1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds

1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds

Finally, an appetizer from the first section of the book. Another story for you: in my first apartment after I graduated college and moved back home to LA, I threw an 80s Valentine’s Day party, and 1-22: Onion-Potato Diamonds were one of the appetizers I made for it–another was 5-20: Golden Cheese Tartlettes.

Look at them. Something about them just screams 1980s cocktail party to me. This time around, I made them to take to a get-together I was attending, along with 17-36: Grandma’s Spice Cake. Both ended up being big hits.


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3-2: New England Clam Chowder

3-2: New England Clam Chowder

3-2: New England Clam Chowder is one of two recipes that I cooked and photographed before I took an extended break from cooking for this project. Therefore, my memories of the process of this dish may be a little fuzzy, but I think I’ll make some sense of it.

Clam chowder is something that I’ve loved since I was a kid. My husband is from New England and when we go back to visit, it’s always an anticipated treat. We made a pretty decent clam chowder in the restaurant I worked at, too, and this recipe comes pretty close.

Of course, it’s mandatory that it be referred to as chowdah–say it right!


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12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken

12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken

Here’s a recipe I’ve actually made before–it’s been a while since we’ve seen one of those. When I was about 8 or 9, my mom decided that she, my dad, and I were going to take turns making dinner each week. One of the recipes I actually planned for and made (before this grand plan inevitably fell apart) was this one: 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken.

I probably was drawn to this one because my favorite meal as a kid was fettuccini Alfredo, and this one seems relatively similar (to an 9-year old). I also remember being fascinated with the fact that I got to use alcohol in something.


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3-8: Gazpacho

3-8: Gazpacho

First of all, ANY mention of 3-8: Gazpacho must immediately be followed with a reference to this episode of the Simpsons.

It’s tomato soup served ICE cold!”

Yes, Lisa. Yes it is. 🍅

It was the end of summer and we had a ton of tomatoes. It’s a winning combination. 🏆


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9-44: Wok-Fried Beef Patties

9-44: Wok-Fried Beef Patties

There’s not a lot of NEW options when it comes to ground meat. Tacos, stroganoff, lasagna, burgers, meatloaf, etc. This one isn’t exactly new either, but hey–we can always use another ground meat recipe.

Even Simply Delicious knows they aren’t treading on new ground here. However, here’s the one warning about working with a wok: have a HOT stove. If you don’t–woks don’t work so well.


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11-12: Creamy Sautéed Shrimp

11-12: Creamy Sautéed Shrimp

Alright. This is my FAVORITE recipe out of this entire book (at least, as far as I know). My mom always referred to it as “Shrimp Something”, but its official name is 11-12: Creamy Sautéed Shrimp. 

You can tell by the state of the card how often we cooked this recipe. This was always a big deal for me when I was a kid and my mom would make this dish.

I also cooked this one for my husband (then-boyfriend) when we were first dating, as a “here’s who I am” kind of a thing. What I’m trying to say is that this dish has a lot of feels attached to it.


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4-17: Crispy Potato Pancakes

4-17: Crispy Potato Pancakes

4-17: Crispy Potato Pancakes is one of the last recipes I cooked in the kitchen with the blue tile counters and yellow walls–-our travels have taken us elsewhere. However, even though the backgrounds will change, the project lives on.

4-17 Crispy Potato Pancakes

These are essentially latkes. Very delicious latkes, I may add. If you have a food processor, these are a breeze.


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6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks

Who doesn’t like drumsticks? Vegetarians, I suppose. But this is not a recipe for them. Book 1, Group 2 (Main Courses), Subgroup 6 (Poultry & Game) gives us 6-22: Crispy Chicken Drumsticks. This was cooked in tandem with 4-21: Herb-Roasted Potatoes.

Drumsticks were on sale, so drumsticks you will get. I think this is one of the ones I was making before I went out of town a few weeks ago, but I’ve been a bit behind, so the details have escaped me a bit. Not that it matters to you, anyway. 🙂


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11-16: Indian Fried Fish

11-16: Indian Fried Fish

Another bit of real life distractions, but I refuse to let this die. Back to it, with an interesting dish: 11-16: Indian Fried Fish. 🐟

Um, okay. “Indian” is being used liberally here, as far as I can tell. It was an okay dish, but didn’t exactly conjure up images of India. This seems more like West Indies/Caribbean “Indian” than India “Indian”.


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5-22: Crêpes with Chicken

5-22: Crêpes with Chicken

This arose out of a desire to use up some leftover chicken more so than a desire to eat another meat-based crêpe recipe so soon after 5-24: Meat-Filled Crêpes, but it turned out to be pretty good in its own right.

5-22: Crêpes with Chicken really should be “Crêpes with Chicken and Mushrooms”, as mushrooms are just as much a part of this as the chicken.

5-22 Crepes with Chicken

I had originally considered making it at breakfast, but I’m glad I didn’t–it’s definitely a savory dish. Crêpes are popular in this book–all this practice is making me quite the crêpe-master.


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