New Season's Best Recipes: Critiques

[pchockeymom]

I made the Fajita Bites at our team meeting tonight. HUGE HIT!! Absolutely delish, easy to make, great demo for a show. And the filling is so versatile, we discussed so many things you could put it on and in. Love this recipe.

So what other recipes have you all tried. Like? Hate? Easy? Difficult?

 

[BethCooks4U]

We had Easy Pasta Cabanara for dinner tonight. YUMMY!! Sooo good. Very easy to make.

 

[pattybrady]

Made The Big Enchilada last night for dinner, had leftovers for lunch today. Absolutely delicious, and would be a great show recipe! Only thing I did differently was substitute a can of black beans for the can of corn--corn in an enchilada sounded gross to me.

 

[flemings99]

Orange blossoms were great! Was afraid the pan would be hard to clean after putting the glaze on, but it was a snap to clean. Pasta carbonara was good. Wouldn't make it for a show.

 

[Brenda.the.chef]

I've only made the German Chocolate Cake... OMGoodness! It's so good and so rich! A little bite goes a long ways. Great hands on demo (just like they did at launch)

 

[katem51]

I made the chicken parmesan soup for dinner last night. We loved it.I didn't have the Garlic and Herb rub so I used Chive & Tarragon seasoning. It was really good. But once I get my hands on some Garlic Herb rub, I will try it that way.

 

[chefliz]

That Peanut Butter Cookie Bark is so delicious my husband has threatened me NOT to make it any more! I have been taking it to pamper businesses and we usually eat the small amount that is left over---lol He says it is dangerous!

 

[Teresa Lynn]

lava cake was good
we had the chicken parm soup did not liek it at all ended up eating something else and throwing it away and I followed the recipe exactly (with that said though in 18+ years of selling there are only about 5 PC recipes we like & we are not picky)

 

[BethCooks4U]

lava cake was good
we had the chicken parm soup did not liek it at all ended up eating something else and throwing it away and I followed the recipe exactly (with that said though in 18+ years of selling there are only about 5 PC recipes we like & we are not picky)

You only like 5 recipes in 18 years? WOW. There are plenty we don't like (mostly because of ingredients like mushrooms or coconut...) but have loved so many more of them.

 

[maldvs]

I made the Sweet n Salty Caramel Bites yesterday for Team Training and they were a hit. We also made the German Choc Lava Cake (I didn't try because I don't do coconut) but everyone said it was delish. We doubled the recipe and made in the DCB.

 

[Daron]

Made the Fajita Bites last night on the grill using the BBQ roasting pan and made some with steak (used Steak-Ums, if you consider that steak). Worked nicely and everyone loved them. Quick, easy.

 

[chefsteph07]

At our meeting on Tues we had the chicken parm soup-omg how anyone could NOT like this is beyond me! I could have eaten the whole baker's worth! Also the carbonara pasta was there and that was good too!!

 

[KristinB1023]

I made 2 batches of the caramel mousse cups right after I got home from Fall Launch and they were great! The only critique I have is that I made the first batch with the manual food processor and the second batch with the food chopper and found that the food chopper got the pretzels chopped much smaller than the processor. Otherwise, I'm glad I made two batches because my boyfriend and I ate the first and I got a catalog show at my hair salon when I brought the second batch in the next day!

 

[flemings99]

Easy enchilada last night for dinner. We liked it. Didn't quite meet in the middle so just used an extra tortilla cut in half to cover the hole. Used red pepper instead of green and couldn't find my chipotle rub so used the chili lime instead. lol. Otherwise, made as directed.

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Why wouldn't you do the Carbonara for a show, katem51?

 

[carlajanes]

My husband and I do not like chicken in a marinara sauce....i.e. chicken parm.....so i substituted beef....very tasty

 

[Daron]

Any suggestions for making the fajita bites vegetarian, what would you replace the chicken with?

 

[Intrepid_Chef]

Cheese, but that doesn't make them vegan.

 

[tiggerhale]

Easy enchilada last night for dinner. We liked it. Didn't quite meet in the middle so just used an extra tortilla cut in half to cover the hole. Used red pepper instead of green and couldn't find my chipotle rub so used the chili lime instead. lol. Otherwise, made as directed.

You sound just like me with your 'substitutions' LOL!

 

[esavvymom]

I made the Bacon & Artichoke Squares last night for a show. OMG...there were four of us, and we ate half of it...actually only three eating it because host is avoiding bread. It was delicious and super easy! They all asked for the recipe.

Definitely loved it. I will be trying others this week, as I bought the ingredients I would need.

 

[PamperedinConshy]

Made The Big Enchilada last night for dinner, had leftovers for lunch today. Absolutely delicious, and would be a great show recipe! Only thing I did differently was substitute a can of black beans for the can of corn--corn in an enchilada sounded gross to me.

I took your advice last night and made it with the black beans. AMAZING. I really loved it.

Might be a bit too spicy for a show though - many people are sensitive to spices.

 

[dme.grant]

I've done the orange blossom cakes, the no-knead bread, and the carbonara. The cakes were amazing! I will add way more seasoning to the bread next time I make it because you can't really taste it in the finished product. I used the garlic and herb rub. Also, it only took about 3 hours to rise, but it has been pretty humid here, so keep an eye on it. I wasn't a huge fan of the carbonara, I think it was a little soupy and I actually used less of the stock than called for in the recipe. My husband liked it though, because it's healthier than my regular carbonara. All in all, I'm liking these recipes and I love that they have color pictures with them now!!!

 

[bcowdin]

I made The Big Enchilada. My tortillas didn't quite meet in the middle, either. It got browned pretty quickly (I left out the egg). I wish I had substituted beans for corn....it seemed like a LOT of corn. I found mine to be kind of tough on the bottom. I wonder if putting some sauce on the bottom, rather than the oil, might have helped. I also wonder if it would be hard to cut it into small enough pieces for a show.

I also tried the Bacon and Artichoke Squares. My husband liked them a lot. I found them to be kind of bland (maybe because I don't love Swiss cheese).

 

[ShellBeach]

lava cake was good
we had the chicken parm soup did not liek it at all ended up eating something else and throwing it away and I followed the recipe exactly (with that said though in 18+ years of selling there are only about 5 PC recipes we like & we are not picky)

You only like 5 recipes in 18 years? WOW. There are plenty we don't like (mostly because of ingredients like mushrooms or coconut...) but have loved so many more of them.

Thanks for both the good & bad reviews. Not sure if this is true for Teresa Lynn, but there are just SO many recipes that use prepared foods, and while the end result is tasty, I do not like the recipes overall because of that reason. It seemed like every SB had recipes using croissant tube dough & Cool Whip for many, many years.

 

[wadesgirl]

I made the Fajita Chicken Bites for my sister's party tonight and they were fantastic! You can show off the DCB by baking the chicken and I used the large bar pan instead of the round stone with handles. It makes a great show recipe and would do great for a hands-on demo.

 

[BethCooks4U]

Thanks for both the good & bad reviews. Not sure if this is true for Teresa Lynn, but there are just SO many recipes that use prepared foods, and while the end result is tasty, I do not like the recipes overall because of that reason. It seemed like every SB had recipes using croissant tube dough & Cool Whip for many, many years.

My husband and I were just discussing this last night. He commented on PC recipes being like "almost home-made" using packaged ingredients as a base. That was so true in the past but I have noticed that for the last few years the recipes more and more are scratch, fresh ingredients - fajitas, burrito bake, ribs, pork tenderloin, chicken in DCB or Beer Can Roaster, the new orange blossom cakes, scratch made rocky road brownies, so many more... I haven't made anything with crescent rolls in forever. Yes, cool whip and cream cheese are still big but all in all we have a ton of healthy, fresh ingredient recipes to offer.

Funny thing though, my younger consultants changed the rocky road brownie recipe to using a box mix instead of doing it from scratch. They said their friends want easy as possible. I argued that the scratch recipe couldn't be easier. They said not everyone has the separate ingredients (flour, etc) but they all have brownie mix at home. Go figure. Personally, I think it's a plus to do it from scratch so we can show how easy and quick it is. Many young cooks think it takes longer and is harder but once they see it they are amazed. I have had hosts promote it as "scratch brownies in 10 minutes" and got people there just to see that.

 

[kam]

My husband and I were just discussing this last night. He commented on PC recipes being like "almost home-made" using packaged ingredients as a base. That was so true in the past but I have noticed that for the last few years the recipes more and more are scratch, fresh ingredients - fajitas, burrito bake, ribs, pork tenderloin, chicken in DCB or Beer Can Roaster, the new orange blossom cakes, scratch made rocky road brownies, so many more... I haven't made anything with crescent rolls in forever. Yes, cool whip and cream cheese are still big but all in all we have a ton of healthy, fresh ingredient recipes to offer.Funny thing though, my younger consultants changed the rocky road brownie recipe to using a box mix instead of doing it from scratch. They said their friends want easy as possible. I argued that the scratch recipe couldn't be easier. They said not everyone has the separate ingredients (flour, etc) but they all have brownie mix at home. Go figure. Personally, I think it's a plus to do it from scratch so we can show how easy and quick it is. Many young cooks think it takes longer and is harder but once they see it they are amazed. I have had hosts promote it as "scratch brownies in 10 minutes" and got people there just to see that.

I agree about many not having the separate ingredients! I have always had flour and sugar etc so was absolutely shocked when I had a host with a measuring cup of the exact amount of flour needed for our recipe sitting on the counter. She told me she had borrowed some from a neighbor. She bought all the other things for the recipe but had no need to have the left over flour! I don't think she had sugar either.So now I never assume a host will have what I consider stock items!

 

[BethCooks4U]

I agree about many not having the separate ingredients! I have always had flour and sugar etc so was absolutely shocked when I had a host with a measuring cup of the exact amount of flour needed for our recipe sitting on the counter. She told me she had birrowed some from a neighbor. She bought all the other things for the recipe but had no need to have the left over flour! I don't think she had sugar either.

So now I never assume a host will have what I consider stock items!

I have had lots of hosts have a small new bag of floour or sugar on the counter when I arrive. I always thought it was because they wanted to be sure that the ingredients were fresh or maybe they didn't want me to see their containers they keep the ingredients in for some reason. I guess I need to start asking if they keep it in the house. I already do ask if they have baking powder in the house when a recipe calls for that...

And BTW I had a host provide a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the unsweetened squares for that rocky road recipe. Worked just fine so I now tell hosts what the recipe calls for but that can make that substitution if they prefer.

 

[KimoMakano]

Any suggestions for making the fajita bites vegetarian, what would you replace the chicken with?

How about portabello mushrooms?

 

[caraighan]

I made three recipes from the SB. Two I didn't like. I made the Greek spinach artichoke cups (didn't like), the cheesy bruschetta dip (didn't like), and the orange cakes (liked).

 

[pattybrady]

Any suggestions for making the fajita bites vegetarian, what would you replace the chicken with?

Black Beans?

 

[jcsmilez]

Black Beans?

Black beans, great idea, that would be good!

 

[Amanda_RI]

Just made the Savory Parmesan Thumbprints. I don't love Parmesan cheese, but they were okay--I think normal people (LOL) will love them.

 

[kristina16marie]

Any suggestions for making the fajita bites vegetarian, what would you replace the chicken with?

Maybe quinoa?

 

[KristinB1023]

So far this week I have made the Pasta Carbonara, Chicken Parm Soup, and Chicken Fajita Bites. The Soup was AMAZING!!!! The Chicken Fajita Bites were AMAZING!! The Carbonara I didn't care for .... I didn't take the advice of dme.grant when she said it came out "soupy". I ended up straining it and trying to thicken up the sauce in the microwave, and the pasta got overcooked as a result ... just a mess. It happens though, sometimes, when I make something for the first time. I will take another stab at it, but I didn't like the really smoky flavor from the turkey bacon. My "guinea pigs" (family members) ate it all up, but I wasn't happy with it.Aside from that complaining, did I mention how GOOD the other two were??

 

[nikked]

As far as the carbonara goes, my experience with these types of recipes where you cook the liquid into the pasta, is that if you cook it too fast, you end up with a lot of liquid. Try cooking it at a lower temperature and see what happens. When I made it, had just the right amount of moisture at the end (creamy but not dry)... HTH!

 

[nikked]

And I absolutely LOVED the carbonara, althought I would make it with real bacon next time (just don't care for turkey bacon, although it was better than I thought it would be). I think served with chicken or steak bites, it's a meal, and a great one at that!

I can't get over how the chick parm soup LOOKS, and haven't been able to try it (was at our meeting even, and couldn't eat it)... and I'm NOT pregnant lol!

LOVED the fajita bites, but would cook them a little bit longer (might have been person preparing)...

 

[aikenamy]

My Season's Best is at home and I'm at work so I pulled the recipe for the Chicken Fajita Bites off of consultant's corner. The instructions mention mayonnaise but its not listed in the ingredient list... Help!

 

[Lilamyw3]

My Season's Best is at home and I'm at work so I pulled the recipe for the Chicken Fajita Bites off of consultant's corner. The instructions mention mayonnaise but its not listed in the ingredient list... Help!

I noticed that too.. but if you look at the "shopping list" below the recipe it comes up with 1/3 cup mayo.

Shopping List
4 medium bell peppers, any color
3 green onions
1/2 cup (125 mL) fresh cilantro leaves
4 oz (125 g) part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 cups (500 mL) finely diced cooked chicken breast
1/3 cup (75 mL) fat-free mayonnaise
2 tbsp (30 mL) Chili Lime Rub
1/2 cup (125 mL) fat-free sour cream

 

[aikenamy]

Thank you!!!!!!!!

 

[chefliz]

Black Beans?

LOVE the idea of making those fajita bites vegetarian with either portobello mushrooms or black beans! :thumbup: Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[esavvymom]

The Big EnchiladaThe Big Enchilada.....
Mine didnt look like the picture, but I used black beans instead of corn, and green enchilada sauce instead of red. It tasted very good. I was a bit runnier than I would have preferred, but good flavors. We liked it and I would do it again. I used the green sauce because that was what I had , so I would try it again with red next time. The green sauce on top wasnt visually appealing

 

[gailz2]

At our meeting last night we had the pasta carbonara--big hit; fajita bites--another big hit; orange blossoms--was it just me, or did this make TONS of dirty dishes, but tastes great, I had leftover cream cheese mixture (1 prep cup) and will use it for a fruit dip with the kids; caramel pretzel bites--pretty good; and lava cake--very sweet but great. I LOVE the new SB with pictures, and think these are the best overall recipes any of our SB's have had in 5 years.

 

[Shari in TX]

My daughter made the Pasta Carbonara on Monday night and it was great. She's 17 and enjoys cooking and I love that I can just hand her a recipe, she can follow it and it turns out just like the picture. I liked the flavor and loved that there is no egg in it like in the original version. Also, we only use turkey bacon in our house so having a recipe actually call for it is nice.

I did the Orange Blossoms for our meeting a week ago and also had lots of cream cheese topping left over. I spread it on a bagel and ate it. Yum!

Another teammate did the Chicken Parmesan Soup and I loved it! Can't wait for it to get colder around here so I can make it more often.

Someone also made the pizza with the sandwich bread as the crust. It was really good. I'm looking forward to trying the Fajita Bites since they have gotten such a good review from so many of you.

Shari in TX

 

[esavvymom]

Easy Pasta CarbonaraFinally was able to make the "Easy Pasta Carbonara" tonight. We really liked it.
I used 5 oz of the cream cheese, instead of 4. And I used a 2% low-fat Evap Milk instead of FF. I knew that some of you had problems with it being really runny, so I thought a smidge more fat, and more cheese would help.

I had to add a few twists of salt from my salt-grinder...since my turkey bacon was only 80mg of sodium, vs the recommended 130 mg they mention in the cooks note. The little bit of salt helped give it a bit more flavor.

In the last few minutes of cooking- after adding the cheeses and peas, the instructions say to let it stand for 5 minutes with the lid ON. It did, with the burner off. It didn't do much thickening and was still kind of runny, that's for sure. So I stirred it some, to incorporate the cream cheese more, put the heat on LOW, and then left the lid OFF. After 3-5 minutes, stirred a few times, it thickened more, and it wasn't as runny then. When we served it up, it was a nice alfredo-like sauce...and tasted great with some fresh bread to soak up the leftover sauce.

All-in-all, with a few SIMPLE changes (leave lid off at the end), I think this is definitely a do-over. It wasn't "enough" for a dinner meal....we heated up some leftover meat we had, but a light-meal, or a side dish for sure. Even my pickier eater ate it (except the peas...he picked around those).

:thumbup::thumbup:

 

[ShellBeach]

My family really liked the fajita bites. Thought they could be a little spicier. I would add more of the chili lime powder next time.
Also, I substituted little baby peppers cut in half instead of the bigger peppers.

 

[lang4843]

Our team had a recipe night a week ago and we made the Hot & Cheesy Bruschetta Dip, Chicken Fajita Bites,Chicken Parmesan Soup, German Chocolate Lava Cake, and Orange Blossom Cakes. I was so ful after that! With that said, They were all delicious. the Bruschetta Dip could use artichokes, the Fajita Bites are now my September go to demo dish with the Parm Soup for October shows. I dont care for coconut and I LOVED the German Choc Lava Cake. The Cosmo drink mix was delcious, but the Appletini one was just so-so.

 

[esavvymom]

Korean BBQ Pork (Chicken) w/Crunchy Wontons:thumbup::thumbup:

I made this tonight, using Chicken instead of Pork. DELICIOUS. Everyone in the family (including my picky eaters) loved it. The wontons were a big hit too. I didn't have Apple Jelly, so I used some homemade Peach Preserves that I had. Peach, Apricot, any of those would work. Made a delicious sauce, with the Korean BBQ Sauce.

Wontons as a 'base' made it tricky to eat....kept falling off my fork But it was very good. And I love the low calorie/fat counts.

 

[quiverfull7]

At our meeting last night we had the pasta carbonara--big hit; fajita bites--another big hit; orange blossoms--was it just me, or did this make TONS of dirty dishes, but tastes great, I had leftover cream cheese mixture (1 prep cup) and will use it for a fruit dip with the kids; caramel pretzel bites--pretty good; and lava cake--very sweet but great. I LOVE the new SB with pictures, and think these are the best overall recipes any of our SB's have had in 5 years.

YES on the dishes for the Orange Blossom Cakes... I did this for our meeting and yikes... it's very labor intensive. They do taste good though!

 

[yumyummum]

Big Enchilada for guests.... had to use an extra tortilla also to cover the middle!

I am gluten free so I made extra filling and had it on the side baked with cheese.

Everyone loved it. Would make again

Salty Sweet Caramel cups. Made them twice with gluten free pretzels. HUGE hit with everyone.