"These are very popular with my family for our Christmas gatherings. I have made them for about three years now and I have some tips: Buy more coating than the recipe asks for, the first couple of years I ran out well before all of the balls were coated. Serve them chilled, not at room temperature, this will ensure that they don't taste mushy or raw. Decorate soon after coating, or the chocolate will harden. These are very time consuming and can be quite messy (especially the dipping part), but they taste so dang good that I slog through it once a year. After trying a few flavors, I personally prefer yellow cake with cream cheese frosting, coated in milk chocolate."

"The first couple of times I made this it was too watery, and there were way too many beans, they were overwhelming the whole dish. This time I added half the amount of beans but included an extra tablespoon of chili sauce, and the dish turned out much better! "

"I just made these for a St. Patrick's Day celebration at work and my co-workers LOVED them! They raved about them all morning. Don't pass these up because the recipe looks too complicated - it really wasn't that difficult. At first it was taking me a while to make the Tootsie Roll hatbands, but once I figured out my own system for doing it the work went by much faster. Next time I make these it likely won't take me nearly as long (in total, for my first time making these, I spent about three hours on them). Tips: - Add a little over 1/2 tsp. of mint extract to the frosting. - Microwave the Tootsie Rolls two at a time for only a few seconds, making them soft and bendable. I struggled trying to use a knife to cut the strips; when I used kitchen scissors I found it was MUCH easier and faster. - Microwave the frosting in small portions. I used store bought frosting and was afraid it wouldn't spread well since some reviewers here had had issues with it, but I found that if I microwaved only a couple of spoonfuls at once and then immediately poured it over the hats, it spread nicely (only a small amount of touch-ups were necessary). Also, this doesn't have to be as messy as it sounds. I set the cooled hats on aluminum foil and then went to town with the frosting. Really DRENCH the hats in it, then after the frosting has dried you can use a knife to cut around the edges, leaving the mess behind on the foil. Even "wasting" so much frosting like this, I still had enough to cover all of the cookies."

"I really wanted to like this, but it just didn't taste quite right. There wasn't enough broth and it tasted too much like plain water. The only tastes that really did come through were the seasonings, which felt too overpowering (especially the fresh thyme). This isn't the worst minestrone I've ever had, but I can't see myself making it again. It just wasn't very appealing."

"This was pretty good. I took out the green beans and garbanzo beans and used some sliced celery instead and it tasted great. If you serve it right away it is just right, but if you leave the noodles in there any longer than 20 minutes they will turn to mush and start to fall apart. This is true for any leftovers as well, though it still tastes just as great. Also, I might add more water next time, as this turned out to be very thick, not really a soup at all but more a noodle dish with some sauce and vegetables. This is especially true after you have added the noodles and they soaked up any extra liquid. So maybe add some hot water when you add the noodles. But otherwise, as I said before, the taste was really great."

"I actually had the opposite problem than many of the reviews I read here - the noodles were cooked and the dish was done but there was too much water left over. I had to let it boil on high for a little bit to evaporate some of the leftover water out. Next time I will use more pasta or simmer on a higher temp. Also, I did find it slightly bland even though I used hot salsa. Overall it is good and I will have it again, but maybe add some chopped tomatoes or peppers. It just needs that extra "zing.""