KIMAR

There wasn't enough water to sufficiently cook the beans. Added extra water, and then MORE water. Took FAR longer than the 10 minutes the recipe stated in order to get beans sufficiently cooked. (At 10 minutes, they were still very crunchy). Vinegar caused an unpleasant taste.

I like things mildly spicy hot but not overly so, thus I reduced the hot pepper sauce to 1/2 cup, omitted the cayenne pepper, and substituted cheddar for the pepper Jack cheese. For me, this gave it just the right amount of heat without being overpowering. (I went to a party recently where Buffalo Chicken Dip was served, and it was so intensely hot that people were coughing & gulping something to drink after the first bite.) Being allergic to blue cheese, I subbed ranch for the blue cheese dressing and omitted the crumbled blue cheese. Hubby loved it and I did also, so I will keep this recipe on file.

Do NOT add cubed potatoes & sweet potatoes as some reviewers have suggested. While it sounded like a good idea, these did not cook in the allotted time and were raw & crunchy. Had to fish them out of the sauce before serving! If you wish to add these, pre-boil them and then add at the end. I reduced the cayenne to 1/2 tsp. per previous comments and it was still quite spicy! Next time I'll reduce to perhaps 1/3 tsp. This makes a lot of sauce, so double the peas, which adds some more color to this colorless dish! Also added 1 Tb. sugar.

Both hubby and I loved it! I added a chopped onion and cooked it along with the sausage and garlic. Also substituted kale for the spinach, and added the kale in Step 1 along with the tomatoes and carrots. Also added a few cubed potatoes and 2 cups chicken broth. Delicious!

Unfortunately, even though I incorporated all the suggestions from other reviewers, this still lacked flavor. I doubled the amount of onion, but the onion needs to be sauteed before putting in the slow cooker because it came out crunchy. I used golden mushroom soup like others suggested, and I doubled the amount of wine (and used red instead of white). I tripled the worchestershire sauce and garlic. I used beef stew meat and seaoned salt, and I used 8 oz. of sour cream and added 4 oz. of cream cheese during the last hour of cooking per others' suggestions. I used fresh mushrooms instead of canned. Still it lacked flavor and the meat was bland.

I used 1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips instead of the chopped chocolate and also added the optional 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder. I tried it warm but it really was much better after it chilled. Good but not as good as regular tapioca pudding in my opinion, even though I do like chocolate.