9-15: Peppercorn Beef Burgers

9-15: Peppercorn Beef Burgers

Hello readers, I’m Adam, your usual author’s husband, chiming in with a guest post. Jamie has these Simply Delicious recipes hung on our kitchen cabinets like a restaurant rail full of orders. There were some easy level recipes that I thought I could cook while Jamie was busy trying to finish her backlog of blog entries. 9-15: Peppercorn Beef Burgers are my first such attempt at preparing a recipe and photographing the process. I have to say that I had a lot of fun (I lit the sauce on fire!🔥) and you’ll see a few more guest posts from me coming up.

I’ve made more than a few burgers in my day, but the sauce on these patties did elevate the dish to a higher level.


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14-25: Crêpes with Fruity Filling

14-25: Crêpes with Fruity Filling

14-25: Crêpes with Fruity Filling is only the second recipe I’ve covered for Group 14: Hot Desserts, but it’s the third total crêpe recipe that I’ve tried from the book (the others being 5-22: Crêpes with Chicken and 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes) so far. Those two previous recipes were savory–this one is sweet.

This recipe is suggested for dessert, but I think you could have it for breakfast (or even lunch) if you wanted. If you don’t like the fruit they suggest, you can substitute your own or whatever is local/in season. 🍒🍍🍓


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1-28: Picnic Tuna Sandwiches

1-28: Picnic Tuna Sandwiches

Leave it to Simply Delicious to try to make tuna sandwiches sound fancy. 1-28: Picnic Tuna Sandwiches is a basic method for constructing a sandwich, using tuna fish, presumably for a picnic. It’s really all in the title.

I suppose you have to learn how to make tuna salad somehow–maybe you grow up with parents who don’t like it and you never learn. That’s not what happened in my case (my mother adores tuna salad), but I suppose it’s the case for some people, and so recipes like this must exist. Reminds me of this xkcd comic.


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19-14: Cheese & Other Dairy Products

19-14: Cheese & Other Dairy Products

As I said in a previous Cooking School installment (19-13: Cooking with Cheese), cheese is a really big part of Simply Delicious, and other dairy products factor in heavily as well. Today we see a lot more alternatives to traditional dairy (coconut milk, tofu, etc.) which is probably good given environmental and ethical concerns related to commercial dairy & meat production. However, it’s important to understand the original ingredient if we hope to find workable alternatives.

19-14 Cheese and Other Dairy Products

Not much more to add to what they’ve written here, but after the jump we’ll take a look at some common culinary dairy ingredients (check out 19-13: Cooking with Cheese for some recipes using specific types of cheeses) and I’ll link you to some recipes that use those ingredients.


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1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms

1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms

Well folks, this is the 100th cooked recipe I’ve made for this project, which is just shy of 2 years old at this point. I chose 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms to be the 100th recipe for a reason–it was one of two recipes (along with 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip) that inspired me to do this project in the first place.

I made this for a birthday party I’ve mentioned before along with 1-8: Delicious Cocktail Snacks and 16-37: Double Decadent Brownie Torte. It’s a great appetizer and a delicious snack.


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7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops

7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops

Back when I made 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew, I had mentioned that I was intending on making a different recipe, but that I didn’t have the mushrooms to make it. This recipe, 7-9: Hunter’s-Style Pork Chops, was the recipe I was intending to make.

EDIT: This seems to be a popular recipe–it wasn’t one of my favorites, but I hope you enjoy! If you want to know more about this site/me, read this. Thanks for visiting!

Hunter’s-style pork chopsseems to be a thing, although I’ve never heard of it before this book. Most recipes out there cite it as a “comfort food”, although if they’re already using the word “bland” in and around the recipe (see the second line above on the card), don’t expect anything avant garde.


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2-36: California Egg Salad

2-36: California Egg Salad

I’m not quite sure what makes 2-36: California Egg Salad “Californian”. I think in the 1980s if you served something on lettuce leaves instead of on bread and used light mayonnaise instead of regular, it was now “healthy” and therefore “Californian“. 🌴☀️🏄🏻‍♀️

I like how their idea of “livening up” egg salad is adding Tabasco and mustard. Really living on the edge there, Simply Delicious.

Side note: The bottle in the back of the shot looks the tarragon vinegar they have you make in 19-7: Fresh and Dried Herbs.


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1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip

1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip

Around the time I started this project (almost 2 years ago at this point), I was distracting myself from real-world stresses by throwing myself into something that always made me happy–cooking. I would make dishes from these and other books and send them to work with my husband or bring them with me to share. 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip was one of those dishes–in fact, one of the two that inspired me to make the project a reality.

I made it originally for my husband’s work (they loved it) and I made it this time for a get-together I attended (also loved it). It’s SUPER easy and a real crowd pleaser. I mentioned that this was one of two recipes that inspired this project–the other was 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms.


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12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms

12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms

There’s been way too many cookies, both online and IRL. 12-4: Pasta with Mushrooms is a relatively healthier and easy dinner option to help ease you into post-holiday life (or just an idea for dinner tonight).

I don’t know about you, but these kind of meals with a bit of protein (chicken, fish, etc.) is pretty much our go-to for dinner these days. Maybe I’ve been cooking in schools too long already–my mind instantly goes to two veg-fruit/one protein/one grain for meal planning. I suppose there are worse habits.


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13-13: Spinach Turnovers

13-13: Spinach Turnovers

It’s the holiday season, so you’ll probably find yourself entertaining (or in the mood for party food, at least). 13-13: Spinach Turnovers are a nice vegetarian option that you can bring to a party or just make for yourself.

I made these along with 9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers for a get-together I went to recently. The ingredients & method for both are somewhat similar, so I prepared both at the same time, which worked out pretty well. If you find yourself with extra puff pastry (and maybe a deep fryer), consider a third turnover option, 1-7: Trader Vic’s Crab Turnovers.


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