Aredendra

Really solid recipe but the texture is off if you let them get out at room temp. Makes them a little harder to transport/eat at your desk (priority for me, sadly, heh).

Who doesn't love prawns?! I divided the whole recipe by a third and ate it all for myself as a main. Lots of seafood but that's what I'm into :) This isn't five stars for me because I felt the overall dish was a little too sweet rather than savory. It needed some salt for sure and in retrospect, I'm surprised s&p wasn't listed, at least 'to taste'. The feta doesn't quite cover it.

This is OK so far as barbeque-esque sauces go, but this is NOT Arby's sauce, I'm sorry to say. The molasses overwhelms it and mostly I just smell baked bean sauce of some kind. The hot sauce also seems a little excessive--between hot sauce, steak sauce, Wocestershire and ground pepper, be prepared to get a real pepper kick in there. I'm alright with that, but again, not Arby's sauce. To cut the heavy molasses taste and the sweetness, I added more Worcestershire and steak sauce and it ended up an odd sort of BBQ sauce as I said. Totally edible with the pulled brisket I made but not at all what I was expecting.

A couple things when you're making this recipe. Firstly, I'd suggest making slightly more dressing than it directs. The coating is VERY light. Especially if you add a protein, as I did (shrimp). Second, don't let the dressing's taste scare you before you actually dress the salad! It's definitely meant to be paired with the pickled vegetables. I made this recipe in steps and while the rice was a little dry (it had been refrigerated overnight), it was nice to be able to do pieces here and there. My pickles were refrigerated for a little over 24 hrs and they were still crisp and delightful. Ultimately, this still gets three stars because the flavor profile is just a little too tame. I served the salad cold which does dull flavors a touch but I'd say maybe a little more chili paste. A little more lime juice. Just some overall kick!

I really enjoyed this salad - it's full of flavor and texture so even though it's light, there's much to satisfy your eyes and your mouth! Props for being a healthy, beautiful recipe you CAN make ahead. I made this salad twice. Once, I made and ate at prep-time and once chopped and mixed all the vegetables except the lettuce the day before. I mixed the dressing and poured it over the veg and the acids even kept the avocado from changing much at all overnight! I poured veggies and dressing over lettuce that morning and kept meat, beans and cheese mixed separately for warming. Added together at work the next day, it was still delicious! The one downside is I went light on the dressing because I think it's a large amount of honey that isn't fully balanced. The tanginess is interesting and makes a traditional taco salad more exciting, but there's something missing I can't quite pinpoint. Unlike most dressings, this one contains no oil and I wonder if that base would mellow it out to what I expect.

Used Sweet Almond Flaky Pie Crust for the base, which worked well. The crust was slightly sweet so the fact I didn't have turbinado sugar didn't mar the end product and almonds + cinnamon + blueberries? Of course! This recipe also came together really quickly. Changes: I would be more generous with the cinnamon next time, which is on me. Additionally, I had thawed my blueberries because I thought the frozen fruit would have too much water. Finally, the cook time has to be reduced. By 14 minutes my pies were starting to burn so I scooted them out of the oven way early.