This is the best time to make pickles because cucumbers are in season. I make my 3-hour bread & butter pickles with either Kirby cucumbers (the pickling bumpy kind) or Persian cucumbers (seedless with a smoother skin) and today I found some beautiful fresh Persian cucumbers that were fresh and crisp and bright green.
So no matter what kind of cuces you use, these three-hour pickles could not be any easier. They really are ready to eat in three hours! All you need is the cucumbers, some sliced onion, white vinegar and three spices besides sugar and salt. Sometimes I slice the cuces thinly, other times a little thicker and they are always crisp and tangy.
I’m making them for the Memorial Day weekend to have with my fall-off-the-bone ribs and potato salad… or with a salmon sandwich.. or just as a snack right out of the jar. I love these pickles!
Click here for the recipe, and Happy Memorial Day to everyone. – Jenny Jones
Weekends are my favorite time to bake. As soon as I get up and make my green tea, I start puttering around in the kitchen. With breakfast on my mind I remembered that I was out of my giant breakfast cookies so they were first on my list. This time I used a mixture of prunes and figs and added a few extras chocolate chips. I baked them for 14 minutes so they turned out more crispy than usual. I often have one of these yummy cookies after breakfast but I also have them for dessert. There are 4 grams of fiber in each cookie! Click here for my recipe.
Next, I started my sesame see breadsticks. I just ran out of those too and I hate to have my salad without those crunchy breadsticks. I make them so often that I got a breadstick pan with holes to help them bake from the bottom. There’s no place I know where you can buy fresh breadsticks like these so I make them at least twice a month. This picture was taken before I put them in my warming drawer to rise. Click here for the recipe.
While the breadsticks were rising and the oven was already hot, I saw that I was down to one granola bar so I made more of those too. It’s the easiest recipe – just mix everything in a bowl and bake. But you do have to press down really, really hard before baking to keep the bars together. I use a spatula that I press down onto the bars before baking and I press all over for about a minute so they set well while baking. Oh, I almost forgot – there’s another granola bar in my purse (I always carry one just in case). Click here for my easy recipe.
Well, I just thought I would share what I cooked today. And Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms who cook, or just eat when someone else cooks – that’s how it should be on Mother’s Day. – Jenny Jones
You only need four ingredients to make this easy chicken recipe. Well, four plus the chicken. For anyone just learning to cook or simply short on time, this oven-baked chicken is quick, easy and healthy. I make a basting sauce of fresh lemon juice and garlic with olive oil and herbs. The chicken bakes in the oven, you baste it a couple of times, and it’s ready in 30 minutes. And get this: I line my baking pan with foil so there’s no cleanup!
For my herbs, I use a prepared formula of Italian dried herbs that includes basil, rosemary, thyme & oregano but you can use your own favorite mix. Or just use one herb that you like. Once the chicken is cooked, you let it rest for 5-10 minutes, then slice it and pour all the juices left in the pan over the chicken, making sure you get all the bits of garlic too. The combination of garlic, herbs, and lemon goes perfectly with chicken. Click herefor the recipe. – Jenny Jones
It’s Sunday and that’s my day for making cinnamon rolls. I always make them entirely without butter and they always turn out beautifully. I use a trans fat-free spread for the filling and I don’t miss the butter one bit. This time, to keep the edges from over-browning, I used a cake strip and it kept the edges nice and soft, just like the middle.
I can see why it’s one of my most popular recipes. It’s easy and healthier than most other recipes that use sticks of butter. The only problem I have now is… How do I keep from eating all of it by tomorrow?! Click herefor the recipe. – Jenny Jones
We are heading to Las Vegas for a few days and I always make sandwiches for the drive. I decided to see if I could make sandwich buns from my simple whole wheat bread recipe and look how they turned out! They will soon be salmon sandwiches with lots of lettuce along with a bag of sliced carrots and peppers.
I used the exact recipe for my simple whole wheat bread without changing a thing but instead of shaping it into a loaf, I cut it into 8 pieces, shaped each one into a ball, put them on my baking sheet and flattened them with my hand. Here’s how they looked before rising…
And here they are after 35 minutes in my warming drawer…
I baked them at 375° F for about 12 minutes. I’ve already made dinner rolls from this recipe and now if you’re wondering if you can make whole wheat sandwich buns or hamburger buns like these, yes you can.
Don’t want whole wheat? You can make these easy buns with white flour using my white bread with egg recipe. I made sesame seed hamburger buns using white flour and they turned out fantastic.
So whole wheat or white, plain or sesame seed, just use my easy bread recipes to make your own healthier homemade buns. Click here for the whole wheat buns recipe. – Jenny Jones
I never dreamed I could make my own rye bread as good as the one at the deli but I did. And it’s not only as good, it’s easy too… because there’s no kneading! I grew up on rustic breads and rye is my favorite, especially with caraway seeds and now I’m making my own!
I have made this bread using the faster method using hot water, and also the overnight method that uses cool water. They both turn out the same. It’s not a big loaf, usually measuring 7 inches across and 3 inches tall.
Caraway seeds give it that “rye bread” taste but you can leave the seeds out and you still get a nice rustic farm bread. I think this is my 6th variation of no knead bread. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Can you use my Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe to make rolls? YES! I finally tried it today and that quick & easy bread recipe that everybody loves makes fabulous rolls. I used the exact same recipe but after the 10-minute rest, instead of shaping the dough into a loaf, I cut it into 18 pieces, shaped them into balls, and placed them in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan and covered the pan with plastic wrap, like this… Then I put it in a warm spot to double in size. After 45 minutes, it looked like this…
Then I baked my rolls in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for about 16 minutes (I would suggest 15 to 17 minutes). And they were delicious. I sampled one (I was beautifully soft) and then I brushed some melted butter on some of them, and they looked like this…
They are delicious either way and super easy to make. The whole thing took less than two hours. Click here for the recipe, and Happy Easter! – Jenny Jones
I absolutely love my no knead fruit & nut bread. I made it again today and added just a touch more sugar (4 Tbsp total) and that little extra sweetness is perfect for me. With sugar in this recipe, the bread can burn due to the high oven temperature. That’s why I say to reduce to temperature to 400° F when it bakes. But I found another solution to keep the bread from burning.
I raised up my oven rack one slot and it keeps the bottom of the Dutch oven a little farther away from the heat. I used my 3-quart Dutch oven and it easily fit on the raised up oven rack. I still reduced the temperature to 400 per the recipe and I was thrilled with the result – no blackened crust and a perfect loaf of sweet breakfast bread. If your try this whole wheat fruit & nut bread with lots of sweet raisins and walnuts, and if your Dutch oven still fits, try it with the oven rack raised up a notch. This could be a good Easter recipe.
You can turn my easy one-rise dinner rolls into bunny buns for Easter. Kids will love them and grown ups will enjoy the tasty bread rolls. This recipe is super easy but it will take a little time to put the faces together. This is almost the exact same recipe as my easy dinner rolls but you’ll need a couple of extra tools.
I use two cookie/biscuit cutters that are 2 1/2 inches and 4 inches across. The small circle is for the faces and the bigger one for the ears. To cut out the little noses I use the top of a lipstick tube. You’ll also need raisins and it helps to put together matching pairs or raisins in advance that are the same size and color. You might not notice but a box of raisins has many different sizes and shades.
Now for my photo tutorial. First, you roll the half of the dough into a 6 x 12-inch oval and this is how you cut the circles. The smaller ones are the faces and the bigger ones will be for the ears:
Put the small circles on your baking sheet (I make 4 faces per sheet) and then this is how you cut the ears from the two large circles:
You cut the nose using the top of a lipstick – it’s about 1/2-inch wide:
You tuck the ears slightly under the top of the head, place the nose, and push in the raisins for eyes. This is how they look before baking (four per sheet):
Once you make four bunny faces you cover the baking sheet with a towel and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled. That takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. While they rise you put together the other four bunny buns. They bake at 375° F for about 10 minutes. For the leftover dough, I roll it into a few 2-inch balls, rise and bake the same way. I hope someone sends a photo! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
