JennyJones

I realize that my “Quick & Easy” chocolate cake is the most popular and I often make it when I need cake fast. Some days, we just need cake fast! But sweet potato chocolate cake is still my favorite. It starts with a whole sweet potato, which I cook and mash with a fork. I used to boil it but now I chop and steam the sweet potato. This way it retains more vitamins and I like that this is a dessert with some nutrition. And because sweet potatoes are so sweet, this recipe uses less sugar.

This chocolate cake always turns out moist and delicious. I frost most of my cakes right in the pan, only on the top. If you want to try my favorite recipe for sweet potato chocolate cake and get a little vitamin A in each slice, click here.

I’m wrapping Christmas presents today. It’s not Christmas yet but everyone is asking when I’m going to make my caramel corn so today is the day for making homemade caramel corn for Christmas gifts. My first batch is done and cooled.

To keep if fresh I pack it in a zip top plastic bag first and then wrap it with cellophane tied with pretty ribbons. This way it’s easy for people to snack on and save some for later but I hear that it’s mostly gone in the first pass.

Every Christmas I give a variety of gifts to everyone in my life but this caramel corn is the gift that gets the most raves. Sadly, no matter how much I make there never seems to be enough. That could be due to the constant sampling that goes on when my back is turned. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I’ve been busy the past month and when there’s not much time to cook, I still cook. And tonight I made my veggie fried rice. It’s my go-to dinner when I want a quick and healthy meal. I always have broccoli and peppers on hand I always keep frozen peas in the freezer.

It’s a light meal with protein from the eggs and a bounty of nutrients from the vegetables. This time I used broccoli, spinach, peppers, and peas. We had my peanut butter cookies for dessert.

If you want to try this quick and easy vegetarian fried rice, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Quick & easy pierogi? There is no such thing. But if ever a  recipe was worth the time, it’s homemade pierogi. I only make potato & cheese pierogi because that’s what I grew up on. My dad taught me how to make them and I’m so glad I shared the recipe because I wasn’t sure if anyone would want to put in the effort. It turns out a lot of people do. There are hundreds of comments and over a million people have watched the video.

There are two things to make: the dough and the filling. The mashed potato filling is easy to make but the dough takes more time and it’s important that the filling stays inside the dough when they are boiled. Before boiling, the pierogi must be kept apart on a floured towel because if they touch each other they will likely stick and create an opening in the dough. That would result in them breaking apart when they’re boiled. I line a baking sheet with a dish towel and sprinkle it with flour and place them on the towel, not touching.

I boil mine in a medium saucepan so I only boil 4 or 5 at a time, making sure at first that they don’t touch each other in the water. Pierogi take about 3-4 minutes to cook and when they’re done I remove them to an oiled baking sheet and put the next few in the boiling water. (By the way, “pierogi” is plural – one is called a “pierog” but people often use “pierogies” as the plural).

Once they’re cooked I still keep them mostly separated. There are two ways to enjoy these Polish treasures. One is to eat them right after boiling when they are soft and tender, served with sour cream and bacon bits. I rarely eat bacon but that rule goes out the window when I make homemade pierogi.

The other way is to pan fry them in a little oil or butter until they’re lightly browned and serve them with (big surprise…) sour cream and bacon bits. They are also often served with fried onions. Well I have to go now. We have leftovers. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Somebody please stop me from eating five! These oven-baked Polish doughnuts are so light and so delicious and filled with homemade custard, well….. I can only make these a few times a year. It’s too easy to eat five. Pączki are most often filled with jam but custard is my favorite by far. These Polish doughnuts are light and airy and really simple to make.

Filling them is the hardest part and a pastry bag does make it easy. I used to use a long, slender pastry tip but I find it easier to use a wider tip, something like these:

Pączki are traditionally fried but I avoid eating deep fried food – nobody needs that. Besides, I could never eat five fried doughnuts without requiring medical care. Oven-baked is the way to go. Fill them with jam or custard. Either way you will love these delicious pączki (pronounced potnch‘-kee). Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Most people know that my favorite place to be is in the kitchen and to show you how much I enjoy “playing” there, I thought I would share what I cooked all this month. On the days I didn’t cook, we usually had leftovers as I prefer to eat at home than go to a restaurant. I hope my joy of cooking and baking will spark a similar passion in others to cook more at home.  And now, here’s what I cooked this month…

Oct. 31 – Tortillas, salad, baked ziti, tapioca pudding with chocolate swirl. (photo below)

Oct. 30 – Asian salad, vegetable chicken soup

Oct. 29 – Granola, Greek salad, salmon patties, Greek spinach rice, dark chocolate almond clusters

Oct. 28 – No knead whole wheat bread, chicken noodle soup, my butter mix

Oct. 27 – Tuna salad, chicken stock, two bean turkey chili (photo below), whole wheat blondies

Oct. 26 – Granola bars, sesame seed breadsticks

Oct. 25 – Deviled eggs, tortillas, vegetable soup, pork fried rice

Oct. 24 – Pork loin with roasted vegetables

Oct. 22 – Multi grain no knead bread, Caesar salad, fast rice & beans, tapioca pudding

Oct. 21 – Eggs & hash browns, no knead raisin walnut bread

Oct. 20 – Granola, salad, pesto pasta with chicken

Oct. 19 – Egg salad, marinated beets, stuffed grape leaves (photo below)

Oct. 18 – Tortillas, chicken noodle soup, chocolate loaf cake

Oct. 16 – Beet & cabbage borscht, salad, skinless chicken drumsticks

Oct. 14 – Chocolate loaf cake (photo below), vegetable-bean soup

Oct. 13 – Wound healing soup, faster whole wheat no knead bread, biscotti (for a gift)

Oct. 12 – Granola bars, deviled eggs

Oct. 11 – Chicken and mushrooms with steamed broccollini

Oct. 10 – Granola, vegetable-bean soup

Oct. 9 – Chewy chocolate clusters, tuna salad

Oct. 8 – Deviled eggs, caesar salad, leftover turkey chili

Oct. 6 – Multi grain no knead bread (photo below) It’s one I make the most.

Oct. 5 – Whole wheat french toast, chicken soup, spicy cabbage salad, turkey chili, double chocolate biscotti

Oct. 4 – Hard boiled eggs, granola bars (photo below), tomato salad, cabbage soup, tortillas, leftover baked ziti

Oct. 3 – Simple whole wheat bread (photo below), whole wheat french toast, croutons, salad, leftover chicken pot pie, crispy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

Oct. 2 – No knead bread, salad, baked ziti, chocolate loaf cake

Oct. 1 – Sesame seed breadsticks, salad, chicken pot pie, dark chocolate fudge brownies.

This easy casserole just might become your new family favorite. I’ve been making it for years and everyone loves it. And I love it for two reasons. One: it’s delicious. Two: it’s easy to make. It takes just a few simple ingredients and less than an hour for some good homemade comfort food. By using lean ground beef and reduced fat cheese, I never feel stuffed after my second and third helping.

Much of the flavor comes from the sauce and you can use a homemade marinara but I use store-bought sauce. Two that I like, but can’t always find, are Silver Palate Low Sodium Marinara but this time I couldn’t find it so I used Terlato Kitchen Pomodoro, also lower in sodium and it was fantastic. Not all jarred sauces are the same so I encourage everyone to read the label for the least number of ingredients as well as sodium. Even with a low sodium sauce, this recipe doesn’t even need salt or pepper.

And don’t be tempted to use more pasta. It will seem like it’s not enough when you put it together but it’s just the right amount for this easy family casserole. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

There are three reasons why I love this recipe:

1. It’s vegetarian.
2. It has lots of superfood veggies.
3. It takes less than 20 minutes to make.

This is a light, easy supper that I love to make, depending what I have on hand. My favorite combo is this one with broccoli, baby spinach, bell peppers, and peas. But I have also made it with other vegetables, sometimes broccollini instead of broccoli, Swiss chard instead of spinach, or other subs like asparagus, shredded carrots, bok choy, or Chinese snow peas, so you see it’s just a great way to get a variety of cooked vegetables in one meal. But I always use at least four different veggies.

Cold cooked rice works best so I usually cook the rice the day before, and refrigerate it overnight. Mostly I use Uncle Ben’s converted rice but I have also made it with brown rice. Either way, if your rice is cooked in advance, this is a super-quick meal. Be sure to have everything ready before you start because a stir-fry means you don’t leave the pan once you start and it cooks in less than 10 minutes! So chop everything first and have everything in place before starting. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

With over 300,000 views every week between my website and youtube, from 200 different countries, I simply can’t to keep up with the growing number of questions. I never expected this when I started sharing my recipes and I want this to be the best experience for everyone but it’s become overwhelming.

I am a one-man operation, doing the best I can, but here is the reality: If I don’t get to 25 questions in one day, the next day it’s 50. Another couple of busy days and it’s 100 and by then I can’t catch up. I need time to work on my recipes, take the pictures, perfect the details, and share what I love. I also need time to focus on my philanthropy.

It’s wonderful to see how popular my recipes have become and I want to always be there but it’s become impossible and that makes me sad. This is my creation. I take a lot of pride in it and want it to be perfect so please know I am doing the best I can. I hope everyone understands and there are ways you can help:

1. Understand if I am not able to answer your questions.
2. Please do not ask a question that you can research online.
3. Please do not ask about changing my recipe as I only make them the way I post them.
4. If a recipe didn’t turn out, please look at the FAQs before asking what went wrong.
5. Please continue to share your helpful comments, especially if you’ve tried something different with one of my recipes and it turned out well. That’s helpful to all of us.

My sincere thanks to everyone who jumps in to answer questions to help out.  – Jenny Jones

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Caesar salad! Now I don’t have to go to a fancy restaurant to get a classic Caesar salad. It was always a mystery to me because I thought I had to use whole anchovies but for me, anchovy paste is perfect and it’s also easy to use. It takes just minutes to make this dressing but you need the right ingredients. You just shake it all up in a jar and it’s done.

Traditional Caesar salad is made with romaine lettuce and for me, hearts of romaine make the best presentation, not to mention homemade croutons. I usually make croutons with slices of my faster no knead bread and my recipe is super easy too. Click here to see how to make homemade croutons.

I encourage everyone to eat a salad every day and now you can make one of those salads a classic Caesar. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones