The NEW Book

The NEW Book

One year ago today, we went for a casual stroll through a local Goodwill, like many other Saturdays before it. Been through that Goodwill many times, but THIS time, there was something special waiting for me, and I found it.

Another Simply Delicious book. With a different style of cover and everything.

I’ve waited a year to tell you that I’ve found more recipes. This seemingly never-ending project just got longer.

I have stated at other times that I didn’t feel like I wanted to add any more to what I considered my personal “canon”–the original set my mom gave me long ago. But when I saw it, there was no question that it was coming home with me. There wasn’t a LOT of new content, but there were quite a few that I’d never seen before.


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14-24: Wine-Baked Apples

14-24: Wine-Baked Apples

Yet another apple dessert recipe for you today. I made 14-24: Wine-Baked Apples at the same time as 14-2: Apple Strudel, since if I’m going through the work of breaking down apples, I’m getting at least two entries out of it.

The blurb above mentions this being a “new” way to bake apples–it doesn’t seem that far off from the “oldways, to be quite honest.


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3-7: Snappy Crab Soup

3-7: Snappy Crab Soup

Many moons ago when I first began this project, I wrote about Simply Delicious‘ use of adjectives to spice up the descriptions of their dishes. 3-7: Snappy Crab Soup reminds me of 3-13: Velvety Carrot Soup in its use of flashy words to get you interested in something hard to get excited about.

This is essentially a crab bisque, without the extra steps of simmering shells. The “hot pepper seasoning” they refer to in the blurb above is Tabasco sauce, so this is a mildly Cajun-influenced recipe as well. I remember thinking Tabasco sauce was the HOTTEST thing ever when I was a kid…I’ve learned so much since then. 🦀🌶


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16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart

16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart

I had a goal to finish all the ones I cooked in 2019 by the end of 2020…not sure if I’ll meet that goal (EDIT: I did!), but here’s one more from last year: 16-49: Chocolate-Glazed Raspberry Tart. Not only is this from last Thanksgiving (along with 6-42: Turkey Pot Roast and 17-15: Cream Puffs), but I also made a version of it as part of a fancy Christmas dinner 12 years ago (XMAS 08) as well. Since today is Christmas Eve, I think it’s a good day to tell you about it.

When I made this back in ’08, I made 6 individual tarts instead of one big one–I was afraid it would look weird once I cut it, so I thought individual servings would look better. I had been watching a LOT of Top Chef at that point (and still do, but that’s the ONLY cooking show I’ll watch).

Since I had a few of the same guests attending as that Christmas dinner back in ’08 (and the same number), I decided to make the same modification this time. Usually I will reverse modifications when I recook recipes I’ve already done to try to honor the “original” recipe, but this time I decided to stick with it.


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7-4: German Pork Stew

7-4: German Pork Stew

Guten Tag! Today, I have 7-4: German Pork Stew for you, which is probably a very appropriate winter-weather dish for right now. This isn’t an original recipe–you can find a lot of varieties of this same dish with just some simple searching. They all seem to include the same three base ingredients: onions, pork, and sauerkraut.

Stews are varied for Simply Delicious–sometimes you get something rather traditionally “stew-like” (like 8-27: Classic Beef Stew), and then sometimes you get recipes like this one that seem closer to…something else. Not anything bad, just not “stew” (as I think of it).


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14-2: Apple Strudel

14-2: Apple Strudel

I’ll be honest–I’ve started this entry for 14-2: Apple Strudel a bunch of times, and I can’t think of anything exciting to say about it. There’s a lot of apple desserts in this book, and they all just start to blend together for me after a while. Even then, apple strudel is pretty a well-known dish to begin with, so odd are low that you’re going to learn anything new about it from reading Simply Delicious’ take on it.

It took me until NOW (and by now I mean as I’m pushing the keys to type this) to realize that there was actually powdered sugar coating the one pictured above, and they didn’t just peel the first layer of the outside off and say “yep, looks good to me”.


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19-20: Root Vegetables II

19-20: Root Vegetables II

I recently published 19-19: Root Vegetables I, and promised its follow-up sometime in the future. Well, the future is NOW: here’s 19-20: Root Vegetables II.

For more root vegetable info and links to some recipes that use root vegetables, read on. Also, here’s some reading on Jain vegetarianism–did you know that they specifically don’t eat root vegetables? 🧘


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16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake

16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake

Think of 16-16: Chocolate-Frosted Nut Cake like a Nutella cake–same flavor profile (chocolate and hazelnuts), and maybe even somewhat healthier?

This is a pretty simple cake–it’s just one layer, and all you have to do is frost and garnish it. Or you can do it like me and make little individual cakes instead.


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7-30: Mixed Meat Casserole

7-30: Mixed Meat Casserole

7-30: Mixed Meat Casserole is exactly what it sounds and looks like–they’re not pulling any punches here. It’s like combination fried rice, a little bit of everything.

At least this is somewhat closer to the traditional idea of a casserole–Simply Delicious sometimes gets a little loose with what they categorize as a casserole.


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14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate

14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate

In case you hadn’t had your fill of weird pear desserts with 15-41: Pear Halves with Chocolate Topping and 14-21: Pear Pandowdy, I have a third one for you: 14-17: Pears with Mint Chocolate. To add to the weirdness, even Food Network considers this a recipe.

It does look nice, but I don’t know about the taste claims. Is it the pear that they think makes this taste so good, or the mint chocolate/whipped cream/liqueur?


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