My sweet pepper and fennel soup was a bit shy on green vegetables. I did not want to add them to the soup, because it would muddle the flavors. I decided that I needed a small side salad. Some baby spinach, some sweet red onion that I happen to have on hand and maybe a sprinkle of parmesan with a balsamic/vinaigrette would be nice.
Category Archives: Salads
Karl’s Caprese Salad
Jan likes caprese salad, which is tomatoes, mozzarella, onion, olives and basil in a light vinaigrette. Usually I go to La Villa, a very good Italian deli in Willow Glen and pay through the nose for a very small portion. While La Villa makes a good salad I could make it cheaper and fresher. Today I noticed that we had a lot of tomatoes in our garden that were just ripe, and I thought, “Gee, why don’t I make my own?”
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Karl’s Jamaican Chicken Salad
I made Jamaican Jerk Chicken on Sunday and I have half a breast leftover. Checking out the Jamaican cook book, that Jan brought me back from England, I saw that it had a recipe for Caribbean coleslaw. If I put the chicken together with the coleslaw I could come up with the Jamaican equivalent of a Chinese Chicken salad. Of course, I view a cookbook recipe as a source of ideas and insparation, not a list of ingredients, so my salad is only a nod at the original recipe.
Filed under Main Dishes, Poultry, Salads
Karl’s Mesclun Salad with Fig Balsamic Dressing
Our garden produced another spectacular cucumber and a few red and yellow tomatoes. I went to the farmer’s market and picked up some mixed baby greens (mesclun). We are having company this week end, so I did not want to use a bottled dressing. A few weeks ago Jan had bought fig balsamic vinegar at the farmer’s market, a few herbs, some olive oil and garlic and you have a dressing.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Cucumber and Dill Salad
While the family has been away the garden has kept growing. I have two large Armenian cucumbers that need to be used soon. To go with my carrot soup I will make a light cucumber salad. Some fresh dill and vinegar is something I have not done lately.
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Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Kisir (Turkish Tabouleh)
I have been making Lebanese tabouleh for years. However, today I am making Turkish grilled fish and I got to thinking; Do Turks make this classic salad differently? The answer is yes.
Filed under Salads
Karl’s Coleslaw
This is a weekday meal, so I usually do not go to all the effort that I put into my Sunday feasts. However, that does not mean that it should be bad for your or not taste good. “Quick” does not necessarily mean “bad.”
For the most part I try to make may own dressing for salads. However, I have not been able to replicate the flavor of Hidden Vally Ranch Coleslaw dressing. It simply tastes “right.”
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Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Celeriac Non-potato Salad
Chris is still on his keto diet and Myr is still on the soft-food diet. Chris is avoiding starches and Myr has been told not to eat salad greens that she would have to chew. As a result, many things that I would normally make of the Fourth of July are off limits.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Karl’s Quick Four Bean Salad
We rent out house from our friends, Peg and Russ. They live in Texas. This morning, they texted that they were in San Jose and could we get together? We invited them over for a last minute Fourth of July BBQ.
Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables
Karl’s Chinese Chicken Salad
Chinese/Asian Chicken Salad is a popular dinner salad at my house. Of course, like chop suey, this is a truly American dish and you would never find anything like it in China. The flavorful chicken, crisp vegetables and crunchy noodles of this salad take me back to my childhood and the many church potlucks and American Chinese/Japanese festival food stand offerings.
Filed under Main Dishes, Poultry, Salads









