of a real SW egg roll snob than me. The kids even liked them, spinach and all.

As for the dressing, I added some cilantro and I am not a mayo user, so mine was made with Miracle Whip. It was good, but a little off tasting, perhaps just because of no using mayo. I really don't know. Anyway, this one stays in the keeper pile.

A website that I found and just fell in love with (and meant to share all about it here) is One More Moore. I actually read the entire blog over the course of a few days. As I was reading I pinned several of her recipes including the Westwood Salad.

The comments of the pin screenshot are actually mine. This salad really was very filling. The dressing is key - don't skip that and use whatever. It adds some unique flavor to the salad.

Ok, this is one that if you use Pinterest you've more likely than not seen around: Crock Pot Applesauce from Skinny Taste.

It really does make your house smell great. I don't feel like I can't properly write about this one because I didn't follow the directions as I was supposed to. For one, I didn't peel my apples. Tsk, tsk. Two, I didn't have the specific type of apple (which is where I think I went the most wrong). And third, I had no lemon and used an orange peel instead.

So, what I ended up with was something that looked great (even if the picture doesn't look like it. Hey - I'm not a food blogger, I don't set up my food shots to be all pretty. I just do what I can to get it done.) I filled up an old apple sauce jar with it and only the amount you see gone got eaten. The kids didn't like it. I want to try again - this time with the right apples.