Valerie Brunmeier

Okay, YUM! Only thing is that for the life of me I could not roll out my one pound loaf of bread dough into a 16" x 12" rectangle. I worked on it for quite some time and got it to about 15" x 8" and that was perfect. I recommend thawing two loaves because there is easily enough filling with these ratios to fill two, and you'll want two! I omitted the olives and subbed shredded Italian cheese blend for the Swiss. Reduced oven temp to 375 and baked for 20 minutes to golden brown perfection.

I made some significant modifications to this to suit our taste and my review is based on those changes. I added 1 pound of ground beef in addition to the hot Italian sausage for a meatier chili. The directions don't mention this but you'll want to be sure to drain off as much grease possible after you brown the meat. I upped the amount of cumin to 1 teaspoon. I also omitted the tomato paste and instead added a 14 ounce can of tomato sauce. I was concerned the consistency would be very thin and liquidy with the addition of an entire bottle of beer and the tomato sauce adds some body. Most importantly, after everything is added, I brought the temp up to bring it to a boil then lowered the temp, covered the pot, and let it simmer for an hour to allow the flavors to blend, cook off a bit of the alcohol, and help the sauce thicken. It was VERY good with these changes and I'd definitely make it again. The Italian sausage adds great flavor!

I followed the recipe as written, which is a bit rare for me, and my family loved it! I love the idea of filling the meatloaf with a layer of spinach and provolone. The addition of the veggies was nice too. Using a combo of Italian sausage and ground beef is a great way to add a lot of flavor to meatloaf.

I had a feeling this cake would be great because it was recommended to me by a very talented baker. I had the task of baking a cake for a 2 year old's birthday party. The cake was sturdy enough to remove from the pans and decorate without any issues but it was also extremely moist and went over in a huge way with the people at the party. One person said she liked it better than the cake she always orders from her favorite bakery. I filled it with a mocha filling and topped it with cream cheese frosting. Will definitely be making this one again.

I love the ingredients here but felt the balsamic needed jazzing up. Instead of using it alone, I mixed up a basic balsamic vinaigrette by adding some olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, and a touch of sugar. The flavor was great. This is a wonderful healthy option for grilled steak.