easy – Page 21 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses April 8, 2016July 27, 2020black pepper, bundt, butter, celery, cooked chicken, cooked rice, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, gluten-free, half-and-half, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, milk, nutmeg, nuts, pared, parsley, pecans, red bell peppers, rice, salt, sausage, side dish, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, walnuts, yellow onions

I’ve done over 100 recipes for this project so far, and I’m about a week shy of working on it for 2 years. Most of those recipes weren’t bad. Maybe not repeats, but not too many of them stick out as YUCK in my mind…until now. I did NOT like 12-2: Rice and Vegetable Bake, but maybe that’s just me–I can admit that I’m weird about certain textures and flavors.

Simply Delicious describes this dish as “colorful” and “nutritious”, which is 1980s code for “bland diet/health food that nobody really likes but can tolerate to varying degrees”. Having had too much of this kind of stuff forced upon me throughout my parents’ yo-yo dieting phases, the mere notion sends a shiver down my spine.

Onward, for science. 💀

7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses March 30, 2016June 18, 2020barbecue, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, blanched, boneless, broiled, canola oil, deglazed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, grated, grilled, lemons, lunch, melted, olive oil, party food, pork, pork loin, salt, sautéed, untested, vegetable oil, zested

Since the last entry was a garlic & beef entry (8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping), here’s another garlic recipe for you, this time with pork: 7-34: Grilled Pork Slices with Garlic. I used a cast-iron grill pan for this, but you could use a BBQ or even just do a pan-sear if that’s what you’ve got.

This is some serious garlic game–whole cloves, in fact. But they’re right–blanching them does make them pretty mild and yummy. If you’re willing to risk some garlic breath, this recipe is a pretty decent one to check out.

8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses March 29, 2016July 2, 2020beef, black pepper, boneless, Boursin, Brie, broiled, brushed, butter, canola oil, cheese, chives, cream cheese, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, garlic, gluten-free, grilled, herbs and spices, minced, pan-fried, parsley, restaurant-style, salt, sirloin, steak, top loin, untested

In 8-17: Pan-Fried Steak with Onions, I talked about using a different method to cook steaks than what’s usually written in these recipes–namely, the restaurant method where you sear the meat on the stove and finish cooking in the oven. If you want some practice with that method, 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping is a decent (and garlicky) recipe for it.

Honestly, it sounds like even Simply Delicious couldn’t think of anything especially creative or memorable to say about this dish. It’s not much more than steak with some garlicky cheese on top, but if that interests you, read on.

7-27: Pork Tenderloin in Creamy Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses March 23, 2016June 18, 2020black pepper, boneless, butter, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, creamy, deglazed, Dijon mustard, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, half-and-half, melted, pan-fried, pork, pork loin, pork shoulder, pork tenderloin, salt, tarragon, tenderized, untested, whipping cream

I had mentioned in 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce that I had an abundance of pork tenderloin due to a Costco sale. As I work my way through the freezer (mostly because I keep adding new things into it), I find myself with another pork tenderloin–this time, we’ll try it as 7-27: Pork Tenderloin in Creamy Sauce.

There’s not a HUGE difference conceptually between this one and 7-36: Pork Tenderloin with Curry Sauce–the major differences are just spices & condiments added to the final sauce. Otherwise, this is another perfectly serviceable weeknight dinner option, or even a decent meal for entertaining.

8-17: Pan-Fried Steak with Onions

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses March 16, 2016July 2, 2020beef, black pepper, brown sugar, butter, canola oil, caramelized, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, gluten-free, maple syrup, melted, pan-fried, restaurant-style, salt, sautéed, sirloin, soy sauce, steak, tamari, top loin, untested, vegetable oil, vegetables, yellow onions

Here’s a decent way to do a nice restaurant-style steak at home. 8-17: Pan-Fried Steak with Onions–with a few of my tweaks–is (hopefully) bound to impress whomever you’re cooking for.

I’m a hippie when it comes to some things, but I just love a good steak. My dad is a steak man, and his parents before him. I’ve made quite a few in my day, in a lot of different ways. This is probably the easiest, quickest, and most consistent method. Plus, it won’t set off your smoke detector or require you to go outside.

1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 12, 2016December 31, 2019appetizers, breakfast, butter, chanterelle, chives, creamy, diced, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fried, garlic, Glendale apt, green onions, hors d'oeuvres, lunch, melted, minced, mushrooms, pan-fried, parsley, party food, revisited, salt, sautéed, snacks, sour cream, thyme, toasted, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread, yellow onions

Well folks, this is the 100th cooked recipe I’ve made for this project, which is just shy of 2 years old at this point. I chose 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms to be the 100th recipe for a reason–it was one of two recipes (along with 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip) that inspired me to do this project in the first place.

I made this for a birthday party I’ve mentioned before along with 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks and 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte. It’s a great appetizer and a delicious snack.

16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 11, 2016November 6, 20204-6-09 dinner, all-purpose flour, baked goods, birthday, brownies, butter, cakes, chilled, chocolate, chocolate chips, cornstarch, creamy, custard, dessert, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly inexpensive, frosted, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, Kahlúa, light corn syrup, macadamia nuts, melted, party food, pastry, pastry cream, pecans, revisited, roach motel apt, semisweet, strawberries, torte, vanilla extract, vegetarian, walnuts, whipping cream

I had mentioned in 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks that I had attended a birthday party recently–I used 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte as part of the birthday cake that I made for it. This is one I’ve made before, and this time I kept some of the changes I made the first time.

I noted that I made this with Kahlúa whipped cream the first time. I did that this time too, along with a Kahlúa pastry cream to layer between 2 layers of torte.

5-21: Omelette with Herbs

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 7, 2016October 14, 2020Alton Brown, black pepper, breakfast, butter, chervil, chives, dried herbs, easy, eggs, folded, French, gluten-free, green onions, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, melted, omelette, parsley, salt, Saturday, Sunday, tarragon, untested, vegetarian

A few weekends ago, on a sleepy Saturday morning, I found myself with many eggs, some fresh parsley, and a desire for an omelette. Since I’m now at the point that every time I cook, I consider whether I could use up a Simply Delicious recipe on it, I knew there had to be a true omelette recipe in there, given their heavy reliance on French fine-dining recipes & methods. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, consider making 5-21: Omelette with Herbs.

Simply Delicious shows the half-fold omelette method in their pictures–I’ve always preferred the Alton Brown tri-fold omelette method. This is a truly classic French-style omelette, unlike the last omelette I covered (and messed up), 5-11: Country Omelette.

12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 29, 2016July 27, 2020al dente, all-purpose flour, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, canola oil, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, half-and-half, lunch, melted, milk, pan-fried, pasta/noodles, roux, salmon, salt, sautéed, smoked salmon, sun-dried tomatoes, tomatoes, untested

Another recipe attempt born of Costco sale inspiration and brought down by too much time between buying stuff and using it up. I did my best with 12-9: Pasta with Salmon and Basil, but I probably didn’t do it justice.

This was the only recipe in Simply Delicious that I could find that used salmon filets, not steaks. I somehow had it in my head that there were several recipes that used salmon, and so was disappointed to find that this was the only one that I was going to knock out, despite now having a few pounds of salmon.

17-17: Banana Bread with Pecans

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 17, 2016August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, bananas, breads, breakfast, bundt, cinnamon, cloves, creamed, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, honey, nuts, party food, pecans, quick breads, revisited, sifted, snacks, vegetable oil, vegetarian, yogurt

While I’m not a huge fan of bananas themselves, I’m surprisingly a fan of banana bread. 🍌🍞 It’s always good for breakfast or as a snack. This particular recipe for it, 17-17: Banana Bread with Pecans uses honey to sweeten it, which is a nice alternative to using processed sugar.

Simply Delicious gives you a nice blurb here on bananas–for a more in-depth look, check out 19-5: Bananas, part of the Cooking School series featured at the end of the cookbook.