For anyone curious, there’s lots of empty space on the shelves of my refrigerator but the vegetable drawers at the bottom are standing room only. Why don’t I start with what’s always on the shelves in my fridge:
Container of crudité (carrots, cabbage chunks, radishes)
Container of cut papaya or mango
Milk
Eggs
Buttermilk
Mayonnaise (avocado-based)
My butter-mix
Avocado oil
Champagne vinegar
Homemade salad dressing
A few mini apples
Granola bars
Four containers of nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews, and pistachios)
Dark chocolate cashew clusters
Homemade peanut butter and almond butter
Container of apple bread or lemon blueberry loaf (depending on season)
Blueberry and blackberry jam
Low sodium soy sauce
Mustard
Pickles
And down in the crisper drawers, I always keep….
2 kinds of lettuce (usually romaine and red leaf)
Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Onion
Radicchio
Granny Smith apples for baking
Iceberg lettuce for sandwiches
Baby spinach
Broccoli
Bell peppers
I buy other vegetables when needed for a certain recipe like zucchini, green beans, Swiss chard, beets, or Brussels sprouts (don’t make a face! 🤢) You don’t have to love Brussels sprouts but put on your big boy apron and cook them! 🙂 They’re one of the top cancer-fighting vegetables you can eat. Next post, I’ll talk about what’s NOT in my fridge and why…
It’s plain and simple and may not be for everyone who likes spicy Mexican food but it’s perfect for me. We have it every Saturday for our movie night. 🎬 It’s light and healthy because I only use olive oil and fresh lemon juice for the dressing. And I always use my own not-spicy chili powder and very lean ground beef. It’s fast too! I usually make it less than 20 minutes.
You can mix it all in one bowl to serve or I sometimes put the lettuce (tossed first with olive oil & lemon juice) in two separate serving bowls and we put all the other toppings on ourselves. The only extra I sometimes add is avocado but I don’t want to get too full so we have room for the giant vat of popcorn I make for the movie. 🍿 Click here for the recipe.
Here is an un-retouched photo taken at home. I was anxious about showing myself at this age but I want to be transparent with this new Health and Beauty section and all the things I plan to share. I have so much I want to post here, I didn’t know where to start. So I will start with this morning. Here’s my typical morning routine:
We all wake up a bit dehydrated so I drink a few sips of water, not cold but lukewarm water, which feels kinder to the body. I then use a moisturizing lip balm (no Chapstick), and spray my face with a facial spray. It provides a little moisture until I wash my face.
Still in my pajamas, I follow that with a big cup of warm green tea while I check my emails & comments, here and on YouTube, and answer what I can.
After that, I wash my face and put on a serum followed by moisturizer.
While it sets, I get dressed, put on my walking shoes and put on sunscreen. Sunny or overcast, I always wear sunscreen.
Wearing a wide-brimmed hat, long sleeves, and carrying water, I head out for a brisk 10 – 12 12 – 15 minute walk (*updated Jan 3rd). Some of it is uphill (I hate that part!) so when I come down that slope, I do a light jog because stressing the bones helps with bone density. (It’s easier to do that going downhill). It’s not really jogging it’s just pounding the pavement to create a weight-bearing effect.
Back home and cooled down, I’m ready for breakfast.
My typical breakfast includes a hard boiled egg, a slice of my whole wheat bread, a cup of warm black tea, and 1/2 slice of apple bread for dessert. 🍏
Now I’m ready for another, always full, day.
I hope this little start is helpful. I plan to post more on what we eat and drink, or never eat or drink, what about snacks, what’s in my fridge and freezer, specific exercises, supplements (you might be surprised), my skincare routine, and much more. I can’t wait to share more and hope it’s helpful. Experts believe that up to 80% of chronic diseases like heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes are preventable with a healthy lifestyle and some cancers as well. I believe that.
I make pretty much everything we eat from scratch at home and I can tell you that we never ever get colds or the flu. Not in decades! My grateful husband is a beneficiary of my healthy cooking and the standards I maintain in the kitchen. He loves me for it and shows it with his pet name for me…. “Warden.” 😍
My cooking isn’t always pretty, but it’s always good! 😋 There are some things you only make for parties but I highly recommend having your own party, like pretend you invited people over but they never showed up. Then you get to eat all the hors d’oeuvres. So here’s what I made this week…
Deviled eggs (gone in two days!)
Spinach fried rice + cabbage soup with added carrots
Chocolate pudding
Granola bars
No knead crusty rolls
Turkey chili but with chicken + salad and crusty rolls
Almond butter
Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes & broccoli (I love this!)
It’s hard to focus on my cooking when the Dodgers are playing the Blue Jays in the World Series. ⚾️ I’m a Dodger fan but I’m also from Canada. 🇨🇦 It’s like having to choose between cake and pie! Here’s what I cooked this week:
Vegetable fried rice with carrots, cabbage, bok choy, spinach, and edamame + salad with ginger dressing.
Thin breaded chicken cutlets with rice plus steamed carrots and green beans.
Oatmeal muffins
Salmon patties with roasted vegetables
No knead fruit & nut bread
Vegetable bean chili + endive & romaine salad
Apple pudding
Taco salad
Here’s an un-staged picture of my spice drawer. Don’t judge me! 🙂 I know how it looks…. bad. But I know where everything is at any given moment. If you’re gong to judge me, do it for something dreadful… like cutting my own bangs.
“How do you get your skin so glowing?” “Seriously, you NEVER get a cold or the flu?” “How can you go all day and never get tired?” “No way you’re about to turn 80!”
Those are the questions I’m asked most often… and that’s why I’m here. I figure if I can help people eat healthy meals by sharing my recipes, maybe I can help someone look better, feel better, or maybe even live longer by sharing what I’ve learned over my 79 years. There. I said it. SEVENTY-NINE! Boom! 🧨
I’ve been a student of nutrition and skin care since I was seventeen. I think it might be paying off. If I’m wrong, someone will undoubtedly let me know. 🙂
It seems whenever there is work to be done, I somehow remember that I need to bake something. I mean really, isn’t pie more important than vacuuming? Here’s what I cooked this week…
Apple pie
Chicken & penne with pesto sauce and added spinach + salad
Tapioca pudding
Bran muffins
Egg salad
Bread crumbs
Chicken parmesan with spaghetti & my spaghetti sauce + steamed broccoli
Granola bars
Breadstick croutons (see below why I won’t make them again)
Chicken kabobs with peppers, zucchini & basmati rice + salad
No knead whole wheat bread
Oatmeal muffins
Taco salad
The breadstick croutons were easy to make. I just rolled a breadstick and used a scraper to cut little pieces. I tossed them in sesame seeds and they baked up round and pretty. I put them on my salad and quickly learned that you can’t poke them with a fork. You have to balance it on the fork and you know how that went. Three of them fell off the fork, rolled along the floor (that I didn’t vacuum), most of the seeds came off and now I HAD to vacuum. Next time, bread STICKS!
I can’t think of anything that isn’t better when it’s homemade, from scratch. Sometimes, when I’m tired of cooking, which translates to “tired of washing dishes” and we go out to eat, I’m always reminded why I cook at home. Everything homemade just tastes better. Here’s what I cooked this week…
Spaghetti with shredded chicken + salad & garlic bread
Oatmeal muffins
Turkey chili with crusty rolls + salad
Double chocolate chip cookies
Peanut butter
Peanut butter cookies (they’re all in the freezer)
Vegetable fried rice with salad (working on Asian ginger salad dressing)
No knead whole wheat bread
Egg salad
Double chocolate almond biscotti
Sheet pan chicken & vegetables (this time with red potatoes & green beans)
Vegetable cashew stir fry (still not perfect 😣)
Taco salad
Chocolate pudding
I’m reducing sugar so most of our desserts are a cookie or sometimes, I have one or two of my chocolate clusters. I bake and freeze cookies all the time so we can always have something sweet after dinner. These days, homemade pudding seems a bit extravagant. 😋
It’s hard to take these pictures when I’m hungry and ready to eat. They are quick snapshots in a messy kitchen but here they are. In sharing these weekly posts, I’ve come to realize that I make a lot of bread. That means I eat a lot of bread. But I like it! 😍 Here’s what I made this week…
Chicken veggie kabobs
Seeded no knead bread. (it’s my whole wheat version with 1/4 cup of a seed mix)
DON’T SEE YOUR PHOTO? Please use this NEW LINK ➡➡MyJennyRecipe@gmail.com to send your photo. I love love love seeing my recipes being made all over the world! Please say where you are from. 🌎 🙂
ALEXIS (from New Jersey) MADE MY EASY CRISPY FOCACCIA
“Hi Jenny, This is in response to my February 9, 2025 post. You wanted me to report back to you after I made your crispy focaccia in a pre-heated cast-iron skillet. I have made it three times since I posted, and I can actually say, it is phenomenal! My husband says that this is his favorite of all the breads I have made. I tend to agree. I did turn my cast-iron skillets over when I was preheating them, which gave them extra conditioning. I doubled the recipe, and made one in a 10 inch skillet, and the other one in a 12 inch skillet. Both turned out fabulous! I also added some Italian seasoning and fresh rosemary in the batter, as well as chopped rosemary only on the top with the sea salt and olive oil. Thanks again for such a mouthwatering recipe! ~ Alexis G from NJ.“
– Alexis, thank you so much for sending your photos. Now we all know these can turn out beautifully in a cast iron pan.– jenny
SHANNON MADE MY EASY ONE-BOWL YELLOW CAKE
“Thank you so much for this recipe! I followed it to the letter, adding the salt as suggested. The cake baked beautifully – golden, with a light crumb and not overly sweet. The cake is petite – just the right size for a small birthday party of 6-8 people. I will make this recipe again.”
– That is so pretty! The scalloped plate, colored sprinkles and candles – I love it! Happy Birthday to the lucky guest of honor. 🎈– jenny
DEBORAH MADE MY NO KNEAD CRUSTY ROLLS
(no message)
– Thank you for your photo. As it turns out, I just made my own crusty rolls today! – jenny
For anyone curious, there’s lots of empty space on the shelves of my refrigerator but the vegetable drawers at the bottom are standing room only. Why don’t I start with what’s always on the shelves in my fridge:
