The stomach flu hit our house this week, so the eating and reviewing ended up a little off schedule. But at long last, here is the rundown of how things went:

The Chipotle Sausage Stew created by Vanessa in Wisconsin was yummy. I modified it a bit, because I had some chipotle turkey sausages on hand. And every time I’ve tried to use chipotles in food for my wee beasts, they say it’s too hot to eat. It doesn’t matter if I only add a 1/2 teaspoon of the adobo sauce to the recipe, they won’t eat it. But by using the sausage, we did get the flavor and just enough heat to notice it and not scare the beasts away from the table. Well done, Vanessa! Quick, easy, and yummy. You can’t beat that combo when feeding kids. Rating: 4

I saved the Sweet-Grilled Ham with Glazed Pineapple for Easter Sunday dinner since we were a couple of days behind due to the flu. It only took about 10 minutes to throw together and was delicious! I think it might have been the fastest the wee beasts have ever eaten food. And that wasn’t just because we were getting ready to go see the Easter Bunny and hunt eggs. They actually loved the ham, loved the pineapple, and asked for a few more bites once their plates were empty. SCORE! This will be making another appearance at our house. Rating: 5!

Oven-Fried Chicken, creamed spinach, and corn. I’m not sure why this was supposed to be the best oven-fried chicken recipe. It wasn’t close. I was afraid of the coating getting gooey on the bottom, so I cooked these on a cooling rack placed inside of a baking pan. It didn’t help. The coating on the bottom of the chicken still ended up gooey. There just isn’t enough heat and air around the underside of the chicken to make it crisp. Rating: 2.5

I had high hopes for the Tomato Florentine Pasta Bake. I love pasta and try to find new ways to make it so we don’t end up in a spaghetti and meatball rut (although I think The Doc and the wee beasts would be just fine if we did). But this recipe was a bit dry and bland. Not a keeper. Rating: 3