Blog

Blog

Apr 23, 2014

Quick & Easy Flatbread

Flatbread Recipes

I love bread. And I love flatbread, especially when I can make it at home in 30 minutes. Some flatbreads are unleavened but mine is a yeast dough but there’s no rising time with this simple recipe and you cook the breads in a hot pan in 2 minutes. They puff up so pretty while you cook them and sometimes if they puff up a lot, I’ve got a pita pocket. If you can serve them fresh out of the pan, you will never ever want store bought flatbread again. I love the smell of homemade bread and when you make flatbread, your kitchen will smell amazing.

It’s a sticky dough so you will need a well-floured surface. I used to let the dough rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes but this recipe, with no rise and only a 10-minute rest, tastes exactly the same. The ones after rising, though, did puff up a little more while cooking so if you want pita breads, try putting the dough in a small greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let it rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes. You’ll still have flatbreads in less than an hour. But the fast ones puff up really nicely too as you can see in the photo.

What can you do with flatbread? Well… there’s pizza, gyros, sandwiches, focaccia, dip it into things (like my beef stew!!!) or hummus, or for a bread person like me, just eat it plain. I made some this morning and had half of one just plain and rolled up some egg salad in the other half. Deeelish! For my Quick & Easy Flatbread recipe & vidieo click here  – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Breads/Muffins
29 Comments
Apr 18, 2014

Marinated Superfoods

Marinated SuperfoodsBesides being one of the prettiest things you could serve, my marinated superfoods is one of the healthiest. And the fastest! It only takes 15 minutes to put this simple recipe together and it’s such a delicious and easy marinade using fresh lemon juice  – I can’t get enough of it. You can serve it as a side dish or the way I prefer it, which is cold. I like to keep a bowl of this marinated broccoli and cauliflower in the fridge and snack on it throughout the day. To me, it’s better than any vitamin pill.

Both broccoli and cauliflower are cruciferous vegetables, the ones that help protect us against cancer. So here’s the skinny on broccoli: It has calcium for bones, lutein for eyes, and vitamins A, C, and K, as well as sulforaphane, the anti-cancer compound. Cauliflower also has sulforaphane plus lots of B vitamins, potassium, anti-inflammatory properties, brain support and helps detox the liver. Onions are good for the heart, blood pressure, memory, and liver. Red onions have more antioxidants then blueberries. I think I’ve made my point.

I make this dish with white or purple cauliflower. I’m always excited to find the purple one because the color intensifies when you cook it. Even the marinade turns red! It’s beautiful!

Here’s how easy this recipe is. I steam the veggies for 10 minutes. While they steam, I mix up the marinade and slice the onion. Then I pour the marinade over the hot vegetables so they absorb all the flavors, then mix it all up. If you want to stay healthy… make these marinated superfoods… eat them… and make more. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: Soups/Salads/Side Dishes
Leave a Comment
Apr 14, 2014

Easy Bread & Butter Pickles

Homemade Bread & Butter Pickles

My easy refrigerator pickles are ready to eat in 3 hours! And it can’t get any easier than this. Just heat up the marinade and pour it over the cucumbers. Wait three hours and enjoy! There’s no canning here, not long process, just a simple, easy recipe for these delicious, tangy pickles. When I didn’t have all the spices, I made my pickles with just the salt and sugar and they were still good but they definitely have more depth of flavor with the added spices.

Crispy pickles are my favorite and I find that leaving the peel on makes a much crispier pickle. If you like them soft and more bendable, just peel the cucumbers first. Also, I’m a big fan of red onions and besides looking pretty and being sweeter, they make some great eating along with the pickles.

They call them bread and butter pickles because during the great depression, people ate cucumber sandwiches, made on bread and butter with cucumbers that were easy to grow. At the end of the growing season they pickled the remaining cuces to last the rest of the year and continued to make the new “pickled” cucumber sandwiches on bread and butter.

Cucumbers are best in spring and summer so now is a good time to make your own pickles, seeing how easy it is and all. Even an amateur cook can’t mess this up. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: Snacks/Misc
Leave a Comment
Apr 10, 2014

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

Here’s the video for my beautiful “Tunnels of Cinnamon” bread. It’s so worth making and is not difficult at all. It’s basically a braided bread with an extra step to add the “tunnels” inside the bread. Make it.  Try it.  Do it. I hope the first person to make it sends me a picture because no two loaves are ever the same inside. Send a photo to “Your Photos/My Recipes” in the blog. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Videos 2 Comments
Apr 9, 2014

“Tunnels of Cinnamon” Bread

Easy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

If you think this beautiful bread looks good, wait until you taste it! You’ve never had cinnamon-raisin bread like this. It’s a braided loaf and each of the ropes in the braid is filled with delicious tunnels of brown sugar and cinnamon. And guess what? You can make this amazing cinnamon-raisin bread without butter. I created this loaf out of necessity. I was so frustrated trying to make a spiral loaf of cinnamon bread. Every time I sliced it, there were big gaping spaces in the bread so I finally decided to try a braided bread.

Making a braided bread, like egg bread or challah, is pretty easy. You just cut the dough into thirds, roll the three pieces into long ropes and braid away. What I’ve done is just flatten the ropes and fill them with a little softened butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. (I’ve also used transfat-free margarine, which is my butter of choice so either way works) I didn’t know what to expect when I tried it but the results were amazing!

When I sliced the bread for the first time, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was inside and how the brown sugar & cinnamon filling actually created tunnels of cinnamon throughout the bread. It’s a different pattern with every loaf but there is always a beautiful stream of brown sugar & cinnamon tunnels throughout the loaf. So I’m calling it Tunnels of Cinnamon Bread. It’s beautiful. It’s delicious. And I’m so proud of this very special bread. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Breads/Muffins
4 Comments
Apr 7, 2014

Sweet Potato Chocolate Cake

Sweet Potato Chocolate CakeThis is the ONLY chocolate cake I make. I took a new picture of my sweet potato chocolate cake which was in my cookbook and is now here on my recipes page. This was one of the most popular recipes in the book and this new photo better shows off the moistness and deliciousness of this fabulous dessert.

You should try serving this cake and then ask if anyone can guess what’s in it. It’s such a rich-tasting cake they might think it has lots of butter but the cake is made without butter and with less sugar than most cakes because the sweet potato is naturally sweet. And you can make it with extra light olive oil! The frosting uses only two tablespoons of butter.

It’s pretty easy to make, too. I just chop and boil the sweet potato and either mash it with a fork or put it through a ricer. (it’s easier to clean the fork!) Then I spread the sweet potato out on a dinner plate to cool while I prep the other ingredients. It’s a one-layer cake to it’s easy to frost since you’re just frosting the top and sides. I refuse to give up my desserts so I make them as healthy as I can. This is a healthier chocolate cake and it’s an easy recipe. Good news for me: I had to make the cake to take the picture and there are still 4 slices left!

If you want a moist, delicious, guilt-free dessert, try my amazing sweet potato chocolate cake. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Sweets
3 Comments
Apr 1, 2014

Buckwheat Pancakes from Scratch

Buckwheat Pancakes Recipe

Remember buckwheat pancakes? Did you know that buckwheat has more antioxidants than some vegetables? So forget the pancake mix! You can make these healthy, high fiber, and really delicious pancakes for breakfast in ten minutes. While the griddle heats up, you mix together a few simple ingredients and ten minutes later, you’re doing your body a lot of good. Here’s why you should eat buckwheat…

~It’s high in fiber.

~It can help stabilize blood sugar.

~It’s a complete protein.

~It’s a good source of magnesium, which reduces blood pressure.

~ It’s rich in B vitamins, particularly niacin, folate and B6, all beneficial to cardiovascular health.

~It’s full of antioxidants, including lignans, which protect against breast cancer.

~The powerful antioxidants and flavonoids in buckwheat prevent premature skin aging.

~It tastes great!!

Don’t skip breakfast. Take a few minutes to have this healthy, high fiber breakfast and you’ll have sustained energy and stable blood sugar, so you won’t be snacking on things you shouldn’t. This is an easy pancake recipe, but then all pancakes are easy to make from scratch. I use a non-stick griddle, which doesn’t need greasing but I sometimes just rub it with a stick of butter. If you can’t find buckwheat flour at the grocery store, look for it at a health food store. You can also order it online. And it’s good to store it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.
Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Breakfast, Nutrition
6 Comments
Mar 25, 2014

How To Make Chicken Pot Pie

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

If no one was looking, I really think I could eat this whole chicken pot pie myself… in one sitting. I love comfort foods so much and when it’s healthy and this good, then stand back and give me a big fork!

Chicken pot pie is an American classic and homemade is the only way to go. This recipe makes it so easy to have one of the best comfort foods you’ll ever have. Most pot pies are made with butter and cream in the filling plus butter or shortening in the crust and don’t even get me started on puff pastry – just look at the ingredients!

My recipe has no cream and no butter anywhere. The filling is rich and creamy and the crust is light and flaky (it’s made with olive oil). The whole thing takes an hour to make, start-to-finish, and that includes prep. Well… except you have to let it sit for 15 minutes before serving – just enough time to make a salad.

The prep is pretty easy. Besides the lean chicken breasts, you’ll need to chop carrots, celery, and onion. The peas are frozen and thawed and I use store-bought chicken stock. I hope this easy recipe becomes a family favorite for anyone looking for a healthy, easy meal made from scratch. Make it once and I know you’ll make it again. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Main Dishes
6 Comments
Mar 24, 2014

My ribs are NOT spicy hot.

Best Oven Bbq Ribs Recipe

My fall-off-the-bone ribs are NOT spicy hot. This recipe has been really popular but having an international following has brought on some new challenges. I’m hearing, “I made your fall-off-the-bone ribs and they did fall off the bone but they were so spicy hot we couldn’t eat them.” It turns out that spices are not the same all over the world and the different labeling in some countries has caused my delicious ribs to be too hot to eat. But I don’t like spicy foods and my ribs are not supposed to be hot, so I am here to clarify the confusion for my international visitors.

My rub and sauce recipes call for Chili Powder but I think some people are using Chili Pepper which is not the same thing. Not at all.  Chili Powder is a mixture of spices and peppers and is a bit spicy but not anywhere near hot. That’s why I use 2 teaspoons in my rub and my sauce. But 2 teaspoons of Ground Chili Pepper, which is pure cayenne pepper, will bring tears to your eyes!

As if that’s not enough, the terms “chili” and “chile” are often used interchangeably but they don’t always mean the same thing. Chili powder is usually a blend of spices and it not considered hot, while Chile powder most often refers to pure ground spicy hot chiles. Since every country is different, the only way to tell is to READ THE INGREDIENT LABEL and DO NOT USE pure ground cayenne red chili pepper.

Pepper_Image_02

The recipes I post are all the things I make for myself and I do not like hot & spicy foods so I hope this helps everyone from Malaysia to Australia to Belgium enjoy these delicious fall-off-the-bone, NOT SPICY HOT ribs. And my thanks to Lee and Alissa who took time to let me know. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Helpful Hints, Main Dishes
36 Comments
Mar 23, 2014

Chicken Pot Pie

Take a look at how easy it really is to make a healthy chicken pot pie from scratch. The whole thing takes about an hour and that includes the prep and even a homemade crust. Mine is an oil crust made with olive oil and it’s easily rolled between sheets of wax paper. I never use butter or shortening in a pie crust. With store-bought chicken stock and frozen peas, it’s a pretty easy process. This is a really delicious pot pie with a comfy, creamy filling and flaky crust and could just become a new family favorite. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Videos 3 Comments