In an attempt to finish off last year’s Christmas dishes (XMAS 23) before this year’s Christmas gets here, here’s 16-22: Apricot Swirl Cheesecake. Probably more of a summer recipe, but whatever, cheesecake is good any time of year. I made this together with 16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake, because you need both a chocolate dessert AND a fruit dessert.
Fun fact: this may look okay-ish in the picture, but trust me, this does not go well. Jump behind the cut for the details (and mistakes).
I had high hopes of catching up on this thing in a timely fashion, but let’s face it–we’re all surprised I’m even still updating it all at this point. The 10-year anniversary came and went a few months ago without much (or any) fanfare, but I AM still here–just not as attentive as I used to be. Let’s face it–a LOT has changed over the last 10 years. No plans to completely let it die yet, but I would be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it.
Anyway, here’s 16-20: Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was one of two desserts I served for Christmas 2023 (XMAS 23).
Seemed Christmas-appropriate, plus it’s gluten-free! That doesn’t matter to anyone that’s in this house, but someone out there might care about something like that.
Still catching up on things I made for holidays past, but at least now I’m up to 2023. 11-11: Lobster Thermidor isn’t just the grand meal we had for Christmas 2023 (XMAS 23), it’s also the final recipe I have for the Fish & Seafood chapter, as well as a famous fancy dish you make in the Sims. I feel like finally making it (and posting about it) is quite the celebration in and of itself.
It’s a very indulgent dish, and took us a while to put together as it became difficult to find whole lobsters for a while, at least out here on the west coast of the US. Once we finally found a frozen cooked pair at Costco, it was game on.
I debated about doing two desserts back-to-back, but I think it makes more sense to just do all the TGV 2022 recipes together and be done with it already. Plus, this one came out really well and I want to tell you about it. So, with that in mind, here is 14-37: Chocolate Soufflé, the Thanksgiving 2022 companion dessert to 16-21: Apple Pie with Crumb Topping.
The blurb here reminds me of one of my favorite tropes: the endangered soufflé, otherwise known as soufflé humor. Whatever happened to that?
I’m a day late, but had intended to post 14-28: “Hot Love” for Valentine’s Day, because how could you not? Apologies for procrastinating on it, but at least it’s there for Valentine’s Day 2024 (and beyond).
This one used to make me giggle every time I looked at the card as a kid–it felt cheesy to me even back then (but also sort of intriguing in that “is this what grown-ups do?” kind of way). I pretty much still feel the same way about it (grown-up question and all).
What is the plate in the picture above resting on (besides a book)? A cabinet on its side? A locked trunk? What’s in the box!?
Can you tell I’m not much of a romantic?
Because it takes me a while to get around to writing these, it often works out that I’m writing about winter recipes in the summer and vice versa. Sticking with that theme, I present to you (in December) 15-24: Monterosso Ice Cream. Hey, at least it’ll be timely if you’re in the Southern hemisphere. I bet you guys are tired of everything being geared towards the Northern hemisphere anyway, so this one’s for you.
In case you were wondering, Monterosso is a coastal village in Italy, and it looks very nice. Totally giving me White Lotus S2 vibes. I can’t seem to find anything that associates a certain type of dessert or ice cream with the town, but I did find some recommendations for gelato in case you’re ever in the area.
Summer is slipping away quickly, but if you can still get your hands on some fresh berries, you can give 14-13: Berry Omelette a try. Based on the ingredients and the suggestion to serve it with wine, I think this is more of a “dessert omelette” than a “breakfast omelette”, but you do you.
I suppose there’s lots of dishes on famous breakfast places’ menus that are similar to this in terms of sugar and sweetness–I’m just not much of a “sweets” person for breakfast, especially when eggs are involved. My dad goes even further–he will not eat eggs if there is jam on or near the plate, and vice versa. He would NOT have enjoyed this dish.
Greetings, and happy Friday! It’s been a minute, but I’ll always come back eventually–I’ve put way too much time/work/energy into this project to give up now. Today, I present to you 1-12: Mixed Seafood Au Gratin. Au gratin is not new for Simple Delicious, and neither is the use of the pictured serving shells. I finally broke down and bought some a year or two ago for 11-10: French Scallops–I’m happy they’ll get another use here.
When was the last time you heard the phrase “tantalize the taste buds”? I feel like that went out of style around the same time as soufflé humor.
I’m aware of two salmon steak recipes in my Simply Delicious collection, 11-15: Grilled Salmon with Thyme and this one, 11-18: Salmon Steaks with Mushrooms. The other one mentions you can substitute salmon fillets if you can’t find the steaks, which is what I had to do for this one. Strangely enough, I WAS able to find them for the other one. Believe it or not, I’ve been looking for them for a while and just haven’t had very good luck with it (even in Northern California, where it seems like you can find just about anything if you look hard enough).
Simply Delicious does NOT miss an opportunity for a mushroom sauce–it’s kind of their thing. They suggest rice (10/10?) as a side dish, but I’m going to go with some gnocchi instead.
Quick note: Just passed the 8-year anniversary of this project, and I’m STILL going. I’ll be doing this FOREVER.
I’m (more than) a little reluctant to post 15-5: Strawberries Romanoff given the current state of the world, but I made it over a year ago and I need to get it out of my queue, so here you go. And yes, that’s really how long it takes me to get to these sometimes.
Strawberries are in season right now, so this is somewhat seasonally appropriate (but perhaps not politically so). I’m not sure being from the “courts of the Russian czars” is much of a selling point anymore these days (although arguably, it probably wasn’t much of one in the late 1980s-early 1990s either), but it is what it is.
You can find ways to support the people of Ukraine here. 🇺🇦