side dish – Page 7 – 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. 💀

4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 29, 2016October 13, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, asparagus, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, butter sauce, chervil, chives, creamy, dinner, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, herbs and spices, Italian, Italian parsley, melted, milk, mounted, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, side dish, spring, steamed, tarragon, tender-crisp, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

Late March/early April is right around the time asparagus begins its short season, so if you happen to find yourself with some in the near future, here’s a recipe for you: 4-9: Asparagus with Italian Butter Sauce. I served this as a side dish along with 8-20: Juicy Steak with Garlic Topping.

There’s such a short window of time when asparagus is in season–you start seeing it around March-April, and it’s done around early summer, in June-July. We’ve recently signed back up for our CSA box after a break, and asparagus was waiting for us in the first one.

17-6: Best Ever White Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 9, 2016August 23, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baked goods, breads, breakfast, dairy-free, durum wheat flour, egg-free, gift ideas, kneaded, lunch, party food, proofed, revisited, salt, side dish, slit, snacks, steamed, vegan, vegetarian, white bread, yeast

Here’s a really simple and easy white bread recipe if you find yourself in need or want of fresh white bread. 17-6: Best Ever White Bread doesn’t have a lot to it, but if you want to use it for something like 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms, it works really well.

I made this particular recipe once before, a little under a year ago according to the red Sharpie notes on the card. I was working on this project then, but had taken a bit of a break at that point. I had been making a lot of bread at the restaurant at this point and was doing a bit of practice at home using what I had learned.

2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 14, 2016March 14, 2020American, appetizers, black beans, boiled, cilantro, cooked chicken, corn, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, gluten-free, green bell peppers, green onions, ham, jalapeño peppers, lettuce, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, party food, red bell peppers, rice, salads, salt, shrimp, side dish, simmered, Southwestern, spicy, untested, vegan, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, wild rice

In the mood for more corn after 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder? It’s still not quite corn season yet, but if you’ve got some frozen corn hanging out in the freezer, you can feel like it’s summer with 2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad.

This would be a great recipe to make for a summer BBQ or picnic–it’s healthy, pretty, and as they say above, easy to make. It feels incredibly out of season now (February), but therein lies the magic of the Internet–you might find this in June or July and it’ll be perfect then.

2-17: Spicy Potato Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters November 23, 2015March 10, 2020apple cider vinegar, blender, chili powder, chilled, chopped, curry powder, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dressing, dried spices, easy, egg-free, emulsion, food processor, German, gluten-free, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, marinated, paprika, party food, peeled, picnic, potato salad, potatoes, red onions, salads, salt, side dish, spice blends, spicy, sunflower oil, sweet mustard, tossed, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

This was an accompaniment to 12-11: Italian Macaroni & Cheese when I went to a get-together recently. 2-17: Spicy Potato Salad is similar to a German potato salad in style–it uses vinegar & spices as the dressing instead of mayonnaise.

The main difference between this version and most traditional German potato salads is that this one lacks bacon. But if you miss the bacon that much, feel free to go crazy and add it on back in there.

4-4: Scalloped Parsley Potatoes

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 17, 2015April 14, 2020all-purpose flour, black pepper, blanched, boiled, butter, creamy, dinner, easy, egg-free, food processor, half-and-half, inexpensive, lunch, milk, nutmeg, parboiled, parsley, peeled, potatoes, revisited, salt, scalloped, side dish, tender-crisp, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, white pepper

4-4: Scalloped Parsley Potatoes is the third of my recent 3-recipes-at-1-time attempt–the others being 4-2: Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter and 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew.

I think I’ve made these before, despite the lack of notations. These were really easy and pretty good–very mild yet still flavorful.

4-2: Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 15, 2015April 13, 20204-6-09 dinner, blanched, butter, cilantro, dinner, easy, fairly inexpensive, favorites, green beans, hazelnuts, Italian parsley, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, melted, nuts, parsley, pecans, revisited, roach motel apt, salt, sautéed, side dish, snipped, string beans, sweet butter, tender-crisp, vegetables, vegetarian, walnuts

This recipe, 4-2: Green Beans with Hazelnut Butter along with 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew and 4-4: Scalloped Parsley Potatoes were my first attempt at trying to do 3 of these entry recipes at once. It ended up being harder to do than I thought.

One I’ve made before, about 6 years ago along with 6-40: Peppercorn Chicken Breasts and some other ones. I really like this technique/flavor profile–I use it a lot, even when I’m not documenting it for the Internet.

4-1: Eggplant, Onion and Tomato Bake

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 12, 2015April 13, 2020basil, casserole, cubed, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, eggplant, garlic, garnish, gluten-free, herbs and spices, inexpensive, layers, lunch, olive oil, parsley, party food, picnic, roasted, salt, side dish, summer, tomatoes, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

While I was cooking 4-12: Cheesy Sliced Baked Potatoes, I also was working on this recipe–however be careful with this one: it takes a WHILE to make. 🕰

This recipe takes 2+ hours–most of which is just it baking in the oven. Just an FYI. 🙂

4-12: Cheesy Sliced Baked Potatoes

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 11, 2015October 6, 2020baked potatoes, bread crumbs, brushed, butter, Cheddar, cheese, crispy, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lunch, marjoram, melted, paprika, party food, potatoes, rosemary, salt, shredded, side dish, sliced, Swiss, thyme, twice-baked, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, white bread

Here’s a yummy take on baked potatoes. These have been done before, but I’ve seen them referred to as hasselback potatoes.

Most of the hasselback potato recipes you’ll find don’t have cheese on top, so props to Simply Delicious for thinking outside the potato box. Or bag, as it were.

4-30: Cheese-Stuffed Potato Croquettes

Jamie Martin Group 04: Potatoes & Vegetables, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters October 13, 2014April 14, 2022appetizers, black pepper, boiled, bread crumbs, breaded, canola oil, cheese, chicken fat, crispy, deep fryer, deep-fried, dinner, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, fail, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fried, hors d'oeuvres, Italian, lunch, mashed potatoes, Mozzarella, pan-fried, panko, Parmesan, potatoes, rendered, side dish, snacks, sticks, string cheese, stuffed, tomato sauce, untested, vegetarian

This one…was challenging. And it seemed so simple! 4-30: Cheese-Stuffed Potato Croquettes are essentially mozzarella sticks with a mashed potato/panko coating. These turned from a quick snack into a multi-day attempt.

Now, before I scare you off this recipe: it was 100% my fault it went south. I tried to improvise in several places, and it proved to be my downfall each time. Sometimes you can take liberties, and sometimes you can’t.

Here’s how you learn those lessons.