Jenny Jones hosted her own nationally syndicated talk show but that was just one of many jobs that Jenny has held, including waitress, bookkeeper, fashion model, author, comedian, musician, singer, songwriter, and office manager.
Born to Polish immigrant parents, Jenny grew up in London, Ontario. Her father was the cook in the family, sparking Jenny’s lifelong interest in cooking. The independent teenager left home at seventeen to go on the road as a drummer in a rock ’n’ roll band. “When you’re used to healthy home cooking, eating in restaurants, or at least the ones I could afford, was no fun,” says Jones. She would often ask the nightclub staff to boil a dozen eggs for her, which she made into meals in her travels.Jenny’s musical talent led to jobs as a drummer in an all girl band in Las Vegas, a backup singer for Wayne Newton, and finally a stand up comic in Los Angeles. As a struggling comedian she supported herself by cooking for others out of her home. “When I created Janina’s Kitchen, I got so busy I couldn’t keep up and had to hire a friend to help,” recalls Jones. “I shopped for groceries at night, cooked all day, and then delivered orders on my bike.”
In 1986 Jenny appeared on TV’s Star Search and won the comedy grand prize. When offered a chance to open for Sammy Davis, Jr. she quit catering to tour with Sammy as well as Tony Bennett, Dionne Warwick, Glen Campbell, The Pointer Sisters, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins, Andy Williams, and Engelbert Humperdinck. Jenny then developed a revolutionary comedy show for women only called “Girls’ Night Out” whose enormous success landed her in Time Magazine, on Larry King Live and “20/20.” The flood of offers that followed included a daytime talk show. Jenny relocated to Chicago but not before renegotiating her contract for what mattered most…a full kitchen in her dressing room.
Taping her daily show was hard work but Jenny relaxed on weekends by cooking. “People are amazed at how I simply never get sick. I credit my healthy home cooking,” says Jones. Staffers always anticipated the next time Jenny would bring in homemade muffins or cookies on Monday. “I’m the one people come to for health advice and I can’t count the number of pots of chicken soup I’ve made for people under the weather,” she says, “or my wound-healing soup for people recovering from surgery.”
Jenny’s recipes have been published in various newspaper columns as well as Redbook Magazine, Woman’s World and TV Guide and her cookbook collection numbers over 300. Her cooking is simple and based on her continual health and nutrition research. “I don’t believe in diets,” she says. “Every time another trendy diet fails, it comes back to consistently healthy, clean eating. That’s what I’ve always done and I have maintained my weight and have never missed a day of work in my life.”In 1997 Jenny’s autobiography, Jenny Jones: My Story” was published with 100% of her proceeds going to breast cancer research. In 2006, her cookbook, “Look Good, Feel Great” was published with 100% of her proceeds going to breast cancer research at City of Hope. The cookbook earned rave reviews on www.Amazon.com and was so well received that it was translated into Chinese.
In 2013, Jenny requested and was given permission from her publisher to share all of the recipes in her cookbook for free on this website. She is updating and simplifying most of those recipes to include here with all of her new recipes and she has also made the entire cookbook available to anyone who wants it, as a free download.
Jenny has given millions of dollars to those in need from her own scholarship programs, donations to schools, hospitals, and various organizations, to her innovative Jenny’s Heroes campaign, where Jenny invited everyday people to decide how to spend close to two million dollars to make a difference in their communities. In 2016, Jenny donated $200,000 to fund a brand new fully accessible playground to her hometown of London, Ontario. More recently in 2018 Jenny purchased two new transportation vans for the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Southern California as well as new kitchen equipment for their housing program. In addition, she has established Jenny’s Heroes CANADA, a program to provide safety equipment to Ontario’s volunteer firefighters. Most recently in 2019, Jenny created a second firefighter grant program, Jenny’s Heroes CALIFORNIA, to support the volunteer firefighters in her home state of California. By the summer of 2020, Jenny had already provided $350,000 in grants to volunteer firefighters.
Jenny also strives to make a difference by sharing her recipes and cooking videos. Her simple, healthy cooking has garnered millions of fans from all over the world on YouTube and on her website. She is routinely approached by companies who would like to advertise on her site or pay her for endorsements but she always declines. “I am not here to make money,” says Jenny. “l simply love to cook and my only goal is to share what I love and to motivate more people to cook at home. It’s one more way I can give back.”
There’s more on Jenny at JennyJones.com.