16-15: Tarte Tatin

16-15: Tarte Tatin

I’m not going to write a long dissertation on the origins of the well-known French dessert, Tarte Tatin–I’ll let Wikipedia handle the background of it. Instead, I’m going to focus on my history with 16-15: Tarte Tatin, evidenced by my mom’s handwriting all over the front & back of the recipe card.

Since she and I already had plans to go to a local farmers’ market for this year’s Labor Day BBQ supplies and apples were plentiful, I decided to bring back an old classic for us to cook together. 🍏

Most versions of Tarte Tatin are somewhat similar–it’s a pretty basic recipe. My mom’s notes claim it’s “easy”, and she stands by it to this day. Her other notes turned out to be helpful as well–the importance of good note-taking.


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1-9: Four Seasons Pizza

1-9: Four Seasons Pizza

1-9: Four Seasons Pizza is a weird little pizza. This appetizer uses ingredients from the 4 different seasons (from my interpretation): ham for spring, olives for summer, mushroom for autumn, and shrimp for winter. The marinated artichoke heart in the middle reminded me of the sun. 🌞

As I stated in the 13-11: Vegetarian Pizza post, I do enjoy pizza. I made these 4 small pizzas and was able to freeze 2 of them whole to eat later. 🍕


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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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17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins

17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins

Another recipe that I intended to cover earlier (when it was more relevant). Whatever, you can totally still eat 17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins in mid-to-late November.

The recipe card says “not-too-sweet”…they’re not kidding. These are good, but only if you have some preserves or butter to go along with it. On their own, they’re a bit…dry.


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17-46: Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

17-46: Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

🎃  I started this one over a month ago, when it would have still been relevant/timely, but procrastination got the best of me. Late, but hopefully not too late, here’s 17-46: Pumpkin Streusel Muffins.

If you’re not totally over pumpkin yet, these are a nice option for breakfast or dessert.

I made these along with 17-53: Spiced Whole Wheat Muffins and 17-68: Oatmeal Raisin Cookies as part of a “fall” baked goods basket for the break room. These muffins were the first of the assortment to disappear. 🍂


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3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup

3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup

I think one of my favorite parts of old cookbooks is the adjectives they use to describe their dishes. I like to imagine a team of writers/cookbook jockeys staying late into the night, trying to dream up the perfect word to engage some adventurous cook into what would be an otherwise mundane-sounding recipe. How do you make carrot soup sound exciting?

That’s where “velvety” comes in. I present–3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup.

Oh, Simply Delicious. I admire you for trying to get me so excited about your carrot soup, that you put smiley face dollops of sour cream on your camera bowls.

When you have a LOT of carrots to get rid of and you’re looking for something velvetySimply Delicious has you covered.


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7-26: Maple-Glazed Pork Chops

7-26: Maple-Glazed Pork Chops

Finally–something that’s not chicken. The first pork recipe we’ll cover here is 7-26: Maple-Glazed Pork Chops.🍁

My mom was NOT a pork eater and I grew up quasi-Jewish, so there wasn’t a lot of pork being cooked in my childhood, spare the occasional ham steak or rack of ribs here and there at my dad’s request.

The key here is to make sure you use REAL maple syrup, not table syrup. Big difference.


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3-1: Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

3-1: Sweet Potato Vichyssoise

Soup is technically easy to make, but can still quickly go wrong. Our CSA box came with 2 lbs. of white sweet potatoes this week, and it was time for something else besides sweet potato fries. The trusty interwebs told me that white sweet potatoes were pretty similar to regular ones, so I thought I’d give 3-1: Sweet Potato Vichyssoise a whirl.

Vichyssoise is originally a French-American creation. This version is definitely more of an autumn/Thanksgiving-type of flavor, but it was still easy to make and pretty good. Obviously the recipe card depicts the use of an orange sweet potato, but white sweet potatoes work pretty well also.

Soup’s on!


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