17-19: Parmesan Bread

17-19: Parmesan Bread

After staring at the screen for much too long (not the whole two weeks since the last time I posted, but at least some portion of it), I’ve determined that I just can’t think of anything all that notable to say about 17-19: Parmesan Bread. I’ve even made it once before, despite the lack of notations or photographic evidence. It’s just not what I hoped it could be.

The first time I made this bread, it turned out (somewhat) like the one shown in the Simply Delicious picture. This time, it turned out more like savory, vaguely cheesy monkey bread.


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5-13: Italian Easter Pie

5-13: Italian Easter Pie

🐰 The Easter Bunny has come early this year and he’s brought 5-13: Italian Easter Pie! I prefer the Cadbury Bunny to the Easter Bunny, but I’ll eat this pie any day.

This dish is certainly elegant and delicious, I’ve never made a Torta Pasqualina before. Now I can check it off the list. ✅


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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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12-23: Tortellini with Broccoli

12-23: Tortellini with Broccoli

12-23: Tortellini with Broccoli is yet another Simply Delicious recipe where their idea of a cream sauce is pouring sour cream on top of something warm and stirring it in. When using lactose free sour cream, the sauce comes out too thick. It’s still chunky on top of the pasta. Maybe I need to cook it longer or stir it more, I will keep experimenting to find out. Onto…the recipe!

It had been a while since I ate tortellini and this recipe gives you an idea of how to make a sauce in a pinch. Simply Delicious has other recipes such as 6-2: Fiery Chicken Casserole where the method to make a quick cream sauce is to dump sour cream into the pot.


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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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17-35: Healthy Bread With Vegetables

17-35: Healthy Bread With Vegetables

17-35: Healthy Bread with Vegetables was yet another attempt to make bread that went somewhat awry. This recipe was quite an experiment with quite unusual results. 🍞

This bread was definitely moist and colorful. I’ve had carrot cake, but I’ve never had shredded carrot in my bread. I substituted the beet with zucchini because the only Beets I enjoy are the band from Doug.


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12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken

12-17: Curly Pasta with Creamy Chicken sounds like a recipe my mom or I would have attempted back in the days we were cooking out of this book–it’s possible we did and never marked the card. Both of us were suckers for dishes just like this. 🐓

I probably would have made this recipe earlier if curly pasta was easier to come by–I wanted to find just the right shape for this dish. I have a fascination with different pasta shapes. 🍝

4/13/19 EDIT: Speaking of pasta shapes, take a look at the cover photo for the very similar 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and the one above. Notice anything strange?


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4-7: Mixed Vegetable Bake

4-7: Mixed Vegetable Bake

4-7: Mixed Vegetable Bake is yet another boring vegetable dish. 🍆 🌶 🍠 There wasn’t an emoji for the vegetables used in this dish, but it was such a bland dish that even the text needs a little excitement with some added emojis! 😉

This onion is about the most flavorful part of this combination behind the cheese. The vegetables add a lot of color, but not a lot of flavor.


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3-3: French Onion Soup

3-3: French Onion Soup

It’s the middle of summer right now, so soup’s probably not your first thought. However, I continue to be surprised that how no matter how hot outside it is, people still enjoy soup. So here’s a classic: 3-3: French Onion Soup.

Simply Delicious cites Les Halles (the Parisian farmers’ market, not the NY restaurant where Anthony Bourdain worked) as the originator of French onion soup. I wasn’t able to directly verify that with 5 minutes of lazy Googling, but I did find a food timeline that gives a bit of the dish’s history–I suppose their claim is totally still possible.


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6-25: Salmon-Filled Chicken Breasts

6-25: Salmon-Filled Chicken Breasts

I’ve been saving some lox in the freezer from a past brunch for this recipe, 6-25: Salmon-Filled Chicken Breasts. There’s not a lot of salmon recipes in Simply Delicious (despite salmon’s popularity in the 1980s & 90s), and this may be one of the only smoked salmon ones that I have in my collection for this book.

Definitely not the first time Simply Delicious has given a recipe for stuffed chicken breasts–see 6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts for another take on the same idea. However, if you like smoked salmon like I do, you may have some extra laying around–here’s a use for it. 🐟


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