Karen’s Recipes:
Honey Roasted Vidalia Onions
Do you like Vidalia sweet onions? I do. Even so, I was surprised when this recipe received all 5 star reviews when I posted it awhile ago on another recipe website that I know longer use. I'm moving my most popular recipes from that website here. Which means I'm...
Avocado and Egg Salad Open Faced Sandwich
When I was a kid, my mom would make open faced tuna salad, tomato with a slice of American cheese broiled on an English muffin. Since I didn't like tuna salad or tomatoes, she always made me an egg salad & cheese. My adult taste buds have evolved, and I modified the...
Oven Roasted Boneless Turkey
Oven Roasted Boneless Turkey Ingredients: 1.5 lbs boneless/skinless turkey (breasts or tenderloin)1 tablespoon oil (I used corn oil)3 cloves fresh garlic, minced1/2 teaspoon sea salt1/2 teaspoon pepper1/2 teaspoon oregano, dried 1/2 teaspoon whole thyme, dried 1/2...
Creamy Butternut Pasta
Recently I posted a recipe on Recipezaar that I found in a fundraiser cookbook, Creamy Garlic Pasta. I play tag games on Recipezaar and Food, Friends & Fun Forum, in which players make each other's recipes and review them. After 2 of the game players made...
Grilled Pork Tenderloin
I found this recipe on a blog, and have made it twice now. Both times it turned out perfectly. The original recipe says you can marinate the pork for up to a day in the refrigerator, but I do it just for an hour or so. That's plenty long. If you want to...
Baked Chicken
This chicken is super easy, and can easily be cut down to 1 or 2 servings or doubled. It's great for a last minute "what should I make for dinner" night. Feel free to use chicken breasts or thighs, with or without skin and bones. Just make sure it is fully...
Poppy Seed Cookies
These cookies make a shortbread type of cookie. As a child, my Great Aunt Lil would make these for our Channukah cookie tray. They were my brother's favorite cookies. They aren't as sweet as many other cookies, and may appeal more to adults than the kids....
BBQ Hamburgers
My mom did a great job of feeding a family of 6 on a budget. BBQ'd burgers was a regular dish during grilling season. She made the ground beef go farther by making it a bit more like meatloaf, then my dad would slather on the BBQ sauce on the grill. The...
Salmon Salad
A while ago, I bought some smoked salmon, not the lox style cured fish, but a section of the fish that had been smoked as one piece. After eating some of it plain, I decided to turn the rest of it into salmon salad and it was wonderful. You need to use hot...
Cheesy Herb Eggplant
Every spring I get excited about cooking light dishes with herbs that I grow in my garden. So when I decided I needed to get the eggplant sitting in my refrigerator cooked before it went bad, I was thrilled to find a recipe that also used some of my favorite herbs....
Just Chicken Livers
I love chicken livers, and this is a simple and easy way to make them for a main dish for dinner. Chicken livers are also inexpensive. You can pick up a carton of them in the butcher section of your grocery store. It's also an easy recipe if you are cooking for 1 or...
Easy Apple Crisp
Apple Crisp is one of the first things I learned to make when I moved out on my own. I got this recipe from my mom and in just a few minutes, I had a bit of home for dessert. Photo Credit (both pictures) - Baby Kato I hope you like it as much as I do. I first posted...
Pumpkin Cake (Bar Style)
I just love pumpkin. I love pumpkin pie and I love pumpkin muffins. So I knew I would also love a simple pumpkin bar style cake. But I guess it's not just me. I recently made this recipe for a party and they were gobbled up. I modified the recipe from one I discovered...
Potato Chip Shortbread Cookies
The first time I ate these cookies, I was blown away that cookies with potato chips in them could taste this good. The cookies remind me of the powdered sugar ball cookies my Grandma used to make for Channukah. The recipe is one I clipped from a local newspaper about...
Chocolate Chip Banana Bars
If you like chocolate chip cookies and you like bananas, you have to try these bar cookies. I found this recipe about 25 years ago on the back of a Tollhouse mini chocolate chip package. It's become a go-to recipe in my family and is always a big hit. Chocolate Chip...
Baked Spinach and Noodles
I love cream based baked pasta dishes and I love spinach, so the idea of mixing them together has always intrigued me. I found a recipe online that was a good start, but by the time I made changes to make it healthier and to accommodate what was in my fridge, my Baked...
Easy Beef Brisket
I grew up eating brisket year round at weekly family dinners. But it was a also a staple on holiday dinner tables like Channukah and Rosh Hashanah. So when I took over the Channukah gathering for my family, I needed to come up with a brisket recipe. This recipe is...
Crawfish Balls Recipe
I discovered crawfish on a trip to New Orleans years ago, and came home wondering what I could make with it. I'm not into spicy dishes or gumbo, but thought that dishes that used crab might be able to be modified to work with crawfish. Then I I found this recipe for...
Spinach Artichoke Dip
If you like spinach and artichokes and cheese, you will love this easy dip. I originally posted this recipe on Food.com, and it has all 5 star reviews. And it is always a huge hit when you it is served at any event. Spinach Artichoke Dip Ingredients: 1 small onion,...
Maple White Bean Bake
Are you tired of the same old baked bean side dish at potlucks and summer BBQs? This version of baked beans is good enough to enjoy all year round. I originally posted this recipe on Food.com, and it has an average 4.5 stars from reviewers. Here are what some of...
Homemade Chinese Fried Rice
I really like cooking from scratch rather than eating unhealthy processed foods or restaurant take out too often, but I also don't usually feel like making a complicated meal. Homemade Chinese Fried Rice is a great one dish meal or side dish. Usually made from...
Stormy Day Breakfast Bread Pudding
If you like bread pudding, french toast and the topping on apple crisp, you'll love my Stormy Day Breakfast Bread Pudding. While the recipe uses canned pears, feel free to use your favorite canned fruit. I'm not a fan of canned peaches, fruit cocktail or pineapple,...
Settlement Cookbook Salmon Loaf
When I got my first apartment, my Mom gave me her 1954 Settlement Cook Book. The book is well worn with tape holding it together. The Salmon Loaf is one of my favorite recipes from the book. When I was a kid, we would have it hot for dinner with a white sauce over the...
Salmon Burgers
Have you ever looked at 2 foods that are almost the same and been surprised by how much you like one but not the other? That's how I feel about canned salmon and tuna fish. I barely tolerate tuna fish, but love canned salmon. A few years ago I started paying attention...
Shrimp and Broccoli Stir Fry
If you are looking for a simple Chinese style dinner without a complicated recipe or a mile long list of ingredients you don't have in your pantry, my Shrimp and Broccoli Stir Fry is the answer. It's a simple recipe that comes together fast. Or, if you are an...
5 Star Rated: Snickerdoodle Cookies
I think snickerdoodle cookies are my very favorite cookies. I fell in love with these cookies as a kid when I tasted them for the first time at my best friend's house. When I was ready to head off to college, I asked Cathy's mom for the recipe. And I'm so glad I did....
Strawberry Jello Pretzel Dessert
There is something amazing about sweet and salty in the same mouthful. While Jello no longer something you find at every summer BBQ like it was when I was a child in the 70s, it really pulls together this easy dessert. The sweetness of the strawberry jello and the...
Mushroom Casserole
Mushrooms rarely get to be the star of the dish. So I knew I had to try this recipe when I came across it years ago. Photo Credit - Brenda via Food.com You wouldn't think a simple dish like this would get so many reviews on a recipe site, but it did. With 17 reviews,...
Grandma’s Cheese Blintzes
While I've ordered cheese blintzes over the years while dining out at a Jewish deli and even tried the frozen ones you can buy at the grocery store, nothing compares to the cheese blintzes of my childhood. My Grandma made them once or twice a year, and served them as...
Oatmeal Blueberry Banana Bread
Yesterday I shared one of my favorite banana bread recipes and told you it is my go-to recipe. While that IS true, I actually have 2 favorite banana bread recipes. This version includes oatmeal, making it as healthy as a recipe like this with flour and sugar can be....
Blueberry Banana Bread
I really love bananas and can't resist buying a few every time I'm in the grocery store. But for some reason, I end up letting a lot of them go bad because I really only like them when they are just a tad under-ripe with no spots at all. Once they have a few spots,...
Vegetarian Main Dish: Eggplant Patties
I'm a big fan of eggplant as long as it isn't the classic Eggplant Parmesan recipe. So when I stumbled on this eggplant patty recipe many years ago in the newspaper, I had to give it a try. They are perfect for lunch or as a vegetarian main dish or side dish. I first...
Passover Banana Muffins
For most of my life, I followed all of the Passover dietary laws. It probably seems odd that I kept Passover strictly for so long even though I'm not religious and don't follow any kosher dietary rules the rest of the year. But that's what I grew up doing so I kept a...
Hearty and Healthy: Curry Split Pea and Rice Soup Recipe
A few months ago, I shared how I was trying to use up all of the food in my pantry before I moved. One of the recipes I made was Curry Split Pea and Rice Soup. I knew as soon as I saw the recipe that it would work for me with some changes, and I was right. It is a...
Reinventing a Classic Jewish Dish: Curry Noodle Kugel with Mushrooms and Onions
One of my favorite foods is Jewish noodle kugel. I love it so much that I could eat it every day and never get tired of it. This classic dish is served as a side dish at dinner or on a brunch buffet. Every family has its own recipe. Many kugel recipes include cream...
Special Breakfast Made Easy: Pumpkin Cornmeal Pancake Recipe
I love pancakes. I always have. As a kid, it was my favorite breakfast. As an adult, I've branched out and continue to try new pancake recipes. So when I decided I needed to use up my pantry food in preparation for moving, the obvious choice for the canister of...
Hanukkah Latkes: Jewish Potato Pancakes
The Hanukkah story centers around the miracle when a small group of people needed oil for the newly rededicated temple, but they only had enough oil for one night. Miraculously, it burned for eight days. Thus, Hanukkah lasts for eight days and it is traditional to eat...
Baked Whole Wheat Pancake Squares with Berries
A while ago I shared my recipe for my Baked Whole Wheat Pancake Squares. After a lifetime of eating traditional pancakes, it's hard to believe that I've never seen anything like this before last year. These pan style pancakes are amazing. And SO easy! Most of the time...
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins (Dairy-Free)
If you are like me and love pumpkin muffins, it's a good idea to stock up on canned pumpkin while it is on sale before Halloween and Thanksgiving. Use one of those cans of pumpkin to make your own whole wheat pumpkin muffins. These muffins taste great and perfect for...
Easy Roasted Turkey Parts: Thanksgiving Dinner All Year Long
I love roasted turkey, and have always thought it was a shame that most of us eat it just for Thanksgiving. Earlier this year, I stumbled on a recipe using turkey parts instead of a whole bird. The turkey tasted like it was roasted all day, but without all of the...
Easy Dinner Recipe: Chicken (or Turkey) Divan
My Mom's Chicken Divan recipe was my very favorite dinner as a child. I asked for it as my birthday dinner every year. When I moved out on my own, Chicken Divan was one of the recipes I asked my Mom to type up on a recipe card for me. Over the years, I've switched to...
Crock Pot Recipe: Beer Shredded Chicken
Today I am sharing with you my new favorite way to make shredded chicken that is perfect for sandwiches, chicken salad, tacos or casseroles. While I made this recipe with skinless chicken thighs, you could easily do this with chicken breasts or leg quarters, and even...
French Toast Casserole with Berries
My French Toast Casserole is one of the most popular recipes I've shared on Future Expat. Today, I want to show you how to take the same recipe and give it some zip with berries and a brown sugar oatmeal topping. Original French Toast Casserole recipe You can find the...
Healthy Recipes: Stuffed Ground Beef Eggplant
I know so many people who think that the only way to eat eggplant is Eggplant Parmesan. If you are one of those people like me who does not like fried eggplant topped in tomato sauce and cheese at all, you need to check out my Stuffed Ground Beef Eggplant recipe. I...
Grilled Pork Chops with Apple Brown Sugar Sauce
I've always liked pork chops, but I remember them from my childhood as dry tough slabs of meat that my dad cooked on the grill. My first few attempts at pork chops weren't much better. Then I found this recipe. The pork chops are come out moist if you simple don't...
Healthy Side Dish Recipe ~ Barley Mushroom Bake
If you haven't tried barley, you are really missing out. Barley is one of those foods that is really good for you and tastes great. While most of the recipes you will find when you search for barley recipes are soup or stew, my Barley Mushroom Bake works as your...
Recipe: Cottage Cheese Oatmeal Pancakes
I love pancakes, but I haven't bought processed pancake mix in years. I have a number of recipes I use to make pancakes from scratch. My most unusual recipe is probably the healthiest, but still tastes great. The pancakes are a bit thinner than standard pancakes, but...
Carrot Ring Recipe ~ Perfect for Dinner Parties
I fell in love with Carrot Ring the first time my Mom made it when I was a teenager. When I went off to college, it was one of the recipes I requested for my brand new recipe box. I made it for my college roommates once, but I refused to let them in the kitchen to...
Matzah Brei Recipe
Matzah Brei Recipe: I've been eating Matzah Brei all of my life. In my family, it's actually called Matzah and Eggs, but everyone else calls it Matzah Brei so that's what I'm naming it here so people searching for the recipe can find it. While matzah is a staple for...
Passover Rolls Recipe
With Passover just a few weeks away, many of my Jewish friends are searching for new recipes. Bread is one of those things you learn to do without during Passover because you aren't allowed to eat anything with yeast or other leavening agents. While I no longer follow...
Tastes Great Recipe: Curry Rice with Peas
One of my favorite spices has always been curry. Not the hot spicy curry you get with Thai or Indian dishes, but the sweet yellow curry sold in American grocery stores. So when I discovered a recipe for curry rice, I knew it was something I would like. I don't make a...
Easy Breakfast Recipe: French Toast Casserole
I just love French toast and love bread pudding, so I knew when I stumbled on this French toast casserole recipe years ago that I would like it. I've made this a number of times, modifying the ingredients and preparation instructions. While the original recipe, and...
Crockpot Recipe: Beer Pulled Pork
I love pulled pork and was excited when I discovered this recipe on Chow.com for crockpot pulled pork. I decided to change up the recipe a bit by using beer instead of chicken stock and ditching the barbecue sauce. The end result was wonderful. I hope you like it as...
Easy Appetizer: White Bean Dip with Pita Chips
If you are looking for a quick and easy appetizer that will be a big hit with everyone, you need to try this White Bean Dip with Pita Chips. If you like hummus and garlic, you'll like this recipe. It doesn't taste like hummus, most people compare it to hummus when...
Must-Try Breakfast Recipe: Banana Blueberry Pancakes
Once I discovered how easy it is to make pancakes from scratch, I stopped buying processed pancake mix. I have a half dozen pancake recipes that I love, but this is one of my favorites. After you try it, I bet you'll join me in tossing out the pancake mix and focusing...
Easy Dessert Recipe: Apple Pie Coffee Cake
I was looking for a quick dessert to bring to a family dinner one day and my pantry was really bare. I decided to see if I could come up with something to make with the apple in my fridge and stumbled on this recipe on Sunday Baker. A quick shout out on Facebook...
Quick & Easy Recipe: Chicken and Rice Bake without Canned Soup
I love quick and easy recipes that give me leftovers all week long that taste as good as they did on day one. Especially recipes that don't use pre-package processed ingredients. This chicken and rice casserole fits that description completely. It is perfect for busy...
Quick & Easy Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
With Christmas cookie season upon us, I thought I would share today the oatmeal cookie recipe I made a couple of weeks ago for the Sherwood Forest Camp leadership graduates in college. The cookies were SO easy to make, and tasted great. I started with the recipe I...
Healthy Recipe: Moist Pumpkin Cornbread
The recipe I posted yesterday for my pumpkin muffins only used part of a can of pumpkin, so I've been thinking about what to make to use it up. I toyed with the idea of making cookies, but when I decided to have some soup for dinner, I got to thinking that I needed to...
Healthy Muffins that Don’t Taste Low Fat: Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins
Every fall I get excited when restaurants start serving their pumpkin specials. Seeing all of these tasty dishes inspires me to do some pumpkin baking of my own. Pumpkin muffins are probably my favorite type of muffins...and that says a lot because I LOVE muffins and...
Easy Vegetable Recipe: Cheesy Eggplant Casserole
I love eggplant, but really am not fond of the one way that everyone makes it...eggplant parmesan. I've eaten eggplant on pizza. Ordered eggplant from the Chinese restaurant that delivers to my house. And tried a handful of unusual eggplant recipes. I think this is...
Healthy Recipe: Oh So Good Whitefish Salad
Years ago I discovered whitefish salad at my local grocery store. Think tuna salad but with a much better smoky fish flavor. Unfortunately, the product was discontinued and I haven't been able to find a substitute. Years later, I stumbled on an amazing whitefish salad...
Real Food Recipe: Homemade Lasagna with Meat Sauce
With cold weather season back, lasagna is the perfect meal that will make everyone happy. While lasagna initially may seem like a complicated dish to make, it really isn't very hard and comes together easily. Yes, it does take some time to prepare, but most of that...
Easy Appetizer: Bacon Cream Cheese Roll-Ups Recipe
One of my favorite appetizers is one my Mom made when I was a little child. These Bacon Cream Cheese Roll-Ups are always a big hit with everyone...there's something about bacon and warm melty cream cheese that just can't be beat. It can't be easier. All you need is 3...
Easy Recipe: Grilled Spicy New Potatoes
I know that most people post their grill recipes in the spring or summer, but I'm one of those people who uses the grill all year long. If you are too, then you need to give this recipe a try. If not, feel free to try this potato recipe in the oven. These potatoes...
Comfort Food: Jewish Noodle Kugel Recipe
Noodle kugel is one of my favorite childhood dishes. It's a classic side dish that is served in just about every Jewish family. It's also one of those dishes that every cook makes slightly different. Recipes get handed down from generation to generation. Just like...
Easy Chicken Recipe ~ Balsamic Baked Chicken
I like easy recipes that you can put together quickly from ingredients that are always in your pantry. When I stumbled upon a Balsamic Baked Chicken recipe on Food.com, I knew it was something I had to try. The first time I made it, I used skin-on chicken breasts and...
Healthy Side Dish: Balsamic Eggplant Pasta Salad
Just in case you are still trying to figure out what to make for your Labor Day picnic or potluck, I'm sharing a very easy, healthy recipe that everyone will love. I've been trying to eat healthier and this recipe is great because the only fat in it is extra virgin...
Healthy Recipe: Poppy Seed Almond Whole Wheat Muffins
I absolutely love almond poppyseed muffins, but they are really hard to find out or in grocery stores. Most of the time, muffins with poppyseed will be lemon poppyseed muffins, which I don't like at all. Plus, muffins are so easy to make that there really isn't a...
Fast & Easy Recipe: Pie Plate Cornbread
I love cornbread, but it always came out too dry and crumbly. Until I tried this recipe. This cornbread was moist and easy to make. Even better, all of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry. Ingredients: 1 1/4 cups flour 3/4 cup cornmeal 1/4 cup sugar 2...
Fun Fruit Recipe: Sweet Apple Fritters
I grew up eating these apple fritters. They are shaped like a pancake and sprinkled in cinnamon-sugar. My mom always served sweet apple fritters for dinner as a side dish. They are also easy to make for a crowd since you can fry them up in advance and then pop them...
Pantry Recipe: Make Your Own Vanilla Extract
Vanilla simply makes everything taste better. Most of us use the imitation vanilla extract sold in grocery stores, because buying pure vanilla extract gets really expensive. A few years ago I was on a cooking spurt and decided I wanted to start making as many pantry...
Family Favorite Recipe ~ Spinach Balls
In my family, almost all of the kids eat spinach. When I was little, my Great Aunt Lil would bring spinach balls to just about every big family dinner. When I became an adult, I took over making them, and my nephews looked forward to them every Thanksgiving. This...
Easy Dessert Recipe ~ Pan Style Cinnamon Roll Cake
Everyone seems to love cinnamon rolls. I certainly do. But I don't eat them very often because they are way too complicated for me to want to make them. When I'm invited somewhere and need to bring a dessert, I look through my pan style cake list and pick out a cake...
Make Your Own Ground Cinnamon
Cinnamon is one of those spices that I use often. Cinnamon sticks, not so much. I'm not sure how I ended up with 2 packets of cinnamon sticks, but I did. I can't remember the last time I needed them, so when I was pulling out the ingredients I needed for a recipe...
Easy Healthy Recipe: Baked Whole Wheat Pancake Squares
I love breakfast. In my quest to eat less processed foods with ingredients I can't pronounce, I've discovered that pancakes are one of the easiest things to make from scratch, eliminating processed pancake mix. I have found a dozen recipes that I think are all great....
Easy Recipe ~ Herbed Corn for a Crowd
If your family is anything like my family, everyone shows up with an assigned dish for family dinners. I usually get asked to make a side dish. One of my favorite vegetables to make for dinner parties is my Herbed Corn for a Crowd. It's really easy to make and is...
Easy Recipe ~ Poppy Seed Beer Bread
I absolutely love good bread, and my beer bread is one of my favorites. This bread is a dense flavorful loaf. Warm from the oven, the bread has a moistness that reminds you a bit of a wonderful muffin. Cool, it is solid and hearty. I love this bread plain, covered in...
Recipe ~ Apple Blondie Cake (Dessert)
I found a great new recipe I just needed to share. I was looking for something a little different but still easy for our family Mother's Day dinner. This recipe was a big hit. If you like apple pie, you should give it a try. Serve it room temperature or warm, plain or...
Eating Healthy Recipe ~ Garlic Lemon Brussels Sprouts
I grew up thinking I hated Brussels sprouts. About 15 years ago, I tried them for the first time since I was a kid when a woman I worked with brought some to the office and I wandered into the kitchen while she was heating up her lunch. I wasn't sure what to think. I...
Eating Healthy Recipe ~ Charoset All Year Long
At my family Passover Sedar dinner, the big bowl of charoset (pronounced har-o-set) is the most popular dish on the table. Every year, I think to myself that it's silly that we only eat charoset at this one holiday meal and not all year long. Yesterday, I finally...
Make Your Own Stock with Veggie Scraps
If you do a lot of cooking, you have recipes that call for chicken stock. As most cooks know, taking a basic recipe and making substitutions is half the fun of cooking. When I learned how to make homemade vegetable stock, I started using it in all of my recipes that...
Eating Healthy Recipe ~ Amish Baked Oatmeal
I love oatmeal. I've been eating it ever since I was a kid. When I learned that oatmeal is really good for you, I started eating it more often and looking for new ways to prepare it. A few years ago I found a recipe for baked oatmeal. I experimented with the...
Eating Healthy Recipe ~ Crock Pot Shredded Chicken
Sometime around the time that I got out of college and got my first apartment, I received a crock pot as a gift. While it no longer looks stylish, it works perfectly fine and it would be silly to replace it. I go through spurts when I use it and other times when it...
Eating Healthy Recipe ~ South African Bobotie
I love it when I discover a new recipe that combines my favorite flavors. I found this recipe a few years ago but it took me forever to make it because I never seemed to have apples and ground beef in the house at the same time. When I did try it, I could have kicked...