fairly easy – Page 14 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

9-4: Swedish Meatballs

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 18, 2016July 5, 2020Alton Brown, appetizers, beef, black pepper, bread crumbs, butter, deglazed, dinner, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, grated, gravy, ground beef, ground meat, lunch, meatballs, pan-fried, party food, reduced, salt, Swedish, untested, veal, white bread, white pepper, yellow onions

There seem to be a lot of differing interpretations of Swedish meatballs out there. Serious Eats runs into the same dilemma and ups the meatball’s game with umami and acidic flavors; Alton Brown stays simple and sticks to earthier allspice and nutmeg. Both soak the white bread in milk (panade) before adding it to the meat mix, whereas 9-4: Swedish Meatballs swaps the milk for water and keeps the spices restrained simply to salt and pepper. This doesn’t bode well.

Simply Delicious, you can’t call it an “original recipe” when the only original thing about it is how bland and unseasoned it is. I made these as a requested dish for someone else, and was provided only ground beef (their preference) as opposed to a mix of meats with which to make them. As a result, they were even LESS exciting–it’s a good thing the requestor digs bland food.

14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 15, 2016July 30, 2020breads, butter, cinnamon, coconut, coconut milk, coconut oil, dessert, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, fall, granulated sugar, grated, hot desserts, liquor, melted, milk, mounted, nutmeg, orange juice, powdered sugar, pudding, raisins, rum, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, white bread, zested

Happy New Year! For 2016, I decided to start the year off making something happen that I’ve been intending to do for a while: migrate this blog to its own site and off of Tumblr. I’m still going to crosspost to Tumblr, but all new entries will be natively posted here on simplydeliciouscookbook.com.

My first entry of 2016 and on my new site will also introduce a new category: Hot Desserts. This recipe is 14-12: Bread Pudding with Rum Sauce, and these pictures are actually from Thanksgiving 2015. It took me a while to get back to this one after the holiday baking extravaganza in December.

I made this as my Thanksgiving dessert contribution–both my dad and husband LOVE bread pudding. This one came out a bit strange, but that’s mostly due to poor pan choice.

17-67: Coconut Crescents

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 25, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breakfast, butter, Christmas, coconut, cookie cutters, cookies, crescents, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, filling, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, holiday baking, inexpensive, kneaded, lemons, melted, milk, oranges, pastry, powdered sugar, proofed, salt, snacks, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15, yeast, zested

Merry Christmas! 🌲 Or if it’s not Christmas when you’re reading this, hope you’re having a nice day. 😃 The final component of my holiday assortment this year was 17-67: Coconut Crescents, and since they turned out somewhat nicely (unlike some of the other components), I thought it best to end this holiday baking burst on a high note.

I included these in my assortment to vary some texture (not all cookies) and to make at least one that used a yeast dough. These can be really versatile–just swap coconut for something else like a strawberry filling or sprinkle something like brown sugar on top.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 23, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, almond paste, apricots, baked goods, butter, chilled, Christmas, cookies, egg whites, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, jam/jelly/preserves, macaroons, parchment paper, pastry bag, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15

This recipe is another Simply Delicious “take” on something that already largely exists in a slightly different form. These aren’t really these kind of macaroons (the Passover kind). They’re not these kind of macarons (the French kind) either.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Mine were a horror show compared to the picture on the card–I blame poor tools (my pastry bag blew its side out early on, rendering it useless and me bagless) even though any chef knows that’s a cop-out. I also blame exhaustion–these were the last ones I made of all of the recipes.

17-37: Holiday Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 20, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chilled, Christmas, college, cookie cutters, cookie press, cookies, creamed, crispy, dessert, egg-free, fairly easy, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, inexpensive, revisited, rye flour, snacks, vegetarian, XMAS 15

Hopefully I haven’t caught you too late for this year’s batch of holiday baking. If so, keep this one around for next year–17-37: Holiday Cookies is a great butter cookie recipe for using cutters or presses. This is part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

I got a new cookie press for Christmas last year, and finally got to test it out this year. This cookie press is AWESOME–so much easier than the old stubborn buggers from the past.

12-22: Nasi Goreng

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses December 1, 2015July 28, 2020amchur powder, Asian, bean sprouts, canola oil, cashews, chili powder, chutney, coconut, condiments, crushed red pepper, curry powder, dairy-free, dinner, eggs, fairly easy, fish sauce, fried, galangal, garlic, garlic powder, ginger, granulated sugar, ham, Indian, Indonesian, inexpensive, julienned, lunch, omelette, pan-fried, paprika, pineapple, rice, salt, sautéed, scrambled, shredded, sliced, soy sauce, spice blends, spicy, Tabasco sauce, Thai, untested, yellow onions

Here’s something a bit different from the Pasta and Rice chapter. Simply Delicious has a lot of international recipes, some more authentic than others. 12-22: Nasi Goreng is a take on a popular Indonesian fried rice dish, a sweeter and spicier variation of the ubiquitous Chinese take-out version.

This recipe doesn’t give you much in the way of creating Nasi Goreng spices if you don’t have access to or want to use a premixed blend. After the jump, I’ll include a Nasi Goreng spice blend I used and a link to the book from which I pulled it.

12-11: Italian Macaroni and Cheese

Jamie Martin Group 12: Pasta & Rice, Section 2: Main Courses November 21, 2015July 27, 2020al dente, black pepper, boiled, carrots, Cheddar, cheese, chicken bouillon, chicken broth, cooked chicken, dinner, fairly easy, grated, half-and-half, ham, inexpensive, Italian, julienned, layers, lunch, macaroni, Parmesan, party food, pasta/noodles, quiche lorraine, salt, shredded, smoked ham, untested

Before you make up your mind on 12-11: Italian Macaroni & Cheese, I must let you know that it is not what you are expecting. If you are envisioning just another creamy cheesy béchamel-based sauce, this is NOT that.

This has ham in it and NO cheese in the sauce. All the cheese is on top. The noodles are suspended in a cream and egg base similar to a quiche filling. Jump behind the cut and see what this wacky mac & cheese is all about.

9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses November 17, 2015July 6, 2020appetizers, Asian, baked goods, bean sprouts, beef, black pepper, brushed, canola oil, celery, Chinese/dark soy sauce, cornstarch, crispy, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, ground beef, ground meat, hors d'oeuvres, julienned, leeks, mushrooms, party food, pastry, puff pastry, salt, sautéed, sherry, sliced, soy sauce, turnovers, untested

As I said in 13-13: Spinach Turnovers, the holiday season is upon us and therefore, you’ll need some recipes for dishes to take with you to a party, or at least to snack on while you binge-watch Netflix. 9-26: Crispy Beef Turnovers are the heartier, meatier companion to their spinach and crab brothers.

These are remarkably similar in execution to 13-13: Spinach Turnovers, so I suggest cooking the two at the same time if you want to add some variety to your dish. However, these are mighty tasty, and stand just fine on their own as well. If you have access to a deep-fryer, consider 1-7: Trader Vic’s Crab Turnovers for a crispy, Polynesian-inspired third option.

17-51: Three Palms Quick Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods October 6, 2015September 21, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, bananas, breads, breakfast, buttermilk, coconut, creamed, dates, dessert, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, granulated sugar, loaf pan, quick breads, shortening, sifted, snacks, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, yogurt

17-51: Three Palms Quick Bread tastes delicious, but took forever to end up making, since I never seemed to have bananas, dates, and coconut all at the same time. 🌴

If you like banana bread, this is a really good take on that. Plus, 3 palms instead of 1! Such a deal! 👍

5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes

Jamie Martin Group 05: Eggs & Cheese, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters September 11, 2015October 14, 2020all-purpose flour, American, American South, bacon, baking powder, black pepper, breakfast, brushed, butter, Cheddar, cheese, chilled, chives, cut in, dinner, dough, dried herbs, egg wash, egg whites, eggs, fairly easy, filling, heirloom tomatoes, herbs and spices, inexpensive, layers, lunch, milk, pie crust, pies, quiches, salt, sautéed, sliced, Swiss, thyme, tomatoes, untested

5-23: Cheese Pie with Tomatoes comes with a bit of a story. About 10 years ago, I spent a week in Chattanooga, Tennessee with my college friend/roommate and his family. His aunt (who was hosting us) attempted to teach me some of her Southern-style recipes while we were there, and one of them was something called “tomato pie”.

Her tomato pie involved a pie crust, tomatoes, a JAR of Hellmann’s (it was the South), and a whole bag of shredded cheese. This one is slightly less heart-attack-inducing.