black olives – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

2-19: Country Bean Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 27, 2020November 14, 2020beets, black olives, country-style, dairy-free, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, French, garlic, gluten-free, green beans, herbes de Provence, herbs and spices, inexpensive, julienned, lemon juice, lunch, minced, olive oil, parsley, salads, string beans, untested, vegan, vegetarian, yellow onions

I had intended on using the entry for 2-19: Country Bean Salad to make the tired joke about how no one likes bean salad or the person who brings it to a party. And to point out how it was always a skip for me at the salad bar (RIP salad bars/buffets, I will REALLY miss you).

But there’s got to be a reason why “bean salad” is still a thing. Someone must still like it, for it still to exist. And not just in an ironic hipster “I like it specifically because it’s uncool” way. Maybe the vegans? I eat mostly vegan, and it’s still a no-go for me.

Simply Delicious says that this particular variation of bean salad is “typically French”, but I can’t find too many references online that specifically corroborate that claim. I did find a fancy version of this dish done by one of the Top Chefs that might be worth looking at, if you’re interested in bringing this recipe into the 21st century.

Apparently it was part of a particularly infamous (red) wedding meal in Game of Thrones as well. I watched GoT, but the food on the table wasn’t exactly the focus of that scene, so I must have missed it.

Even if it’s been on TV, it’s still not that appetizing to me. But again: someone must be into this stuff, so if it’s you, read on.

13-15: Vegetarian Lasagna

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses September 22, 2020September 22, 2020basil, black olives, blender, canola oil, cheese, chili sauce, chopped, cottage cheese, dinner, dried herbs, Feta, food processor, frozen, herbs and spices, lasagna, layers, lunch, meal prep, melted, Mozzarella, olive oil, pasta/noodles, peeled, Ricotta, sautéed, shredded, spinach, tomatoes, twice-baked, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

We’ve covered lasagna dishes on this site before, and 13-15: Vegetarian Lasagna introduces yet another variation of the traditional dish by eschewing tomatoes completely. This version is similar to the Stouffer’s Vegetable Lasagna that my aunt used to bring to dinners all the time as a “homemade dish”. This has no tomato sauce, instead going for cheese and spinach layered between lasagna noodles.

There’s also onions and olives in there as well (I LOVE olives), as well as…chili sauce? I’m not sure why they thought chili sauce was a good addition to this recipe, but at least you can adjust it based on preference.

2-3: Salad Niçoise

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 27, 2020November 24, 2020anchovies, black olives, black pepper, capers, chilled, dairy-free, dressing, eggs, emulsion, fish, flaked, French, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, green beans, minced, olive oil, peeled, potatoes, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, seafood, sliced, summer, tuna, vinegar, white wine vinegar

Salads are usually a good choice when it’s hot out, and since we’re currently in the middle of summer (here in the U.S.), 2-3: Salad Niçoise (pronounced nee-swah) might be a good choice for an upcoming meal. Plus, it primarily uses readily-available canned/jarred ingredients, which can be helpful for both budgets and pandemic shopping.

Salade niçoise is a well-known dish (like the last recipe I covered, 14-8: Baked Alaska), and there are many different versions of it out there. Even Simply Delicious alludes to the different variations in their blurb above– although what they insist as a “must” (eggs, tuna, olives) seems to be up to interpretation.

5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters July 14, 2019November 14, 2020black olives, black pepper, breakfast, butter, cheese, cherry tomatoes, chives, chopped, cottage cheese, easy, eggs, green olives, healthy, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, salt, sautéed, scrambled, spinach, Tabasco sauce, toasted, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread

Looking for a quick, healthy breakfast option from Simply Delicious? 5-10: Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes is from the 1980s, but actually holds up really well 30+ years later. Consider this the predecessor to avocado toast.

This version uses cottage cheese in the scrambled eggs (instead of milk, I assume). If you’re looking to cut calories (and fat) even further, skip the milk and butter altogether–according to the late Anthony Bourdain, you don’t need either for good scrambled eggs.

9-21: Chili Beef Casserole

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses July 22, 2018October 18, 2020basil, black olives, butter, chili powder, chopped, corn, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground meat, guacamole, herbs and spices, lunch, Mexican, minced, parsley, peeled, red bell peppers, red kidney beans, salt, sautéed, sour cream, Southwestern, spice blends, taco shells, tacos, Tex-Mex, tortilla chips, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

9-21: Chili Beef Casserole is yet another case of calling something a casserole that is barely a casserole. There is no condensed soup in this recipe and this dish is cooked on a stove top, not baked. This dish is more of a tortilla filling than a main course as a casserole.

One might say this dish is a ground beef casserole with a cultural appropriation problem, not “with a Mexican accent”.

2-23: Grilled Chicken Salad

Adam Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 8, 2017October 4, 2020balsamic vinegar, black olives, black pepper, boneless, breasts, broiled, brushed, chicken, cilantro, dairy-free, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, gluten-free, green onions, grill pan, grilled, herbs and spices, iceberg lettuce, inexpensive, lemon juice, lettuce, lunch, marinated, minced, mushrooms, olive oil, radicchio, red bell peppers, red wine vinegar, Romaine lettuce, salads, salt, sliced, spinach, Tabasco sauce, thighs, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

Who doesn’t love a simple salad? The editors of Simply Delicious knocked one out of the park with 2-23: Grilled Chicken Salad. Combining fresh vegetables with nicely cooked chicken is an easy method for creating a killer salad. My final product didn’t look much like the photo below, but the flavor is totally on point.

I love the bowl of strawberries and fresh baked biscuits behind the salad in the product photo.

9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 9, 2017October 19, 2020apples, bay leaves, black olives, boiled, canola oil, chopped, cinnamon, cloves, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, green olives, ground beef, ground meat, herbs and spices, lunch, party food, pinto beans, red bell peppers, red kidney beans, salt, sautéed, simmered, soaked, stews, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, white beans, yellow onions

This dish is a dish that just “isn’t quite”. Isn’t quite good, isn’t quite bad. Like a bootleg chili, 9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner is a Simply Delicious mess of a dish that isn’t quite chili and isn’t quite a casserole. 🌶

Unusual flavors is an understatement. Apples, cloves and cinnamon are a very old school meat and flavor combination. The broadest definition of meat is a solid food so pretty much everything used to be called meat. Merriam Webster Dictionary features an archaic definition of meat: “the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (as a husk or shell)”. Fruit meat, nut meat, vegetable meat, the fleshy part that provides sustenance is technically a meat under this really old definition.

1-5: Pigs in a Blanket

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 6, 2016December 24, 2019all-purpose flour, American, appetizers, black olives, butter, cocktail, cocktail sauce, cottage cheese, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, franks, frozen, hors d'oeuvres, hot dogs, inexpensive, milk, party food, pastry wheel, puff pastry, sausage, Silpat, TGV 2016, Thanksgiving, toothpicks, vegetarian, wieners, yellow mustard

The second of two appetizer dishes I made for Thanksgiving this year (TGV 2016), 1-5: Pigs in a Blanket aren’t a surprise to many who grew up with these being served at various parties & gatherings. I’ve been looking for an event like this to make this recipe for, and I finally found it–it doesn’t get more traditional American than Thanksgiving.

This was the sixth of seven dishes I cooked for this year’s feast, and I made these the day of Thanksgiving (Thursday 11/24) while I waited for the whole wheat kernels I needed for 17-5: Hot Seedy Rolls to finish soaking. I waited until the day of to make these because they really taste best as fresh as you can make them.

Since this is technically being posted after Thanksgiving, these work well for Christmas, parties, or really even just a Saturday night Netflix marathon. The stains and wrinkling of the card (I scanned these over two years ago at this point) tell me someone else may have whipped up some of these sometime in the past, although no other clues exist pointing to whom or when. The tagline at the bottom is right though–most everyone can get on board with these “pigs”.

5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake

Adam Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters December 1, 2016October 13, 2020anchovies, appetizers, black olives, black pepper, breakfast, butter, celery, cheese, cooking class, dinner, dried herbs, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, grated, ham, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, milk, Mozzarella, mushrooms, omelette, oregano, pancakes, Parmesan, party food, pepperoni, pizza, red onions, revisited, rosemary, salami, salt, seafood, shellfish, shredded, shrimp, sliced, tomatoes, toppings, twice-baked

Cooking a pizza on a pancake dough creates a very kooky, weird pizza experience. 5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake is not your usual pizza–this soft-crusted abomination is another dish created when the Simply Delicious editors decided to have one too many beers at the office.

The beer in the background of this image should have been my first clue that this was a strange dish.

Editor’s note: I used this recipe for when I taught cooking in an after-school program for K-8 kids a few years ago–I didn’t have the time or resources to make a traditional rising dough using yeast on that particular site, so this method provided me a somewhat valid shortcut.

9-6: Filled Tacos

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses August 13, 2016October 20, 2020avocados, black olives, butter, canola oil, Cheddar, cheese, chili powder, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, filling, green olives, ground beef, ground meat, ground turkey, hot sauce, inexpensive, lettuce, lunch, Mexican, Monterey Jack, party food, salt, shredded, sliced, sour cream, Southwestern, stuffed, taco shells, tacos, Tapatio, Tex-Mex, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

I never expected to find a recipe for filled tacos in the Simply Delicious cookbooks. 9-6: Filled Tacos are an easy and filling dinner. The prep is the longest part. 🌮

I bought a box of prepared taco shells at the store. Different from the kind shown in the photos provided by Simply Delicious, but they got the job done. 🇲🇽

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