party food – Page 8 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

16-39: Apricot Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods April 24, 2017November 5, 2020all-purpose flour, almond extract, almond meal, almonds, apricots, baked goods, baking powder, breakfast, butter, citrus, creamed, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, filling, fruit, gift ideas, glazed, granulated sugar, half-and-half, jam/jelly/preserves, julienned, lemon juice, lemons, melted, milk, party food, pastry, peeled, pie crust, sifted, snacks, springform pan, tart, tart pan, toppings, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, zested

I had mentioned in 16-24: French Chocolate Cake that it was one of two desserts that I made for a recent baby shower I attended: 16-39: Apricot Tart was the second dessert. I’ve been meaning to make this thing since near the start of this project, and it only took me a few years to finally get around to it. There’s something about this recipe and procrastination, though–this entry’s been sitting in my writing queue half-finished for over a month.

For the length of time that it took me to make it (and to write about it), I never even got to try it–I ended up leaving this and 16-24: French Chocolate Cake still wrapped up on the table at the party. We’ll just assume that both of them were delicious and everyone ate every last crumb of them.

2-20: Potato and Sausage Salad

Jamie Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 22, 2017March 10, 2020American, appetizers, beets, boiled, capers, chicken, chilled, chives, chopped, creamy, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, easy, fingerlings, franks, garnish, ham, herbs and spices, horseradish, hot dogs, inexpensive, lunch, mayonnaise, pan-fried, parsley, party food, peeled, pickled, picnic, pork, potato salad, potatoes, red potatoes, roasted, sausage, side dish, sliced, smoked ham, sour cream, turkey, untested, vegetables, wieners, yellow onions, yellow potatoes

Simply Delicious has a few variations on potato salad–2-17: Spicy Potato Salad is closer to a German variation, using a vinegar dressing instead of mayonnaise. This recipe, 2-20: Potato and Sausage Salad not only uses mayonnaise, but includes your choice of cured meat to accompany it–I went with chicken sausage, but you can use hot dogs, spicy links, or anything similar.

I caught a typo here–they mention capers in this blurb above, but dropped it from the actual ingredients list after the jump. I never realized it and now wish I had–capers would have been a welcome addition to this potato salad, especially instead of beets.

16-24: French Chocolate Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 18, 2017November 5, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, cake pan, cakes, candied, chilled, chocolate, cocoa powder, cornstarch, creamed, creamy, decorative, double boiler, egg yolks, eggs, fairly easy, fairly expensive, filling, French, frosted, garnish, glazed, granulated sugar, grapes, icing, layers, marmalade, oranges, party food, powdered sugar, semisweet, sifted, springform pan, unsweetened, untested, vegetarian, wax paper

I recently attended a baby shower for a former co-worker and took it as an opportunity to knock out two more Simply Delicious desserts: 16-39: Apricot Tart and this one, 16-24: French Chocolate Cake. I wanted to bring something fruit/nut and something just plain chocolate, since some people there had nut allergies and others might just want something simple and chocolate.

This was a combination birthday party/baby shower (same person being honored for both), which will hopefully explain the odd decorations on my version of the cake. I’ve spared you pictures of the worst of my decoration choices, but let’s just say I made liberal use of all 4 colors of a grocery store icing kit. I kept meaning to hit a craft store for better cake decorations (or even Amazon), but time got away from me. ⏳

2-10: Spinach Salad

Adam Martin Group 02: Salads, Section 1: Appetizers & Starters March 15, 2017October 4, 202012-11-08 dinner, 4-92 week, appetizers, bacon, chopped, creamy, diced, Dijon mustard, dinner, dressing, easy, eggs, favorites, fried, garnish, gluten-free, Hutton house, inexpensive, julienned, lemons, lunch, mayonnaise, mushrooms, pan-fried, party food, pork, radishes, revisited, roach motel apt, salads, side dish, sliced, sour cream, spinach, vegetables

The card for 2-10: Spinach Salad is great because it has notes and reviews from the attempts of two other chefs I really admire, Jamie and her mother. From the date of the original note, I can deduce that Jamie’s mom made this recipe almost 25 years ago. She gives a succinct review, “Very Good, Very Easy.” Jamie’s equally positive review of her attempt at making this recipe 9 years back is encouraging. Making this salad for dinner one night after work is a super easy task and I agree with the previous reviews written on the card.

Simply Delicious helps you learn in so many different ways. Not only do I get a recipe for a salad, I get some history about the main ingredient: SPINACH!

Editor’s note: I made this as part of a “fancy dinner” in my first apartment, a year or two after college. I was so happy to have a kitchen and table to call my own, I invited some friends over, busted out a few Simply Delicious recipes, and threw a “fancy” dinner party, complete with table settings and after-dinner coffee.

16-14: Orange-Almond Cake

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods March 14, 2017July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, almond paste, almonds, baked goods, bundt, butter, cake pan, cakes, chilled, chocolate, citrus, creamed, dark chocolate, dessert, double boiler, eggs, fairly expensive, fairly hard, frozen, fruit, garnish, glazed, grated, individual, juiced, loaf pan, melted, nuts, orange juice, oranges, party food, sliced, snacks, toasted, vegetarian, whipping cream, zested

No, this isn’t a repeat of 16-47: Orange-Almond Pie–at least, not exactly. 16-14: Orange-Almond Cake uses almond paste while the pie version used almond meal (flour). This one also includes dark chocolate, which ALWAYS goes well with almond and orange flavors. 🍫

In the interest of not eating the whole cake at once (which is possible with something like this), I’m going to bake 12 individual cakes instead with a mini-Bundt pan that I have. That way, I can make them all, wrap and freeze them so that we can pull out a portioned piece for dessert without the temptation of eating the whole thing.

16-9: Raspberry Tart

Jamie Martin Group 16: Pies & Cakes, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 21, 2017July 30, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, bread crumbs, butter, cookie cutters, creamed, dough, eggs, fairly easy, filling, French, fruit, gift ideas, graham crackers, granulated sugar, inexpensive, jam/jelly/preserves, party food, pastry, pie crust, raspberries, sifted, snacks, springform pan, stand mixer, strawberries, tart, tart pan, untested, vegetarian

Here’s a simple dessert that’s easy for a dinner, gift, or even just a snack. 16-9: Raspberry Tart is exactly what it sounds like–pie crust in a tart pan filled with raspberry preserves and topped with bits of dough. Simply Delicious uses a simple drop method for the dough topping, but I think we can do better than that. 🌟

Why did anyone think that amorphous blobs of dough were an acceptable tart topping? 🤷‍♀️

17-50: Cornmeal-Jalapeño Biscuits

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 11, 2017November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, appetizers, baked goods, baking powder, baking soda, biscuit cutters, biscuits, breakfast, butter, buttermilk, chopped, cilantro, cookie cutters, coriander, cornmeal, cumin, cut in, dough, easy, egg-free, gift ideas, granulated sugar, herbs and spices, hors d'oeuvres, inexpensive, jalapeño peppers, lunch, melted, minced, parsley, party food, salt, side dish, Silpat, snacks, untested, vegetarian

Making biscuits is quick and easy, especially when following this recipe for 17-50: Cornmeal-Jalapeño Biscuits from Simply Delicious. One of my favorite rainy-day activities, I enjoy baking because the warm oven heats up the house nicely. The only feeling that can beat it is sitting by the fireplace.🔥

A recipe like this could be cooked similar to a cornbread in a cast iron skillet placed near a fireplace hearth. That would be really old school, but I prefer using this biscuit method because each biscuit is baked with its own crunchy, delicious crust.

This recipe is so versatile. You can make the biscuits small for appetizer-sized portions or you can make dinner sized biscuits as a side dish.

9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner

Adam Martin Group 09: Ground Meat & Sausage, Section 2: Main Courses January 9, 2017October 19, 2020apples, bay leaves, black olives, boiled, canola oil, chopped, cinnamon, cloves, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, garlic, gluten-free, green olives, ground beef, ground meat, herbs and spices, lunch, party food, pinto beans, red bell peppers, red kidney beans, salt, sautéed, simmered, soaked, stews, tomato paste, tomato sauce, tomatoes, untested, vegetables, white beans, yellow onions

This dish is a dish that just “isn’t quite”. Isn’t quite good, isn’t quite bad. Like a bootleg chili, 9-37: Ground Meat and Bean Dinner is a Simply Delicious mess of a dish that isn’t quite chili and isn’t quite a casserole. 🌶

Unusual flavors is an understatement. Apples, cloves and cinnamon are a very old school meat and flavor combination. The broadest definition of meat is a solid food so pretty much everything used to be called meat. Merriam Webster Dictionary features an archaic definition of meat: “the edible part of something as distinguished from its covering (as a husk or shell)”. Fruit meat, nut meat, vegetable meat, the fleshy part that provides sustenance is technically a meat under this really old definition.

17-45: Light Coffee Rolls

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods January 7, 2017November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, almonds, baked goods, breads, breakfast, butter, chopped, coffee, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, inexpensive, kneaded, melted, milk, nuts, party food, proofed, rolls, salt, sliced, snacks, untested, vegetarian, yeast

17-45: Light Coffee Rolls were made as part of a gift box for a family friend. These coffee rolls can hardly be described as “light” in my opinion. The batch I made came out rather heavy, but buttery and delicious. 😋

The rolls were best served fresh from the oven, upon cooling, the rolls got heavier and less airy.

6-41: Chicken Breasts with Tomato Salsa

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses January 3, 2017October 15, 2020basil, black pepper, boneless, breasts, broiled, cast-iron, chicken, chopped, dairy-free, diced, dinner, dried herbs, easy, egg-free, garlic, gluten-free, green onions, grill pan, grilled, healthy, herbs and spices, inexpensive, Italian, lime juice, limes, lunch, minced, olive oil, party food, Roma/plum tomatoes, salsa, salt, scallions, skinless, thyme, tomatoes, untested, vegetables

I like dishes that are easy enough to prepare on a weekday night. 6-14: Chicken Breasts with Tomato Salsa teaches you to make a simple salsa to put on top of some tasty chicken breasts. 🍗

I really enjoy dishes like this for dinner: simple and flavorful ingredients which combine to make a nutritious, Simply Delicious meal.