Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project – Page 12 – A recipe-by-recipe adventure working our way through a treasured set of 1980s subscription-based cookbooks.

2-12: Tips About Salad Dressing

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 25, 2020April 17, 2020appetizers, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, black pepper, blender, blue cheese, canola oil, crème fraîche, Dijon mustard, dressing, dried herbs, dried spices, dry mustard, emulsion, food processor, French, fruit salad, garlic, grape juice, healthy, herbs and spices, honey, how-to, lemon juice, lime juice, mayonnaise, olive oil, orange juice, pasta salad, potato salad, Ranch, red raspberry vinegar, red wine vinegar, restaurant-style, salads, salt, sour cream, spice blends, sunflower oil, sweet mustard, tarragon vinegar, Thousand Island, untested, vegetable juice, vegetable oil, vinaigrette, vinegar, white wine vinegar, yellow mustard, yogurt

Since there’s about to be quite a few salad recipes coming up, I thought I’d put 2-12: Tips About Salad Dressing out there as well. I tried to think of more salad dressing variations than what they list here, but honestly? Most “traditional” salad dressings do fall into one of the three categories they establish: vinaigrette, cream/mayo-based, and low-calorie. Go ahead–can you think of one that doesn’t?

PS: I spy that sneaky tarragon vinegar in their picture below. If you want to learn to make your own, check out 19-7: Fresh and Dried Herbs.

At the restaurant I worked at a few years ago, we made our own dressings from scratch. And by “we”, I mean “me”–I made all the dressings for the whole restaurant every week and kept everything stocked up, since it was my station (garde manger, or pantry chef) that made the salads. We made a blue cheese, ranch, Caesar, creamy balsamic vinaigrette, and another lighter, more traditional vinaigrette.

One of the first times I made the blue cheese dressing (which required a giant immersion blender and a 22-quart Cambro–it’s kind of like mixing concrete in a bucket), a customer liked it so much they asked to buy some to take home. I guess that makes me qualified to write about salad dressings now.

Hey–I have to find something to do while we’re all staying at home for a while. And so do you (probably), so why not read this?

14-9: Glazed Crêpes with Pears

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 23, 2020March 23, 2020all-purpose flour, batter, broiled, butter, canola oil, cored, crêpes, dessert, dusted, eggs, fairly easy, fruit, glazed, Grand Marnier, granulated sugar, griddle, hot desserts, inexpensive, liqueur, liquor, melted, milk, pears, peeled, powdered sugar, salt, untested, vegetable oil, vegetarian

I think 14-9: Glazed Crêpes with Pears might be my final untested crêpe recipe from Simply Delicious–but there may be others in there. I’ll even give you a quick spoiler (since this recipe is kind of boring…another spoiler) for upcoming posts–there are more recipes out there than what I had originally. I know because I found (and purchased) some in a local Goodwill.

I’ve still got quite a few posts to go before I dig into some of the *NEW* recipes (and show you the book they came in), but for now, you can read about yet another crêpe recipe after the jump. But this time, with pears! And glaze!

2-18: Luncheon Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 19, 2020October 28, 20211980s, blue cheese, boiled, butter, cheese, cottage cheese, croutons, dressing, easy, emulsion, Feta, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grapes, healthy, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lettuce, lunch, melted, nuts, olive oil, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, sautéed, tarragon, untested, vegetarian, Waldorf, walnuts, white wine vinegar

Reporting LIVE (to print), from an undisclosed location in Northern California, USA, currently sheltering-in-place and teleworking due to COVID-19/coronavirus/the apocalypse. It’s getting crazy out there, y’all–stay safe and healthy. And wash your hands.

Since we’re all stuck inside for a while, and I’ve got a big backlog of these to get through (over 50), here’s one more thing to pass the time. 2-18: Luncheon Salad is pure 1980s–turn up the vaporwave (for A E S T H E T I C), find your best matching sweatsuit, and crack open a Tab.

I don’t remember feeling like this salad was a treat–more like a punishment. If you can find some cottage cheese in the store right now, go for it–just don’t invite your friends. #socialdistancing

12-24: Cannelloni with Chicken

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses March 14, 2020March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, boiled, breasts, butter, cannelloni, cheese, cheese sauce, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, cottage cheese, creamy, cubed, dinner, dried herbs, dry vermouth, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, food processor, frozen, grated, lunch, marinated, meal prep, melted, milk, nutmeg, Parmesan, pasta shells, pasta/noodles, salt, spinach, strained, strainers, stuffed, thyme, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Meal-prepping is trendy now, but it’s always been a good idea if you want to save money and calories. 12-24: Cannelloni with Chicken works well if you want to make it on a Sunday, split it up into a few containers, and reheat it throughout the week. At least, that’s how we ate it.

Even Simply Delicious advises you can make this meal ahead of time, although their suggestion is for entertaining guests. This recipe/concept is pretty versatile–it’s good fresh or as leftovers.

8-25: Stir-Fried Beef

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses March 2, 2020March 2, 2020Asian, beef, canola oil, carrots, Chinese/dark soy sauce, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, ginger, grated, green onions, julienned, leeks, marinated, mushroom soy sauce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, salt, sautéed, sesame oil, sirloin, soy sauce, stir-fry, tender-crisp, vegetable oil, wok

Stir-fry is not a new concept for Simply Delicious, so you may feel a sense of déjà vu while reading this recipe if you’ve spent any considerable time on this site. 8-25: Stir-Fried Beef isn’t much more than you’re expecting, so if a quick and easy stir-fry is what you’re looking for, read on.

With rice, 10/10.

In this case, 12-28: Tri-Color Risotto. So more like 6/10.

15-45: Strawberries with Cottage Cheese

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 27, 2020February 25, 2020cheese, cold desserts, cottage cheese, dessert, easy, fruit, Grand Marnier, grated, healthy, inexpensive, juiced, lemon balm, liqueur, marinated, mint, nuts, orange peel, oranges, pistachios, powdered sugar, strawberries, summer, toasted, untested, zested

I had extra strawberries left over from 14-22: Strawberry-Peach Cobbler, so I tried to reuse them into 15-45: Strawberries with Cottage Cheese. Simply Delicious is big on using cottage cheese in an effort to be “low-fat” (all the rage in the 1980s when this book was published) and healthy, but they’re not usually very successful.

Don’t be deceived by their pretty picture here. It’s not ice cream. It’s cottage cheese. Just keep that in mind going in.

12-28: Tri-Color Risotto

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 26, 2020February 26, 2020beef bouillon, beef broth, blanched, boiled, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, easy, fairly inexpensive, green bell peppers, grind, long-grain, olive oil, peeled, pine nuts, red bell peppers, rice, risotto, saffron, salt, sautéed, shallots, shredded, untested, whipping cream, white wine, yellow bell peppers, yellow onions

If you haven’t figured it out by now, there’s a bit of a lag between when I make these recipes and when I actually post about them. It helps me to reread the recipe to figure out what I’m doing in a lot of these photos. While rereading the recipe for 12-28: Tri-Color Risotto, I realized I didn’t even make it right.

That’s my first explanation for what happened here. My second is that I don’t like cooking rice in a pan–I’m spoiled by rice cookers.

My third is that this isn’t risotto–it’s pilaf.

14-22: Strawberry-Peach Cobbler

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 25, 2020February 26, 20204th of July, à la mode, apples, baking powder, biscuit cutters, biscuits, butter, cobbler, cookie cutters, cored, dessert, dough, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, fruit, gift ideas, granulated sugar, hot desserts, hulled, nectarines, party food, pastry, peaches, peeled, salt, sliced, strawberries, summer, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

Finally, we’ve reached the first recipe (for this project) made in my new (to you) kitchen: 14-22: Strawberry-Peach Cobbler. It was summer and 4th of July, so something with fruit that goes well with ice cream was bound to be a hit.

Speaking of 4th of July, I made 2-37: Chicken-Salami-Rice Salad for a party that I attended with a guy that I had just started dating. 10 years later, this is the first recipe I cooked in my very first house, that I bought with that same guy (who I ended up marrying not long after I made that first recipe).

Told you this book has some memories.

15-23: Kiwi Mousse in Chocolate Cups

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 17, 2020February 17, 2020almonds, baking cups, brushed, butter, chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate cups, chopped, cold desserts, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, frozen, garnish, gluten-free, kiwis, MD2019, melted, Mother's Day, mousse, nuts, powdered sugar, sliced, strawberries, toasted, untested, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

15-23: Kiwi Mousse in Chocolate Cups is the final recipe from last year’s Mother’s Day (MD2019) AND the final recipe from this kitchen, which was the backdrop for this project for 5 of its 6 years (at the time of this writing) of existence. I made this in tandem with 15-10: Frozen Raspberry Desserts, since they both make use of chocolate cups and frozen fillings.

These ones didn’t turn out quite as well as their raspberry counterparts, but they made a nice contrast and provided some variety. Along with these two chocolate cup desserts, I also made 15-17: Summery Cantaloupe as part of my dessert offerings for Mother’s Day.

15-17: Summery Cantaloupe

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 27, 2020March 9, 2020blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, breakfast, brunch, cantaloupe, cassava, chilled, cold desserts, currants, dessert, easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, fruit salad, gluten-free, honey, honeydew, lemon juice, lemons, marinated, MD2019, melon, melon baller, mixed fruit, Mother's Day, port wine, raspberries, sherry, side dish, strawberries, summer, untested, vegetarian, watermelon

Obviously, the name of this recipe is 15-17: Summery Cantaloupe, and if you’ve seen any of the pictures of the recipe (like above, as a header image), you’ve put it together that the melon pictured is in fact, not a cantaloupe.

The CSA box that week provided a very nice watermelon, and so that’s what I went with for part of my Mother’s Day 2019 brunch (MD2019). Yes, I’m also behind on writing these up.

I’ve made Simply Delicious fruit salads for Mother’s Day before–if you’re looking for similar ideas, check out 15-19: Layered Fruit Salad and 15-30: Champagne Sundaes from 2017‘s brunch. If you’re up for the challenge of carving a cantaloupe (or in my case, watermelon), continue on.