rice – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

9-11: Stuffed Peppers

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses December 23, 2021December 22, 2021basted, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, bread crumbs, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, cooked rice, dinner, easy, egg yolks, eggs, grated, green bell peppers, ground beef, ground chicken, ground lamb, ground meat, ground pork, ground turkey, ground veal, inexpensive, lunch, milk, new book, panade, peeled, red bell peppers, rice, salt, stuffed, tomato juice, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, white onions, white pepper, yellow bell peppers, yellow onions

Stuffed peppers were not a big thing in my household growing up–neither my mom or I are big fans of bell peppers (sorry dad). However, that may not be the case for you–9-11: Stuffed Peppers might be something you’re more than familiar with. Since this was a “new book” recipe, I didn’t even know Simply Delicious had a stuffed peppers recipe…until now.

I had written a while ago (in 9-23: Fruity Sausage Kebabs) that I had at that point covered all the Chapter 09 recipes that I possess…and then I found the new book and had a few more to cover. Well, I’ve reached that point again–this is (again) the last recipe I have for this chapter. Unless more recipes turn up somewhere (don’t send them to me, I’m not trying to be the online library for this book), this is it for Ground Meat and Sausage.

13-22: Green Bean Pilaf

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses October 28, 2021November 29, 2021black pepper, blanched, brown rice, butter, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, folded, gluten-free, green beans, mushrooms, new book, pilaf, rice, salt, sautéed, side dish, simmered, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, vegan, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

Well, hello there. So it’s been a while, and my first recipe back is…rice with green beans? No wonder it took me so long to get back into this.

13-22: Green Bean Pilaf is exactly what it sounds like–a rice side dish with green beans that you could serve next to some sort of (presumably meat-based) main dish. It’s advertised as being vegetarian, but I feel that’s just by “default” since there’s no chunks of visible meat in it.

Man, does Simply Delicious enjoy their tarragon. It doesn’t seem like tarragon is super popular in modern dishes–is that because it’s not useful or because we don’t think of it as a relevant ingredient? Deep herb-related thoughts to consider on this Thursday afternoon. 🤔

3-6: Minestrone

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters August 31, 2021August 31, 2021al dente, basil, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, carrots, celery, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, diced, dinner, easy, frozen, garlic, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Italian, julienned, leeks, lunch, minced, new book, olive oil, pan-fried, parboiled, Parmesan, pasta/noodles, peeled, pork, potatoes, rice, salt, sautéed, simmered, smoked ham, soups, sweet peas, tomato bouillon, tomato paste, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, yellow onions

Minestrone soup has a few specific memories for me: I remember there always being cans of it in our pantry when I was a kid, and all of my favorite Italian restaurants growing up still have it on the menu. My dad was a big minestrone fan–both of those memories are tied pretty closely to him.

3-6: Minestrone comes from the new book, and it’s not surprising that Simply Delicious had a recipe for it–they tend to have their own versions of most of the “classics”.

I’m not sure I’d suggest serving this in what look like miniature barrels in the picture above (imagine trying to clean those). However, the colder weather is coming soon, and this recipe is a good (and cheap) way to meal-prep, eat your veggies, and stay warm all at the same time.

12-21: Luxury Rice with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses May 4, 2020July 2, 2020asparagus, bay shrimp, butter, casserole, cooked shrimp, crab, curry powder, dinner, easy, egg whites, fairly expensive, folded, gluten-free, krab, long-grain, lunch, mayonnaise, meringue, mushrooms, peeled, rice, sautéed, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, stiff peaks, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, whipped, whipping cream

When I made 11-9: Fried Jumbo Shrimp, I decided to try to knock out a bunch of recipes at once, thinking I could just buy a few pounds of shrimp and save myself multiple trips to the store. One of the other shrimp recipes I made was this one, 12-21: Luxury Rice with Shrimp.

One of the glaring problems with this theory is that shrimp goes bad QUICKLY, and unless you want to cook/eat a ton of shrimp all at once, you might not end up using all of it in time.

This is what happened to me, and I ended up having to toss a bunch of the shrimp (which was on sale–BIG red flag) before I could even use it and buy more (not on sale this time 💰💰). So much for trying to reduce my environmental and financial impact.

Consider that before you attempt my idea. Also, make sure the recipe is worth it–this one was not even worth rebuying the shrimp, in my opinion.

12-28: Tri-Color Risotto

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses February 26, 2020February 26, 2020beef bouillon, beef broth, blanched, boiled, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, easy, fairly inexpensive, green bell peppers, grind, long-grain, olive oil, peeled, pine nuts, red bell peppers, rice, risotto, saffron, salt, sautéed, shallots, shredded, untested, whipping cream, white wine, yellow bell peppers, yellow onions

If you haven’t figured it out by now, there’s a bit of a lag between when I make these recipes and when I actually post about them. It helps me to reread the recipe to figure out what I’m doing in a lot of these photos. While rereading the recipe for 12-28: Tri-Color Risotto, I realized I didn’t even make it right.

That’s my first explanation for what happened here. My second is that I don’t like cooking rice in a pan–I’m spoiled by rice cookers.

My third is that this isn’t risotto–it’s pilaf.

7-21: Jambalaya

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses January 13, 2020August 30, 2021American, American South, andouille, basil, black pepper, blanched, boiled, brown rice, Cajun, canola oil, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, Creole, cubed, dinner, fairly easy, fairly expensive, French, garlic, green bell peppers, long-grain, lunch, minced, New Orleans, peeled, pepperoni, pork, Provençale, rice, salt, sausage, sautéed, shrimp, smoked ham, Spanish, spicy, Tabasco sauce, thyme, tomatoes, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetable oil, West African, wild rice, yellow onions

Cajun and Creole cooking are not something I’ve had a ton of experience with, so 7-21: Jambalaya is somewhat unfamiliar territory. I didn’t grow up eating a lot of New Orleans cuisine, other than my mother’s ill-fated attempt at making gumbo once.

It’s not a difficult recipe (quite the opposite, actually), but I don’t feel like I have a solid understanding of the difference between what makes it good and what makes it great. That’s something that comes with experience, both as a taster and as a creator.

I couldn’t have even told you that there are two types of jambalaya, Creole and Cajun. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, the difference between the two is the absence or presence of tomatoes. Simply Delicious identifies this version as Creole, which is correct–that’s the version that has the tomatoes in it, which this one does. 🎺🍅

8-43: Chinese Beef and Rice

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 19, 2019July 2, 2020Asian, beef, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, butter, canola oil, carrots, celery, Chinese, cilantro, deglazed, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, ginger, green onions, julienned, leeks, long-grain, lunch, red bell peppers, restaurant-style, rib steaks, rice, salt, sautéed, sirloin, soy sauce, steamed, stir-fry, tamari, untested, yellow bell peppers

8-43: Chinese Beef and Rice is essentially beef stir-fry served with some rice, but it’s done in less than 30 minutes, which is a big plus. This one goes along with several other Chinese restaurant-style dishes that Simply Delicious has featured, including 6-11: Chinese Duck and 11-36: Hong Kong Shrimp.

Chinese cuisine is a lot more prevalent today in the United States than it was 30-40 years ago when Simply Delicious was being written & printed. I suppose we have cookbooks like this to thank in some small part for introducing many 1980s American families to a more global palate.

Speaking of a global palate–I made this dish vegan. Yes, that picture above is vegan–keep reading to find out how. #clickbait

12-25: Parmesan Rice with Shrimp

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses September 3, 2018July 28, 2020boiled, butter, canola oil, celery, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chili powder, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, diced, dinner, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, garlic, grated, green onions, herbs and spices, julienned, long-grain, lunch, melted, minced, Parmesan, parsley, party food, peeled, reduced, rice, sautéed, scallions, seafood, shellfish, shrimp, side dish, Tabasco sauce, untested, vegetables

12-25: Parmesan Rice with Shrimp is a great weeknight dinner option or even perhaps a side dish for a potluck or party. It has similarities to paella and risotto, but isn’t as time or skill-intensive as either of those. And as you can tell by the frequency of how much I’ve been posting lately (not much), anything quick is much appreciated.

I feel like they were trying to roughly capture the essence of Shrimp Etouffee with the flavors used in this recipe, but with much less work involved. Cajun/creole-inspired isn’t new for Simply Delicious, but it’s rarely executed faithfully.

9-7: Cabbage Rolls

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses March 16, 2018October 18, 2020all-purpose flour, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, blanched, boiled, braised, butter, cabbage, cooked rice, creamy, deglazed, dinner, egg-free, fairly hard, folded, gravy, Greek, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, pan-fried, rice, rolls, salt, slurry, steamed, stuffed, stuffing, untested, vegetables, whipping cream

Cabbage is probably my least favorite cruciferous vegetable. Although cabbage is present in most Chinese food dishes and it doesn’t bother me in that format, however, just the thought of eating plain cabbage is not very appetizing to me. The meatloaf-like mixture inside 9-7: Cabbage Rolls was the most edible part of the dish. I like that they served it with a blurred out Heineken.

Anything that involves a stuffing and rolling procedure is usually best done in a big batch because they are a pain to put together.

5-14: Thai Chicken Omelette

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 12, 2017October 13, 2020Asian, bean sprouts, boneless, breakfast, canola oil, chicken, chopped, cilantro, cooked chicken, cubed, curry paste, curry powder, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, filling, French, healthy, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon balm, lemongrass, lunch, omelette, Oriental, parsley, pasta/noodles, peanut oil, rice, rice noodles, sautéed, sesame oil, sliced, soy sauce, sriracha, steamed, tamari, Thai, tomatoes, untested, vegetable oil

Looking for a way to use up some leftover chicken for breakfast or lunch? 5-14: Thai Chicken Omelette doesn’t require a ton of ingredients, but makes for a light yet hearty meal. Omelettes are something Simply Delicious does quite a bit of (5-33: Omelette Stacks with Rice, 5-21: Omelette with Herbs, or 5-9: Swiss Cheese and Crouton Omelette are just a few examples), but this one’s definitely a decent take on it.

Simply Delicious mentions the Thai cuisine featuring lots of fruits and vegetables, but this recipe doesn’t have much in the way of produce, other than maybe the bean sprouts. Try substituting sautéed squash or carrots for a vegetarian alternative to the chicken.

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