salt – Page 15 – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

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.

17-49: Apple Muffins

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 30, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, apples, autumn, baked goods, baking cups, baking powder, breakfast, butter, candied, chopped, cinnamon, cored, cut in, dessert, diced, eggs, fall, fruit, gift ideas, ginger, half-and-half, hazelnuts, herbs and spices, holiday baking, Hutton house, milk, muffins, powdered sugar, revisited, salt, sifted, snacks, streusel, vegetarian, winter, XMAS 16

My contribution to this year’s holiday baking (XMAS 16) consists of two recipes which include my favorite fruit: Apples! 🍎 🍎 🍎

I ended up multiplying this recipe by 3, which gave us more than enough apple muffins for the holiday gifts. 🎄

The notes on the front of the card are from Jamie’s mom. I made this recipe once before when I had a lot of apples laying around.

17-48: Buttery Vanilla Rolls

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 29, 2016January 19, 2023all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking cups, breakfast, brushed, butter, cake yeast, Christmas, dough, egg wash, eggs, fairly easy, filling, food processor, granulated sugar, holiday baking, inexpensive, kneaded, melted, milk, party food, pastry, powdered sugar, rolls, salt, snacks, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, XMAS 16, yeast

In my holiday baking batch from last year (XMAS 15), I included 17-67: Coconut Crescents to offer some variety to the endless types of cookies. 🍪 17-48: Buttery Vanilla Rolls were included in this year’s holiday baking (XMAS 16) for much the same reason, although I think I ended up with a better mix of items this year. 🎅🏼

I liked that these were baked in muffin cups as well–I thought that might make them easier to pack up and distribute/ship as gifts. To make them holiday-ish, I sprinkled them with a bit of red and green decorating sugar while they were cooling. 🎄

7-24: Cran-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 28, 2016October 15, 2020autumn, black pepper, boneless, canola oil, Christmas, cranberries, cranberry sauce, dairy-free, dinner, dried spices, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, fall, garlic, ginger, glazed, gluten-free, herbs and spices, lunch, minced, pork, pork tenderloin, red wine, salt, sautéed, sliced, Thanksgiving, untested, winter

Simply Delicious contains the best recipes for pork tenderloin. I particularly enjoy this preparation, 7-24: Cran-Glazed Pork Tenderloin, which uses cranberry sauce–my favorite part of the Thanksgiving (or Christmas) meal. 🍒

Pork and wine taste great when combined together. Instead of marinating the pork as in 7-18: Pork Tenderloin in Wine Sauce, the cranberry sauce and wine are put in the pan to create a sauce to coat the pork tenderloin in flavor. 🍷

6-46: Chicken Breasts Veronique

Adam Martin Group 06: Poultry & Game, Section 2: Main Courses December 26, 2016October 15, 2020black pepper, boiled, boneless, breasts, butter, chicken, chopped, creamy, curry powder, dinner, easy, egg-free, fairly inexpensive, French, fruit, gluten-free, grapes, half-and-half, herbs and spices, lunch, melted, minced, pan-fried, reduced, salt, sautéed, shallots, skinless, sliced, untested, whipping cream, white wine

Simply Delicious is introducing me to so many new culinary terms. 6-46: Chicken Breasts Veronique was a new one for me. 🍇 The definition of “Veronique” is explained below:

Chicken and grapes isn’t the most obvious combination, not in 🇺🇸 American-style cuisine anyway. This dish is definitely influenced by 🇫🇷 French cuisine. I’ve eaten chicken and grapes before in Middle-Eastern styled recipes as well.

17-41: Molasses Oatmeal Bread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 25, 2016January 19, 2023all-purpose flour, almond milk, baked goods, boiled, bread flour, breads, breakfast, brushed, Christmas, coconut milk, coconut oil, dairy-free, dough, egg-free, fairly easy, gift ideas, holiday baking, inexpensive, kneaded, lukewarm, lunch, milk, molasses, oatmeal, proofed, rolled oats, salt, shortening, slashed, snacks, steamed, untested, vegan, vegetarian, XMAS 16, yeast

Merry Christmas! 🎄 As I mentioned at the end of 17-47: Italian Fruit Bread, the first of my holiday baking entries for this year (XMAS 16), I had a vegan gift recipient this year, so I made a specially adapted version of 17-41: Molasses Oatmeal Bread to replace all the other treats and goodies that weren’t quite vegan-friendly. I gave the other loaf (this recipe made two, and I didn’t multiply it like the others I made this year) to my aunt who loves these kinds of things. 🎁

This recipe isn’t vegan-friendly without a bit of tweaking (swapping coconut-almond milk for regular milk and coconut oil for shortening), but it’s pretty easy to do and still results in a beautiful and tasty loaf of bread. 🍞

7-18: Pork Tenderloin in Wine Sauce

Adam Martin Group 07: Pork, Section 2: Main Courses December 24, 2016October 16, 2020all-purpose flour, allspice, black pepper, butter, Christmas Eve, creamy, crushed, deglazed, dinner, dried spices, egg-free, fairly easy, fairly expensive, gravy, half-and-half, herbs and spices, juniper, marinated, pan-fried, pork, pork tenderloin, port wine, red wine, roux, salt, sautéed, sherry, strained, tenderized, untested, whipping cream, winter

Marinade is a “sauce, typically made of oil, vinegar, spices, and herbs, in which meat, fish, or other food is soaked before cooking in order to flavor or soften it”. Port wine is not an ingredient I normally keep in the house, but I have marinated a pork tenderloin before so 7-18: Pork Tenderloin in Wine Sauce shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

Meat that soaks in a marinade comes out tender and delicious. Cooking with this method requires more preparation time. Leave the meat in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours for maximum tenderness. The minimum marinating time I recommend is around 1 hour. When I prepared this recipe, I tried to make it in one night, so the meat marinated in the refrigerator for only 2 hours.

17-42: Luscious Lemon Bars

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 23, 2016September 21, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking pan, baking powder, bars, butter, casserole, cheese, cheesecake, chilled, citrus, coconut, college, cream cheese, creamy, dessert, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, filling, flaked, food coloring, frosting, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, holiday baking, icing, lemon juice, lemons, lukewarm, melted, party food, pie crust, powdered sugar, revisited, salt, snacks, tart, vegetarian, XMAS 16, zested

17-42: Luscious Lemon Bars were the second of my holiday baking batches this year (XMAS 16), and one that I’ve baked in the past, given my rather bold notes. I think I was on a cheesecake kick, and thought these would be easier than making an actual cake. “BAD DO NOT MAKE” doesn’t exactly bode well for a recipe–why make it again?

Here’s why: sometimes it’s important to try again, even when the first experience wasn’t exactly a positive one. The first time I made these lemon bars was my junior year of college, so about 10-12 years ago. I had just moved into my first off-campus apartment with my friend, and we had a full kitchen, something I hadn’t had access to for a few years while living away from home in the dorms.

I remember making these in that kitchen (yes, I dragged these books with me all the way out to Colorado and back) and struggling with this recipe. Out of that frustration (and failure) came the note. I’ve learned a lot since then (culinarily and otherwise), so I think it’s time to figure out if it was the recipe or it was me.