party food – Page 16 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

6-49: Cheese-Glazed Chicken Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses March 6, 2016June 18, 2020black pepper, boneless, bread crumbs, breasts, butter, cheese, chicken, dinner, dried herbs, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, garlic salt, glazed, grated, lunch, melted, Monterey Jack, oregano, panko, Parmesan, parsley, party food, rolls, salt, stuffed, tenderized, twice-baked, untested

I had mentioned in 6-35: Chicken Diable that I had another recipe that I needed to save some of the chicken breasts for–6-49: Cheese-Glazed Chicken Rolls was it. I don’t usually keep chicken breasts around (I think they’re dry and not particularly flavorful), so when I do have them, it’s best to try to knock out as many recipes as possible.

Simply Delicious has a lot of variations of “light chicken breast dinners”–it was the 1980s. If you’re interested in some of these, check out 6-4: Easy Stuffed Chicken Breasts, the aforementioned 6-35: Chicken Diable, or 6-40: Peppercorn Chicken Breasts.

9-22: Meat Pie

Jamie Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses March 5, 2016July 6, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, black pepper, bread crumbs, brown sugar, butter, caramelized, chilled, cookie cutters, cut in, decorative, dinner, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly hard, fairly inexpensive, flute, French, garlic, gift ideas, ground beef, ground meat, ground pork, ground turkey, lunch, melted, milk, mushrooms, nutmeg, panko, pared, parsley, party food, pastry, pie crust, pies, pot pie, revisited, roach motel apt, salt, sautéed, sun-dried tomatoes, vegetables, Worcestershire sauce, yellow onions

Meat pies have been around for a LONG time (like 9500 BCE old, according to Wikipedia). They cross a lot of cultures and are featured in some fashion in most cuisines (even if they look somewhat different–for example, empanadas, lahmacun, and samosas all are meat/pastry combinations from varied places). 9-22: Meat Pie is probably closest to the French Canadian tradition of meat pies, otherwise known as tourtière.

This one’s got some of my old notes on it–I’ve made this one before, about 6-7 years ago for my friend’s birthday party (the same friend from the 80s party in 1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds). It was a “pie party” because he was (at the time) obsessed with the Keri Russell movie Waitress, which apparently has something to do with a lot of pies.

I made some adjustments to the recipe the first time (you can see those listed on the side), but this time, we’re going legit.

16-28: Raspberry Meringue Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 18, 2016November 6, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, cakes, cornstarch, creamed, dairy-free, dessert, egg whites, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, folded, fruit, granulated sugar, jam/jelly/preserves, meringue, mint, party food, raspberries, sifted, springform pan, strawberries, untested, vegetarian, whipping cream

Safeway had a deal on raspberries a few weeks back, and I knew there were some raspberry recipes lingering in Section 3 of the book that I needed to get to sooner or later. After purchasing said raspberries, the only recipe that I had all of the other ingredients for was this one, 16-28: Raspberry Meringue Cake.

I didn’t make this for a ladies’ luncheon or anything cult-of-domesticity like that–I made this to eat. I shared some with my husband, but sometimes, you just don’t need a special occasion for cake.

17-17: Banana Bread with Pecans

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 17, 2016August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, bananas, breads, breakfast, bundt, cinnamon, cloves, creamed, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, honey, nuts, party food, pecans, quick breads, revisited, sifted, snacks, vegetable oil, vegetarian, yogurt

While I’m not a huge fan of bananas themselves, I’m surprisingly a fan of banana bread. 🍌🍞 It’s always good for breakfast or as a snack. This particular recipe for it, 17-17: Banana Bread with Pecans uses honey to sweeten it, which is a nice alternative to using processed sugar.

Simply Delicious gives you a nice blurb here on bananas–for a more in-depth look, check out 19-5: Bananas, part of the Cooking School series featured at the end of the cookbook.

2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters February 14, 2016March 14, 2020American, appetizers, black beans, boiled, cilantro, cooked chicken, corn, dairy-free, diced, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, gluten-free, green bell peppers, green onions, ham, jalapeño peppers, lettuce, lime juice, limes, lunch, marinated, olive oil, party food, red bell peppers, rice, salads, salt, shrimp, side dish, simmered, Southwestern, spicy, untested, vegan, vegetable oil, vegetables, vegetarian, wild rice

In the mood for more corn after 3-14: Creamy Corn Chowder? It’s still not quite corn season yet, but if you’ve got some frozen corn hanging out in the freezer, you can feel like it’s summer with 2-26: Corn & Wild Rice Salad.

This would be a great recipe to make for a summer BBQ or picnic–it’s healthy, pretty, and as they say above, easy to make. It feels incredibly out of season now (February), but therein lies the magic of the Internet–you might find this in June or July and it’ll be perfect then.

1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip

Jamie Martin Group 01: Hot & Cold Appetizers, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 26, 2016February 5, 2020appetizers, artichoke hearts, cheese, chilled, dips, easy, fairly inexpensive, Glendale apt, gluten-free, green onions, mayonnaise, Mozzarella, Parmesan, parsley, party food, red bell peppers, revisited, roasted, sour cream, vegetarian, Worcestershire sauce

Around the time I started this project (almost 2 years ago at this point), I was distracting myself from real-world stresses by throwing myself into something that always made me happy–cooking. I would make dishes from these and other books and send them to work with my husband or bring them with me to share. 1-33: Artichoke & Roasted Pepper Dip was one of those dishes–in fact, one of the two that inspired me to make the project a reality.

I made it originally for my husband’s work (they loved it) and I made it this time for a get-together I attended (also loved it). It’s SUPER easy and a real crowd pleaser. I mentioned that this was one of two recipes that inspired this project–the other was 1-13: Crusty Toast with Mushrooms.

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.

2-37: Chicken-Salami-Rice Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters January 16, 2016March 14, 20204th of July, appetizers, black olives, black pepper, boiled, celery, chicken, chicken bouillon, chicken salad, chilled, cooked chicken, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dressing, easy, garlic, green bell peppers, inexpensive, lemons, lettuce, lunch, marinated, olive oil, party food, red bell peppers, red onions, revisited, rice, roach motel apt, salads, salami, sautéed, tomatoes, tuna

Today (Jan. 16) is my wedding anniversary, so I thought I’d post a recipe that has some relevance to my husband and I. I made this for a 4th of July party that we attended together back in 2009, when we had only just started dating.

We actually had a terrible time at the party, and I remember the salad being a bit strange with my modifications, but everything seems to have worked out in the end. My second attempt at the salad turned out much better, as most things do in life after a bit of thought. 🙂

16-45: Colonial Apple Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 27, 2015November 6, 2020all-purpose flour, American, apples, autumn, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, butter, cakes, cloves, cocoa powder, coffee, creamed, dates, dessert, dried spices, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, fall, frosted, granulated sugar, party food, pecans, powdered sugar, toasted, unsweetened, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

Looking for a way to use up some apples? 🍏 🍎 16-45: Colonial Apple Cake is an easy way to do that with some very classic-looking results. This even looks like something American colonists would have eaten (take it from a former U.S. history teacher).

I made this to take to a get-together, but it’d even be nice as a simple birthday cake or for a dinner party.

EDIT: 16-45: Raspberry Tartlettes is also #45 for Group 16–someone at Simply Delicious messed up their numbering.

2-17: Spicy Potato Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters November 23, 2015March 10, 2020apple cider vinegar, blender, chili powder, chilled, chopped, curry powder, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dressing, dried spices, easy, egg-free, emulsion, food processor, German, gluten-free, herb salt, herbs and spices, inexpensive, lemon juice, lemons, lunch, marinated, paprika, party food, peeled, picnic, potato salad, potatoes, red onions, salads, salt, side dish, spice blends, spicy, sunflower oil, sweet mustard, tossed, untested, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, yellow onions

This was an accompaniment to 12-11: Italian Macaroni & Cheese when I went to a get-together recently. 2-17: Spicy Potato Salad is similar to a German potato salad in style–it uses vinegar & spices as the dressing instead of mayonnaise.

The main difference between this version and most traditional German potato salads is that this one lacks bacon. But if you miss the bacon that much, feel free to go crazy and add it on back in there.