Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project – Page 42 – A recipe-by-recipe adventure working our way through a treasured set of 1980s subscription-based cookbooks.

2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 14, 2016March 14, 2020American, appetizers, black beans, boiled, cilantro, cooked chicken, corn, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, gluten-free, green bell peppers, green onions, ham, jalapeño peppers, lettuce, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, party food, red bell peppers, rice, salads, salt, shrimp, side dish, simmered, Southwestern, spicy, untested, vegan, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, wild rice

In the mood for more corn after 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder? It’s still not quite corn season yet, but if you’ve got some frozen corn hanging out in the freezer, you can feel like it’s summer with 2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad.

This would be a great recipe to make for a summer BBQ or picnic–it’s healthy, pretty, and as they say above, easy to make. It feels incredibly out of season now (February), but therein lies the magic of the Internet–you might find this in June or July and it’ll be perfect then.

4-6: Rösti

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 13, 2016October 6, 2020breakfast, butter, cast-iron, Cheddar, cheese, chives, crispy, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, gluten-free, grated, green onions, inexpensive, leeks, lunch, nutmeg, pan-fried, pared, parsley, potato pancakes, potatoes, salt, shredded, Swiss, thyme, untested, vegetarian, yellow onions

Here’s one I’ve been meaning to make for a while. As I mentioned in 9-12: Shepherd’s Pie and 6-30: Scottish Chicken Casserole, I had too many potatoes after a Costco shopping trip, so I’ve been burning off potato recipes.

Potato pancakes have been done before, along with a zucchini version as well. So what’s different about this one? For one, this one features an umlaut. 😉

6-30: Scottish Chicken Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses February 2, 2016June 18, 2020bay leaves, black pepper, bone-in, breasts, butter, casserole, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, dinner, dried herbs, drumsticks, Dutch oven, egg-free, fairly easy, gluten-free, inexpensive, melted, paprika, parsley, pot-roasted, potatoes, salt, scalloped, Scottish, seared, thighs, thyme, untested, wings, yellow onions

As I mentioned in 9-12: Shepherd’s Pie, I had a LOT of potatoes to get rid of after buying too many at Costco. So here’s another potato recipe for you: 6-30: Scottish Chicken Casserole.

EDIT: This seems to be a popular one–not sure why, since it’s not very exciting. Easy, but not thrilling. If that’s what you’re here for, game on. If you want to know more about this site/me, read this. Thanks for visiting!

Offhand, I have no idea why it’s “Scottish”, other than it seems similar to a lot of food you get in the UK. A cursory Google search turned up this recipe, which seems kind of like this one. This other recipe (from the same search) gives a bit more history, linking it to a classic French (and Scottish) casserole-type dish.

9-12: Shepherd’s Pie

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses February 2, 2016July 5, 2020apple cider vinegar, bay leaves, boiled, butter, Cheddar, cheese, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, garlic, gluten-free, ground beef, ground meat, half-and-half, Hutton house, inexpensive, mashed potatoes, nutmeg, paprika, pared, parsley, potatoes, red bell peppers, revisited, salt, sautéed, Swiss, vinegar, yellow onions

Here’s one with my mom’s writing on it. 9-12: Shepherd’s Pie promises to be a new take on an old classic and I had a LOT of potatoes to get rid of. Don’t buy a 20-lb bag of potatoes from Costco because it’s “such a good deal”.

I can’t say I’m particularly a fan of shepherd’s pie, but I had all the ingredients and a lot of potatoes to burn up. It stores/freezes well, and this version uses red peppers and beef instead of carrots/peas/corn and lamb (that’s why it’s shepherd’s pie–because of the sheep/lamb). 🐑

3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 28, 2016March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, boiled, butter, carrots, celery, chowder, corn, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, mirepoix, purée, roux, salt, sautéed, simmered, soups, summer, thyme, Tyler Florence, untested, vegetarian, yellow onions

Corn is more of a summer thing, but the recipe for 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder calls for fresh, canned, or frozen corn, so you can have it anytime you have a hankering for corn chowder. I’m not personally a huge fan of corn chowders, but I know a lot of people are, and my in-house reviewer claimed to like it, so it comes recommended.

I’ve made a variation on Tyler Florence’s corn chowder at my current job, which was also a hit. Both call for thyme, but Simply Delicious chooses to bulk with mirepoix vegetables & milk rather than potatoes, roux, & heavy cream like Tyler Florence. Another example of the lean/health-conscious 80s.

2-36: California Egg Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 27, 2016March 14, 2020bacon, black olives, black pepper, boiled, California, crème fraîche, Dijon mustard, easy, egg salad, eggs, green olives, green onions, hard-boiled, inexpensive, lettuce, lunch, mayonnaise, pan-fried, red wine vinegar, salt, sour cream, Tabasco sauce, tarragon vinegar, tomatoes, turkey, untested, vegetarian

I’m not quite sure what makes 2-36: California Egg Salad “Californian”. I think in the 1980s if you served something on lettuce leaves instead of on bread and used light mayonnaise instead of regular, it was now “healthy” and therefore “Californian“. 🌴☀️🏄🏻‍♀️

I like how their idea of “livening up” egg salad is adding Tabasco and mustard. Really living on the edge there, Simply Delicious.

Side note: The bottle in the back of the shot looks the tarragon vinegar they have you make in 19-7: Fresh and Dried Herbs.

12-8: Penne with Broccoli

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses January 26, 2016July 27, 2020all-purpose flour, basil, blanched, boiled, broccoli, butter, Cheddar, cheese sauce, dinner, easy, inexpensive, lunch, milk, mushrooms, oregano, pared, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, penne, roux, salt, sautéed, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

As you’ve probably figured out, I don’t always write these immediately after I’ve cooked the dish. I usually remember a lot about them though, and I make a lot of mental notes as I go, especially now that I’ve done 80+ of these at this point.

I don’t remember a damned thing about 12-8: Penne with Broccoli. I’m pretty sure the only thing I remember was that it was pretty unmemorable.

My guess is it’s one of those one-pan-skillet-easy-weeknight-dinner kind of things that gets you to eat vegetables by covering them in cheese and noodles. Not that that’s bad, but it’s nothing new.

1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 26, 2016February 5, 2020appetizers, artichoke hearts, cheese, chilled, dips, easy, fairly inexpensive, Glendale apt, gluten-free, green onions, mayonnaise, Mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, party food, red bell peppers, revisited, roasted, sour cream, vegetarian, Worcestershire sauce

Around the time I started this project (almost 2 years ago at this point), I was distracting myself from real-world stresses by throwing myself into something that always made me happy–cooking. I would make dishes from these and other books and send them to work with my husband or bring them with me to share. 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip was one of those dishes–in fact, one of the two that inspired me to make the project a reality.

I made it originally for my husband’s work (they loved it) and I made it this time for a get-together I attended (also loved it). It’s SUPER easy and a real crowd pleaser. I mentioned that this was one of two recipes that inspired this project–the other was 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms.

9-4: Swedish Meatballs

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 18, 2016July 5, 2020Alton Brown, appetizers, beef, black pepper, bread crumbs, butter, deglazed, dinner, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, gravy, ground beef, ground meat, lunch, meatballs, pan-fried, party food, reduced, salt, Swedish, untested, veal, white bread, white pepper, yellow onions

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.

5-11: Country Omelette

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 17, 2016October 14, 2020bacon, black pepper, breakfast, butter, carrots, cast-iron, cheese, cooked chicken, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, French, green bell peppers, ground meat, ham, inexpensive, lunch, omelette, parsley, potatoes, red bell peppers, salt, sausage, sautéed, untested, yellow onions

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.

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.