easy – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

15-22: Cappuccino Ice Cream

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 10, 2025May 10, 2025cappuccino, chilled, chopped, cocoa powder, coffee, cold desserts, dessert, dollop, dusted, easy, fairly inexpensive, garnish, gluten-free, ice cream, nuts, pistachios, powdered sugar, soft peaks, sundaes, untested, vanilla bean, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

On the heels of 19-8: Coffee, Tea, & Chocolate I, I happened to recently make a somewhat-related recipe, 15-22: Cappuccino Ice Cream. I love coffee ice cream, and so does my mom. However, this recipe is NOT what you (or I, or she) would have expected by that title.

I bring my mom up also since it’s just about Mother’s Day (or might already be by the time you read this)–maybe don’t make this one for your mom though, unless she likes coffee slushies. Again, even that sounds better than this actually is.

14-18: Fried Bananas

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 26, 2025April 24, 2025all-purpose flour, bananas, batter, canola oil, Chinese, coated, dairy-free, deep fat thermometer, deep fryer, deep-fried, dessert, easy, eggs, fried, fruit, honey, hot desserts, ice cream, inexpensive, limes, maple syrup, peeled, salt, untested, vegetable oil

I have flipped past 14-18: Fried Bananas many times as I’ve gone through these books over the years, and it’s finally time to make it since I live with someone who will actually eat it.

My dad likes fried bananas a lot too–I thought our favorite Chinese food restaurant from when I was a kid served them, but I don’t see them on the menu any longer. I could have sworn I remember him eating them there.

When I searched “fried bananas Chinese restaurant”, it appears it was a 1980s thing in general. Given that both this book and I are from the 1980s, this all makes a lot more sense now.

14-1: Chocolate Fondue

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 27, 2025March 27, 20251970s, apples, bananas, black cherries, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cherries, cherry liqueur, chilled, chocolate, chopped, cognac, dark chocolate, dessert, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, favorites, fondue, fruit, gluten-free, Grand Marnier, hot desserts, kiwis, liqueur, mangoes, melted, nectarines, orange liqueur, papaya, party food, peaches, pears, peeled, pineapple, plantains, raspberries, raspberry liqueur, semisweet, sliced, strawberries, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

As promised, I did keep up at least for another week–here’s this week’s dessert, 14-1: Chocolate Fondue.

Alas, there was no party to serve it at–it was a random Thursday (tonight actually) and just the two of us. But with a mini electric fondue pot and a pre-prepared fruit bowl from the market, any day can be fondue day. This, my friends, is the future.

12-12: Pasta Shells with Tomato Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses March 10, 2025March 18, 2025basil, black pepper, blanched, crushed, crushed tomatoes, dairy-free, dinner, easy, egg-free, food mill, herbs and spices, honey, inexpensive, lunch, new book, olive oil, pasta shells, pasta/noodles, peeled, salt, summer, tomato sauce, tomatoes, vegetarian

*tap tap* Hello? Is this thing still on?

I’m back, and like most times where I take an extended break from this, it’s because I’ve been up to things in my real life. In this instance, it was losing 100+ pounds, which can really impact the food/cooking blog hobby. This is more than just “cooking/food” and “blogging”, so I’m making yet another attempt to resurrect this beast, now almost 11 years old.

I honestly did not cook a thing for this blog in 2024 (and haven’t yet for 2025), so we’re still working off the 2023 backlog…which is dwindling quick. I’ll remedy that soon. For now, here’s one of the last few left–12-12: Pasta Shells with Tomato Sauce.

This is a recipe I had specifically saved to make with homegrown tomatoes and basil from a summer garden. Tomatoes and basil are two of the few things I’ve actually been able to grow in my garden, so it was worth the wait.

16-21: Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 20, 2024April 21, 2024all-purpose flour, apples, autumn, blender, brown sugar, butter, cut in, dessert, easy, egg-free, fall, filling, food processor, fruit, granulated sugar, grated, hazelnuts, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemon peel, lemons, peeled, pies, raisins, sliced, streusel, tart pan, TGV 2022, Thanksgiving, untested, vegetarian, whole wheat flour, zested

Still working on Thanksgiving 2022 (TGV 2022) entries. I made two desserts that year–one of which was this one, 16-21: Apple Pie with Crumb Topping. Gotta have some type of apple dessert for Thanksgiving. The other was 14-37: Chocolate Soufflé, which I posted right after this one.

FYI, by “crumb topping”, they essentially mean a streusel. Not sure why they didn’t name it that instead, but there you go.

13-4: Zucchini and Tomato Casserole

Jamie Martin Group 13: Vegetarian Dishes, Section 2: Main Courses March 3, 2024March 4, 2024basil, black pepper, blanched, butter, casserole, chopped, crushed tomatoes, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, ham, herbs and spices, inexpensive, layers, lunch, new book, olive oil, peeled, salt, sautéed, side dish, sliced, summer, thyme, tomatoes, twice-baked, untested, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions, zucchini

It’s been a wet and windy winter here in California, and I’m looking forward to the spring so I can start working in my garden again. In Summer 2022, I grew zucchini and tomatoes, partially in hopes of being able to use them to cover some of the recipes in this book that featured those types of veggies. One of those recipes is this one, 13-4: Zucchini and Tomato Casserole.

I was also able to use some of the fresh herbs from my garden for this recipe as well. If you like these types of recipes (and if you have a garden), 4-1: Eggplant, Tomato, and Onion Bake, 13-10: Zucchini Piccata, and 13-3: Vegetable Deep Dish Pie might be worth checking out.

8-38: Brandy Two-Pepper Beef Steak

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses February 20, 2024February 19, 2024beef, black pepper, brandy, butter, capers, carved, deglazed, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly expensive, flambé, garnish, gluten-free, gravy, liqueur, olive oil, peppercorns, seared, sirloin, sliced, steak, untested, watercress, Worcestershire sauce

I got into making my own plant-based meats a few years ago, mostly because the options available in the markets at the time were A) expensive; B) hard to find; and C) not very good. B and C have mostly been rectified in the last few years, so I find myself buying more of that and making less of my own (proving that time is money).

However, I had at one point stocked up my freezer with a lot of the homemade stuff, so 8-38: Brandy Two-Pepper Beef Steak is another one of those recipes where I was using up what was left of that stash.

It’s been challenging to figure out how to tackle these meat-focused recipes when I don’t really eat it anymore, so a lot of these have ended up being more “adaptations” rather than full replications of the given recipe. There’s so many cooking travesties on social media and the internet these days–this feels like a drop in the bucket at this point.

15-15: Tiramisu

Jamie Martin Group 15: Cold Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 19, 2024February 18, 2024biscotti, biscuits, brandy, chilled, coffee, cognac, cold desserts, cream cheese, creamed, dessert, easy, egg whites, egg yolks, eggs, espresso, fairly expensive, folded, instant coffee, Italian, layers, liqueur, mascarpone, meringue, party food, powdered sugar, soaked, stiff peaks, untested, vegetarian

If you’re still in the “indulgent” spirit, 15-15: Tiramisu comes highly recommended. I remember when tiramisu had its big moment around the time this book was published, so it’s not surprising that it was included in this book.

This is a great one to make in advance of a party or dinner…just don’t sneak too many bites before you serve it!

16-19: Midsummer Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 30, 2023March 30, 2023almond extract, almonds, boxed cake mix, butter, cakes, creamed, decorative, dessert, easy, egg yolks, eggs, fairly inexpensive, French, frosting, fruit, garnish, granulated sugar, grated, liqueur, mint, nuts, orange juice, orange peel, oranges, party food, sliced, spring, strawberries, summer, toasted, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

We’re barely into spring, so what better way to celebrate that than to jump ahead to summer with 16-19: Midsummer Cake? We’ll call it being super proactive–you’re already thinking ahead for summer. Like when you go shopping for spring clothes and the summer stuff is already on the shelves. Look at you being so productive. Such a trendsetter!

There’s no rule saying you HAVE to make this in summer–it could be a great spring dessert as well. In fact, strawberries are generally considered more of a “spring fruit” more so than a summer one (depending on where you live), so maybe we should update this to be a “Spring Cake”? I can’t go with “Mid-Spring Cake” because that sounds like something you make in the middle of a jump.

8-62: Oven-Baked Baby Beef Ribs

Jamie Martin Group 08: Beef, Section 2: Main Courses March 14, 2023March 14, 2023all-purpose flour, basted, beef, black pepper, brushed, chili sauce, dairy-free, Dijon mustard, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, red onions, ribs, roasted, salt, shallots, untested

Simply Delicious has a lot of rib recipes, however I think 8-62: Oven-Baked Baby Beef Ribs might be the first one I’ve covered that features beef ribs instead of pork. Here’s an article that breaks down some differences between the two types–I haven’t eaten real meat in like 5 years at this point, so I don’t feel like it’s my place to have that discussion with you.

They show their ribs with some baby carrots (you can buy them already cut/prepped to look this way, but perhaps should consider roasting them) and green beans, but if you’d like an unhealthier option (who wouldn’t), you can serve them with some “Kenji” onion rings instead like we did.

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