9-4: Swedish Meatballs

9-4: Swedish Meatballs

There seem to be a lot of differing interpretations of Swedish meatballs out there. Serious Eats runs into the same dilemma and ups the meatball’s game with umami and acidic flavors; Alton Brown stays simple and sticks to earthier allspice and nutmeg. Both soak the white bread in milk (panade) before adding it to the meat mix, whereas 9-4: Swedish Meatballs swaps the milk for water and keeps the spices restrained simply to salt and pepper. This doesn’t bode well.

Simply Delicious, you can’t call it an “original recipe” when the only original thing about it is how bland and unseasoned it is. I made these as a requested dish for someone else, and was provided only ground beef (their preference) as opposed to a mix of meats with which to make them. As a result, they were even LESS exciting–it’s a good thing the requestor digs bland food.


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5-11: Country Omelette

5-11: Country Omelette

This is another backlogged one from November 2015 like 14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce. You’ve probably already seen the results of 5-11: Country Omelette, but I maintain that I CAN make a good omelette–this was just not one of them.

5-11 Country Omelette

Country omelettes are a thing, usually referred to country French omelettes. As is my problem a lot of times, I had pan difficulties which led to this one not turning out well. Maybe it’s time to do some pan shopping.


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2-37: Chicken-Salami-Rice Salad

2-37: Chicken-Salami-Rice Salad

Today (Jan. 16) is my wedding anniversary, so I thought I’d post a recipe that has some relevance to my husband and I. I made this for a 4th of July party that we attended together back in 2009, when we had only just started dating.

We actually had a terrible time at the party, and I remember the salad being a bit strange with my modifications, but everything seems to have worked out in the end. My second attempt at the salad turned out much better, as most things do in life after a bit of thought. 🙂


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14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Happy New Year! For 2016, I decided to start the year off making something happen that I’ve been intending to do for a while: migrate this blog to its own site and off of Tumblr. I’m still going to crosspost to Tumblr, but all new entries will be natively posted here on simplydeliciouscookbook.com.

My first entry of 2016 and on my new site will also introduce a new category: Hot Desserts. This recipe is 14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce, and these pictures are actually from Thanksgiving 2015. It took me a while to get back to this one after the holiday baking extravaganza in December.

I made this as my Thanksgiving dessert contribution–both my dad and husband LOVE bread pudding. This one came out a bit strange, but that’s mostly due to poor pan choice.


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16-45: Colonial Apple Cake

16-45: Colonial Apple Cake

Looking for a way to use up some apples? 🍏 🍎 16-45: Colonial Apple Cake is an easy way to do that with some very classic-looking results. This even looks like something American colonists would have eaten (take it from a former U.S. history teacher).

16-45 Colonial Apple Cake

I made this to take to a get-together, but it’d even be nice as a simple birthday cake or for a dinner party.

EDIT: 16-45: Raspberry Tartlettes is also #45 for Group 16–someone at Simply Delicious messed up their numbering.


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12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms

12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms

There’s been way too many cookies, both online and IRL. 12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms is a relatively healthier and easy dinner option to help ease you into post-holiday life (or just an idea for dinner tonight).

I don’t know about you, but these kind of meals with a bit of protein (chicken, fish, etc.) is pretty much our go-to for dinner these days. Maybe I’ve been cooking in schools too long already–my mind instantly goes to two veg-fruit/one protein/one grain for meal planning. I suppose there are worse habits.


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17-67: Coconut Crescents

17-67: Coconut Crescents

Merry Christmas! 🌲 Or if it’s not Christmas when you’re reading this, hope you’re having a nice day. 😃 The final component of my holiday assortment this year was 17-67: Coconut Crescents, and since they turned out somewhat nicely (unlike some of the other components), I thought it best to end this holiday baking burst on a high note.

I included these in my assortment to vary some texture (not all cookies) and to make at least one that used a yeast dough. These can be really versatile–just swap coconut for something else like a strawberry filling or sprinkle something like brown sugar on top.


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17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

The only chocolate-containing component in my holiday baked goods assortment, 17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are honestly pretty good any time of year. So if you’re reading this at some other time of year besides Christmas Eve, don’t feel like you can’t make these.

I found a way to mess these up as well (seems like this year I had a hard time with some things that should have been really easy), but I’ve made them before previously to this, and both times (then and now) they’re still definitely very edible and good.


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17-52: Apricot Macaroons

17-52: Apricot Macaroons

This recipe is another Simply Delicious “take” on something that already largely exists in a slightly different form. These aren’t really these kind of macaroons (the Passover kind). They’re not these kind of macarons (the French kind) either.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.


Mine were a horror show compared to the picture on the card–I blame poor tools (my pastry bag blew its side out early on, rendering it useless and me bagless) even though any chef knows that’s a cop-out. I also blame exhaustion–these were the last ones I made of all of the recipes.


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17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies

17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies

I had high hopes for these. They sounded great. And to be honest, it still might have been my fault these went badly. 17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Maybe I overworked them. Maybe my dough was too warm. Maybe it was my oven or my pans. Something just didn’t work out here. After the jump, I’ll show you what happened.


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