fairly easy – Page 5 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

17-62: Scandinavian Coffee Cake

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods July 17, 2018November 6, 2020all-purpose flour, almond meal, almonds, at work, baked goods, breakfast, butter, cake yeast, cakes, chopped, coffee cake, dessert, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, favorites, filling, gift ideas, gluten-free, granulated sugar, nuts, party food, Scandinavian, sliced, snacks, springform pan, tart pan, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, yeast

I had mentioned in a recent entry (16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie) that when I make baked goods for sharing with my work colleagues, I try to make them gluten-free if possible. Not only do I have a good friend at work that eats gluten-free, it offers one more option for the other people there who may want to make a gluten-free choice as well. 17-62: Scandinavian Coffee Cake was the first Simply Delicious recipe that I adapted for this particular purpose, and it turned out really well.

In the other recipe I cited above (16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie), I mentioned that I didn’t have the pictures for this recipe, even though I did cook it. Well, turns out I found the pictures…so here it is, over a year after I made it in reality. ⏳

16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 7, 2018July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, at work, baked goods, butter, chilled, chocolate, custard, dark chocolate, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gluten-free, granulated sugar, grated, lemon peel, lemons, macadamia nuts, meringue, milk, nuts, party food, pi day, pie crust, pies, semisweet, sliced, toasted, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

A few months ago, we celebrated Pi Day in my office. Most of the pies were store-bought, but I decided to flip through Simply Delicious and see if there was anything worth contributing. I decided on 16-11: Meringue-Topped Chocolate Pie–everyone likes chocolate, and we had had a mishap with the lemon meringue pie on the way back from the store while preparing the day before.

If you’re not familiar with Pi Day, it takes place on March 14th, which when written as a numeric date is 3-14 (at least in the U.S. it is–some countries reverse the order). Pi (the mathematical constant represented by the Greek letter π) is usually rounded up to 3.14, so March 14th is celebrated with actual pies (and a bit of math) as a play-on-words. 😂

No one really needs an excuse to eat pie, but “It’s a math joke” is certainly an acceptable one.

12-33: Individual Beef Lasagna

Adam Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses April 23, 2018October 27, 2020beef, boiled, broccoli, canola oil, celery, cheese, cream of mushroom, creamy, dinner, dried herbs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, grated, half-and-half, herbs and spices, individual, lasagna, layers, leeks, lunch, melted, milk, mushrooms, olive oil, oregano, parsnips, pasta/noodles, peeled, roast beef, sautéed, sliced, untested, vegetables

Have you ever thought to make individual servings of lasagna? I’ve never thought to make lasagna in single servings and after attempting 12-33: Individual Beef Lasagna, I would not try it again. Join me, won’t you? Watch as I do my best to follow this recipe from deep within the minds of the wacky editors of Simply Delicious.

The example photo looks so elegant. The blue rimmed wine glass is excellent, I wish I had a set of those. The description is not hyperbolic when it says this is a completely new version of lasagna. It’s barely lasagna.

13-8: Vegetarian Calzone

Adam Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses April 21, 2018October 28, 20201998 dinner, appetizers, calzone, carrots, celery, chopped, diced, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, frozen, garam masala, garlic, healthy, herbs and spices, Hutton house, Indian, inexpensive, Italian, leeks, lunch, minced, olive oil, party food, pizza, puff pastry, purée, revisited, salt, sliced, steamed, sweet peas, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, tzatziki sauce, vegetables, vegetarian

Much like Ben Wyatt, a late-addition character from NBC’s Parks and Recreation, I have enjoyed my fair share of calzones. Hawaiian calzones are one of my favorite types, pineapple and Canadian bacon can’t be beat! However, when wanting to eat in a health conscious manner, 13-8: Vegetarian Calzone is a great meat-free alternative.

Preparing this dish was super easy. A lot of time can be saved by using ready-bought puff pastry.

Editor’s note: This was a dish I made as part of a big family dinner I cooked with a family friend when I was 13–my step-grandmother is vegetarian and we made this so she’d have something to eat. My mom made her a baked potato for Thanksgiving once, complete with a toothpick-and-construction paper turkey head, wings, and tail that I painstakingly spent the day crafting. She did not appreciate the turkey-potato (too closely resembled an animal for her…go figure), but she did like this calzone.

15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango

Adam Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 12, 2018October 29, 2020boiled, chilled, coconut, coconut milk, cold desserts, creamy, custard, dairy-free, dessert, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fruit, gluten-free, granulated sugar, mango juice, mangoes, purée, ramekins, sieves, simmered, strained, untested, vegetarian, white wine

There are a few great songs about coconuts. Zazu in Disney’s The Lion King sings a cheeky, British song about the coconut. If the fruit pairing in this recipe were different, I’d also share this Harry Nilsson song that you may recognize if you’ve ever been to a chorus concert at an elementary school. Is coconut a fruit? a nut? a seed? Let’s find out together with 15-25: Coconut Custard with Mango.

The cracked coconut in the background is what you may think of when hearing the word “coconut”, however, the brown and white fleshy part is the seed of the fruit. Every part of the fruit of the coconut is used in many different applications all around the planet.

17-34: Honey White Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 15, 2018September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, bread series, breads, breakfast, canola oil, eggs, fairly easy, honey, inexpensive, instant dry milk, kneaded, loaf pan, milk, proofed, salt, scored, sliced, untested, vegetable oil, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

Here’s yet another white bread recipe for you–Simply Delicious has already covered this territory pretty well with 17-6: Best Ever White Bread and 17-10: Poppy Seed Bread. 17-6: Honey White Bread is probably more comparable to traditional white store-bought bread (think Wonder Bread) than the other entries thanks to the sweetness added by the honey.🍯

I’d consider this more of a “breakfast” bread than a sandwich bread, but YMMV.

9-16: Individual Salami Pizzas

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses February 24, 2018July 5, 2020Alfredo sauce, all-purpose flour, barbecue sauce, canola oil, Cheddar, cheese, Colby Jack, cornmeal, crushed tomatoes, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, green onions, herbs and spices, individual, Italian, kneaded, leeks, lunch, melted, Monterey Jack, Mozzarella, olive oil, oregano, Parmesan, party food, pepperoni, pesto sauce, pizza, salami, salt, shredded, Silpat, sliced, snacks, tangy, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, yeast

Simply Delicious has several takes on pizza–we’ve covered quite a few already including 13-11: Vegetarian Pizza, 1-9: Four Seasons Pizza, and 5-31: Oven Pizza Pancake. There’s even 11-4: Calzone with Seafood if you like your pizza folded in half with toppings on the inside. 9-16: Individual Salami Pizzas is probably one of the more “traditional” pizza recipes so far.

It’s recommended to make this for something like a kid’s party, since it’s pretty tough to find a kid who will say no to pizza. I was a teacher for several years, ran a meal program for a school for a year or two, and I’m here to tell you that pizza (in whatever shape/form/capacity) was always a crowd pleaser for young and old.

8-29: Marinated Flank Steaks

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 1, 2018October 16, 2020allspice, basted, bay leaves, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, broiled, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, celery root, chopped, cornstarch, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, flank steak, garlic, gravy, herbs and spices, juniper, lunch, marinated, minced, mirepoix, mushrooms, port wine, red wine, scored, sliced, strained, thyme, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

Over the years I’ve made plenty of steaks, but I don’t have a lot of experience cooking flank steaks. Jamie grew up eating carne asada–but on the East Coast, we were eating Steak-Ums sandwiches. Not quite the same, but it got the job done. 8-29: Marinated Flank Steaks was a fun opportunity to cook this recipe and get familiar with cooking a different cut of beef that I’m used to.

I have some experience with marinades so this dish wasn’t too difficult for me to attempt. It is ranked Fairly Easy after all.

8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic

Adam Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses January 24, 2018October 18, 2020beef, beef tenderloin, blender, butter, chilled, chopped, creamy, crushed red pepper, dinner, dried herbs, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, food processor, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, herbs and spices, lemons, melted, minced, pan-fried, parsley, pastry bag, piped, roasted, rosettes, salt, sliced, Tabasco sauce, tarragon, untested, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onions

Oooh-la-la! What a fancy recipe 8-22: Beef Tenderloin with Whole Garlic is!. I have never attempted a dish like this before, but I approached it with confidence because I’ve watched Jamie make both a spiced butter and oven roasted garlic. She makes it look easy, but making this dish was not as difficult as I thought it would be. I don’t have plates with fancy fluted edges and I was out of red wine to serve with my dish, but I served it as best I could.

This dish is definitely gourmet. With spiced butter and roasted garlic, this dish contains a lot more elements than my usual go-to dishes.

6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses January 22, 2018October 14, 2020Asian, basted, braised, brown sugar, cabbage, canola oil, chicken, chili sauce, Chinese, Chinese cabbage, cornstarch, dairy-free, dinner, drumsticks, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, ginger, grated, herbs and spices, lunch, minced, mirin, peeled, pineapple, pineapple juice, rice wine vinegar, salt, sautéed, shredded, soy sauce, sweet-and-sour, sweet-and-sour sauce, Tabasco sauce, tender-crisp, thighs, untested, vegetables, white wine vinegar

The quote from the front of the recipe card for 6-27: Sweet-and-Sour Chicken is as true as anything I could write about this recipe:

“Cook chicken legs and thighs the Chinese way, in a sweet-and-sour sauce. This is such a simple way of preparing bargain chicken and the result is just terrific.“

Sweet-and-sour sauce tastes great when you make it fresh, but it’s just as easy to buy the thick, red sauce in a jar and call it good.