7-8: Chinese Pork Casserole

7-8: Chinese Pork Casserole

Whosoever it was that the editors of Simply Delicious hired to name these dishes deserves some kind of award.  And the award for naming-the-most-dishes-a-casserole-that-are-not-actually-a-casserole goes to….SIMPLY DELICIOUS. A casserole is defined as “a kind of stew or side dish that is cooked slowly in an oven.” 7-8: Chinese Pork Casserole is cooked relatively fast on a stove top. Doesn’t exactly sound like a casserole to me.

This recipe card is great because it basically teaches you to make a version of Chop Suey at home.


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9-14: Chili Con Carne

9-14: Chili Con Carne

This recipe card gave me an excuse to cook up a big ol’ batch of 9-14: Chili Con Carne, not that I needed an excuse. I’ve made a few pots of chili in my day, but not one quite like this. My favorite episode of the Simpsons, entitled El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer), features a chili cook-off as a vital plot point. The infamous space coyote scene still cracks me up to this day. 😹

With the peppers featured prominently on the front of the recipe card, Simply Delicious has pointed out the one major issue I had with this dish. WHO PUTS BELL PEPPER IN CHILI? 🌶 Jamie and I enjoy a little spice in our chili. I’ve always wanted to try adding a pepper akin to the “Merciless Pepper of Quetzalacatenango … grown deep in the jungle primeval by the inmates of a Guatemalan insane asylum.” 🌶


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12-27: Chicken Broccoli Lasagna

12-27: Chicken Broccoli Lasagna

Here’s something a bit different…and I’m not talking about the recipe. In fact, 12-27: Chicken Broccoli Lasagna itself is pretty boring. But here’s what’s interesting: I made this recipe at work, for work. This one will be a bit of a glance into what I do all day–my other kitchen, if you will.

I usually use ground turkey for ground meat recipes (there’s a few kids with special dietary preferences) and I’ve made lasagna before for work, so this one seemed like a perfect recipe to try to scale up for the amount I need for a daily meal. “Healthy” is what parents are looking for these days when it comes to school lunches–another way this recipe is a good fit. 🍴

EDIT: Full disclosure–this was written in 2016, and I now have a career in a completely non-culinary related field. However, this still serves as a fun reminder of a previous “life”. Enjoy!


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3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup

3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup

Jamie made this recipe, 3-21: Broccoli-Celery Soup, for me before on a mild Christmas Eve. 🎅🏽 We were living in Glendale at the time, it doesn’t exactly get cold there. ❄

(Editor’s noteI didn’t make this on Christmas Eve–my mom did. I don’t know which Christmas Eve, but that’s definitely her writing. I did however, make this when we lived in Glendale, CAand he’s right about that–it doesn’t get that cold there.)

I really enjoyed the soup the first time around, so I took my own shot at cooking this recipe.


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9-5: Modern-Style Hamburger

9-5: Modern-Style Hamburger

Simply Delicious has provided a plethora of burger recipes for me to try, like 9-15: Peppercorn Beef Burgers and this recipe, 9-5: Modern-Style Hamburger. I like to cook these on the electric griddle because I can cook the entire batch off at once and they all cook evenly.

I tend to prefer burgers that are dinner sized. These burgers are more like sliders or a thin lunch style burger. 🍔


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12-14: Brown Rice Casserole

12-14: Brown Rice Casserole

12-14: Brown Rice Casserole doesn’t sound very appetizing, but it is very cheap to make and very filling. I made this dish before I took a trip as a meal prep and it really helped me keep my eating in check. ✅

As advertised on the card, this dish is hearty enough to be a meal in itself. I did eat it with a side of pepperoni slices, but the majority of the meal was this casserole. 🌾


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2-14: Quick and Easy Tomato Salad

2-14: Quick and Easy Tomato Salad

2-14: Quick and Easy Tomato Salad is a Simply Delicious recipe that is aptly named for once! This tomato salad was quick and easy, just as advertised. 🍅

This salad made a quick dinner on a hot summer night where I didn’t want to heat up the oven. 🔥


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9-6: Filled Tacos

9-6: Filled Tacos

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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6-17: Chicken Breast with Cheesy Filling

6-17: Chicken Breast with Cheesy Filling

There was apparently a week in April 1992 (can’t say that without thinking of this) when my mom was on a tear through this book. 7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole is from two days earlier, and there’s a few more coming up from that same time period.  6-17: Chicken Breast with Cheesy Filling seems like something my mom would have been all about–she loves chicken breasts and blue cheese.

Stuffed chicken breasts aren’t new territory for Simply Delicious6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts and 6-25: Salmon-Filled Chicken Breasts are two variations on the concept that I’ve already covered.


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8-32: Indian Beef Casserole

8-32: Indian Beef Casserole

8-32: Indian Beef Casserole is an affront to Indian cooking worldwide. It is a dish that barely any Indian people would actually eat because it contains beef! 🐮

During my brief trip to India, I actually ate some beef served by the hotel which was spiced similar to this dish. This hotel served beef because it hosted a lot of travelers from USA and Europe who usually eat beef. Indian culture perceives the cow as sacred and a significant portion of the population observes a vegetarian diet. 🇮🇳


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