vegetables – Page 12 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses June 29, 2016June 18, 20204-92 week, almonds, beef bouillon, beef broth, black pepper, boneless, butter, casserole, celery, chicken, chopped, cubed, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, ginger, green beans, green onions, ham, herbs and spices, Hutton house, lunch, melted, pork, pork shoulder, revisited, salt, sautéed, scallions, soy sauce, toasted, vegetables, yellow onions

I think Simply Delicious was aimed at the working-mom demographic primarily–a lot of the recipes focus on easy weeknight meals just as much as the fancy dinner party options. 7-14: Easy-to-Make Pork Casserole is a casserole in the sense of a casserole being a bunch of random stuff thrown together in a vessel and then heated.

Casseroles are typically defined as the traditional green bean or tuna types that we (by that I mean mostly Americans) associate with that word. This dish is a loose mixing of vegetables and pork cubes, and is honestly much more reminiscent of 7-55: Sunday Pork Stew than of “casserole”. My mom seemed to like it though, when she made it back in April of 1992.

11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin

Jamie Martin Group 11: Fish & Seafood, Section 2: Main Courses June 27, 2016July 7, 2020all-purpose flour, au gratin, black pepper, butter, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, cooked shrimp, creamy, dinner, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, fish, fish bouillon, fish stock, grated, lunch, mashed potatoes, melted, mushrooms, pared, Parmesan, revisited, roux, Rozie house, salt, sautéed, seafood, shrimp, sole, stuffed, twice-baked, vegetables, whipping cream, white wine, yellow onions

This recipe is already setting high expectations with the title 11-25: Best Ever Sole Au Gratin, and I’m not here to completely dash those hopes. This is a pretty decent fish recipe, as those go (I’m usually wary of home-cooked fish recipes), but it’s nothing spectacular, despite Simply Delicious’ assertions. 🐟

This one gets fancy with the piping bag and tips for the potatoes. I still haven’t replaced my piping/pastry bag set-up since it all failed during the making of 17-52: Apricot Macaroons for the holidays last year (2015). Since I’ve yet to replace it, I’ll have to get creative again.

13-5: Onion Focaccia

Adam Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses June 26, 2016October 28, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baked goods, breads, dairy-free, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, focaccia, garlic, granulated sugar, green onions, Italian, kneaded, lunch, minced, olive oil, party food, proofed, red onions, revisited, salt, sautéed, side dish, snacks, vegetables, vegetarian, yeast

Jamie made this dish previously, without documenting the process, and I really enjoyed the bread. I took a shot at making this dish to practice using yeast to make a dough.

My final dish was not circular like a pizza, it was easier to flatten the dough into a square like a flatbread.

6-43: Cheesy Chicken Cutlets

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses June 25, 2016June 18, 2020basil, boneless, breasts, butter, canola oil, cheese, chicken, chiffonade, coated, dinner, dried herbs, easy, eggs, fried, fried chicken, gluten-free, grated, herbs and spices, iceberg lettuce, inexpensive, Italian seasoning, lettuce, lukewarm, lunch, marinated, melted, olive oil, oregano, pan-fried, Parmesan, radicchio, red wine vinegar, salads, salt, Silpat, skinless, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, white wine vinegar

Here’s yet another boneless/skinless chicken breast recipe born of the health-conscious 1980s. We ate a LOT of chicken breast when I was growing up, so I’m surprised my mom never busted 6-43: Cheesy Chicken Cutlets out for yet another version.

I’m sorry, but it’s ALWAYS seemed just a bit morbid to dip chicken in egg. I realize it’s often a big part of one of my favorite things (fried chicken), but it still always nags. I’ll leave it there–you do the math if you want to. 🐣

12-16: Risotto with Pastrami

Adam Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses June 22, 2016October 4, 2020beef, boiled, breakfast, brown rice, cayenne pepper, celery, chopped, cilantro, cubed, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, garlic, green bell peppers, Italian, Italian parsley, julienned, long-grain, minced, olive oil, omelette, paprika, pastrami, red bell peppers, rice, risotto, salt, sautéed, side dish, smoked ham, turkey, untested, vegetables, white wine, wild rice, yellow onions

Simply Delicious can give a dish a title that seems a bit of a stretch at times and this is definitely a prime case of this phenomenon: 12-16 Risotto with Pastrami.

Editor’s note: A big HELLO to those of you coming here from search engines–apparently there’s significant demand for pastrami risotto? This is one of those sites where we (my husband and I) are working our way through an old set of cookbooks–learn more about it here. Don’t expect anything like traditional risotto here (neither of us wrote any of the actual recipes)–but maybe stick around for an interesting read or two? Thanks for stopping by! 👋

The card even announces, “(t)his recipe for risotto differs from the traditional one.” I’ve never seen a dish like this, but the flavor profile was the same as a fancy omelette, just deconstructed before that was trendy.

13-11: Vegetarian Pizza

Adam Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses June 11, 2016October 28, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, canola oil, cheese, cottage cheese, dinner, dough, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, grated, green onions, herb salt, herbs and spices, Italian, Italian seasoning, kneaded, leeks, lunch, melted, minced, mushrooms, olive oil, Parmesan, party food, pizza, proofed, salt, sautéed, soy sauce, Swiss, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yeast

Just like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I appreciate a good slice of pizza. 🍕 I wouldn’t normally order a vegetarian pizza. Does the Meat Lovers’ special come with 4 or 5 different meats on it?

I haven’t made pizza dough before. I briefly made bread when we scored a bread machine from a thrift store. After using the bread machine 2 or 3 times, I got to see why all of those bread machines are abandoned at the thrift store. Either my process was not good or the machine stopped working correctly after about 2 loaves of bread.

2-24: Parisian Ham-Mushroom Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters June 10, 2016July 8, 2020appetizers, black pepper, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, easy, egg-free, French, garlic, Gruyère, ham, herbs and spices, iceberg lettuce, inexpensive, julienned, lettuce, lunch, marinated, minced, mushrooms, olive oil, paprika, party food, red wine vinegar, salads, salt, side dish, sweet peas, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

It’s been a while since we’ve done a salad. This recipe, 2-24: Parisian Ham-Mushroom Salad sounded fancy, and I had found myself with mushrooms, ham, and lettuce. Simply Delicious leans heavily on French cuisine, so it’s not surprising to see them attempt a French salad. But is this an actual French dish, or just something made up for Americans (like the classic “Chinese” example, General Tso’s chicken)?

I Googled a bit to see if there was an actual ham & mushroom salad that was a known part of French cuisine, and I actually was able to track down a somewhat similar recipe from Raymond Blanc, a well-renowned French chef. He published a Gruyere, ham, & mushroom salad recipe in a few of his cookbooks, noting that it came from his French hometown near the Franche-Comté region (not near Paris).

10-14: Lamb on Skewers

Jamie Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses May 29, 2016July 6, 2020appetizers, barbecue, basil, blender, boneless, broiled, celery, chicken, chilled, chopped, cubed, dairy-free, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, food processor, garlic, gluten-free, Greek, green bell peppers, grilled, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, kebabs, lamb, leg of lamb, lunch, marinated, mushrooms, olive oil, party food, pork, red bell peppers, rice, shallots, skewered, tomatoes, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, white wine, yellow onions

Lamb and veal were not big in my house growing up, but I’ll eat a bit of lamb every so often these days. I’ve only covered one other lamb recipe so far–10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb. This recipe, 10-14: Lamb on Skewers, actually was made in tandem with that one, since my cut of boneless leg of lamb was too large for that recipe. These skewers can be made with pork, chicken, or just veggies–making them great for a party or event where you have a lot of different dietary preferences.

Making skewers/kebabs is a really good way to use up an extra (or oddly shaped/not pretty) cut of meat, as well as a way to make tough cuts of meat easier to eat. Another benefit: those who have a difficult time eating large pieces of meat (like old people and little kids) might have an easier time with smaller pieces (be careful of choking, though). One more benefit: you cook your vegetables at the same time as your meat–add some rice and you’ve got the whole meal.

3-5: Creamy Cheese Soup

Jamie Martin Group 03: Soups, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters May 26, 2016March 14, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, bacon, black pepper, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chopped, crab, creamy, croutons, dinner, easy, egg yolks, eggs, grated, green onions, half-and-half, inexpensive, Jarlsberg, leeks, lunch, melted, milk, parsley, roux, salt, sautéed, shredded, shrimp, side dish, soups, Swiss, untested, vegetable bouillon, vegetable broth, vegetables, vegetarian, whipping cream

Here’s a question for you: is cheese soup really soup? To me, it’s essentially the sauce from macaroni and cheese, thinned down and maybe dressed up with some onions or bacon. Often potato or broccoli gets added as well, in an attempt to “healthify” it. No matter what, it just seems…indulgent. I was on my own to make and eat 3-5: Creamy Cheese Soup, so I kept this one simple.

Don’t get me wrong–I do enjoy broccoli cheese soup (and make one every few months or so for work), but leek & cheese (which this one is) doesn’t excite me as much. This one was a bit leek-y for me, but maybe I just lack appreciation for the leek.

10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb

Jamie Martin Group 10: Lamb & Veal, Section 2: Main Courses May 16, 2016July 6, 2020basil, beef bouillon, beef broth, boneless, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, chopped, dairy-free, dinner, Dutch oven, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, garlic, gluten-free, herb-roasted, herbs and spices, lamb, lamb shoulder, leg of lamb, meat thermometer, minced, pared, parsley, potatoes, roasted, salt, scalloped, untested, vegetables, yellow onions

I’ve done over 100 recipes at this point (closing in on 150 in the next few weeks), and this is the FIRST recipe from Group 10: Lamb & Veal. This is probably due to the fact that neither of those have ever featured heavily in my diet or culinary rotation. However, in the interest of science everything must be covered. So here we go–the first lamb recipe: 10-12: Basil-Baked Lamb.

Um, yeah. In the very first entry (where I explained what this whole project is about), I had mentioned that these books got a bit trashed when I had a bad roach infestation in my first apartment after college. This section was one of the casualties from overzealous roach spray distribution and poor post-massacre clean-up. A lot of the pages got stuck together, and due to their lack of regular use, stayed that way for far too long. Luckily for this one, the recipe part of the card is still somewhat legible.