Tag Archives: Philosophy of Cooking

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.

Karl’s Chinese Chicken Salad

Karl’s Chinese Chicken Salad

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Filed under Main Dishes, Poultry, Salads

Karl’s Ham and Three Fresh Beans

For me Ham and Beans has always meant slow cooked dried beans with ham. As I was researching recipes recently, I found a few that included fresh green beans. This got me to thinking about really mixing up this recipe, If one fresh bean, why not all fresh beans.

Karl’s Ham and Three Fresh Beans

Karl’s Ham and Three Fresh Beans

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Filed under Main Dishes, Pork

Karl’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Jan wants Jamaican Jerk Chicken this weekend. Chris, my son-in-law has also mentioned that this would be a good thing. Since I am still trying to reconcile their diametrically opposed diets I will be leaving out the sugar and cooking some of the chicken skin-off and some skin-on.

Karl’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken

Karl’s Jamaican Jerk Chicken

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Karl’s Jamaican Steamed Callaloo and Cabbage

Adapted from Jamaicans.com

The dish called callalloo is the name given to two completely different dishes, depending on whether it is made in Jamaica or Trinadad. In Jamaica the main ingredient is usually amaranth and it is usually simply steamed with a few aromatic ingredients. In Trinidad the main ingredient is usually taro leaf, which they stew with okra and coconut milk.

Karl’s Jamaican Steamed Callaloo and Cabbage

Karl’s Jamaican Steamed Callaloo and Cabbage

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Filed under Side Dishes, Vegan, Vegetables

Karl’s Caribbean Shrimp, Avocado and Mango Salad

Adapted from a Caribbean Pot recipe

I wanted a cooling salad to go with my spicy jerked chicken and this one sounded like a good one.   The mango does not fit into the Ketogenic diet, but Chris can give Myr his mango if he wishes, the rest should be OK for him. I replaced the original grapefruit with orange, because it is less sour and I prefer it.

Karl’s Caribbean Shrimp, Avocado and Mango Salad

Karl’s Caribbean Shrimp, Avocado and Mango Salad

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Karl’s Ham and Five Beans

My younger daughter, Eilene, has just graduated from high school and she is having a few friends (10) over this week end. Teenagers must be fed, so I have decided to make ham and beans.  One of her friends is meat intolerant (i.e. not a vegetarian by choice), so I will have to come up with something special for him. That will take some more thought.

Karl’s Ham and Five Beans

Karl’s Ham and Five Beans

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Filed under Main Dishes, Pork, Stews

Karl’s Teriyaki Tofu Burgers

I would not have anyone believe that every dish I make is a grand success. The recipe I am posting was successful, but the variation pictured was less so.  One of the down sides of constantly tinkering with recipes is that not every change works. While these failures are rarely inedible (one day I may tell the story of brine turkey) they are not always popular with my family. If you are lucky your family will tell you when something doesn’t work. Yes, I get “pouty” when they say that they didn’t like something, but that is better than making the same mistake twice thinking they loved whatever it was you had made.

Karl’s Teriyaki Tofu Burgers

Karl’s Teriyaki Tofu Burgers

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Filed under Main Dishes, Vegan, Vegetarian MD

Karl’s Cold Sichuan Noodles, California Style

This dish has become my “go to” dish for potlucks (as in “We’re having a potluck. Karl’s going to bring his Sichuan Noodles, isn’t he?)  This is one of the dishes that I included in my niece’s wedding recipe book. Many members of both families provided their best recipes to start off Katie’s married life with good food.

Karl’s Cold Sichuan Noodles, California Style

Karl’s Cold Sichuan Noodles, California Style

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Filed under Salads, Side Dishes, Starches, Vegan, Vegetables

Karl’s Fat Free Banana Bread (and a higher fat option)

Adapted from Joy of Cooking

When Jan had her gall bladder removed while we were in China (a long and scary story), one of the results was that she was not able to digest fat normally. Too much fat in a meal would leave her feeling sick for the rest of the day or give her a very bad night.  It has gotten better over the last 25 years, but I still cook with much less fat or oil than the normal American diet.

Karl’s Fat Free Banana Bread (and a higher fat option)

Karl’s Fat Free Banana Bread (and a higher fat option)

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Filed under bread, Side Dishes

Karl’s Cold Cauliflower and Arugula Soup

Miriam is having a house warming/birthday party this weekend. She asked me to bring a cold soup for the event. However, she does not want any red soups, like gazpacho, because she now has a white carpet. I could do vichyssoise, but that would be too common. I thought about a cold white bean soup, but Chris is on a low carb diet right now.  I looked on-line, and nothing I saw really spoke to me.

Karl’s Cold Cauliflower and Arugula Soup

Karl’s Cold Cauliflower and Arugula Soup

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Filed under Main Dishes, Soups, Vegan, Vegetarian MD