May, 2017

Yeast has a short shelf life and once any package of yeast has been opened, it should be kept in the freezer. I always use the small packets and I find that using a butterfly clip, the kind you can get at an office supply store, is a good way to seal up the packet for freezing. A paper clip would also work. I snip off the corner of the packet, measure what I need, fold the open corner over twice and seal it with the clip. Then I pop it in the freezer. – Jenny Jones

If you’re like me and your favorite part of the muffin is the top, you will love these easy breakfast muffins. The crunchy tops are made with nuts, brown sugar, and a little vegetable oil, but you can use melted butter instead. I always try baking without butter so I use oil in the topping. A lot of muffins like this use walnuts but I think pecans have a lot more flavor so that’s what I use, and I toast them first. Toasted nuts just taste way better than raw.

The reason I only make six is because the tops won’t be crunchy the next day and also, they are so filling, you only need to eat one. Make them with all purpose flour or a mix of all purpose and whole wheat pastry flour for some extra fiber. And keep in mind that the riper the banana, the sweeter it will be. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I love this! It’s a healthy dessert full of fiber and dark chocolate. It’s made with no white flour, no butter, and it’s a super easy one-bowl recipe. And if you line your pan with foil, there’s almost no cleanup. You can use walnuts but I find that pecans, especially when they are toasted first, have so much more flavor so they are my nuts of choice for most baking. In fact, I toast one bag at a time and keep them refrigerated for all my baking.

Now about the chocolate: Using a 70% dark chocolate bar is the healthiest choice and I like to use the 72% bar from World Market but you do have to chop it up so chocolate chips are definitely easier. I recently discovered Ghirardelli 60% dark chocolate chips and they are great but bigger than most so I did not like the result when I added them whole. So I chopped them into smaller pieces and an added benefit was there was more chocolate in every bite.

These are the chocolate chips I used, but I chopped them up first:

And here is what the World Market bar looks like:

My favorite thing, besides the delicious, chewy taste of this healthy dessert bar, is how incredibly easy it is. One bowl, no mixer, just mix it all up and bake.  These healthy oatmeal chocolate chip bars are not just dessert – I must confess I also have them with breakfast. For a healthy dessert or a chewy oatmeal breakfast bar,  just click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I found some beautiful fresh Persian cucumbers yesterday and made a full jar of my 3-hour bread & butter pickles. Today, there’s only half a jar left. You can make pickles using the traditional small Kirby cuces but Persians work just fine too, and they are available all year round. Mediterranean markets usually have the best ones. So today’s lunch will be a salmon sandwich on my multi-grain no knead bread with a bowl of these refrigerator pickles on the side, and a whole wheat double chocolate chip cookie for dessert. I should have just enough homemade pickles left for tomorrow. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Thank you all for sharing photos of my recipes that you’ve made. I’m international! Feel free to say where you are from and send your photo to: YourPhotos@JennyCanCook.com

FARHA MADE MY NO KNEAD CRUSTY ROLLS
“Homemade sesame no knead buns inspired by your recipe of no knead crusty rolls.???Lots of love from India..thnx for ur amazing recipes.”

~  Thank you for your photo. I love that someone is enjoying my recipe in India! ~ jenny

SCOTT MADE MY SIMPLE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
“We live at 4500 feet in Northern Utah and sometimes baking (especially cakes and sweet breads) can present a challenge. However, your whole wheat bread came out FANTASTIC!  I’ve already made 2 loaves, but I now need to work on my dough shaping & sandwich-width slicing skills.  Thanks for the tasty – and easy – recipe!”

~  That’s a good looking loaf! And I like that cardinal pot holder. ~ jenny

FREDDY MADE MY SALMON PATTIES WITH TUNA
“Really super. I used the drained oil from the Salmon for frying and taste OK. Thank you for your recipes.”

~  Thanks for the photos. It’s good to know that it works with tuna. ~ jenny…and Freddy says, “I will try Your recipe of Meat Balls in Tomato sauce too, I already made the Balls.”

DALILA MADE MY LEMON BLUEBERRY MUFFINS WITH STRAWBERRIES
“Hi Jenny! ? I used your recipe for LEMON BLUEBERRY MUFFINS and made mini strawberry muffins. All I did was substitute the one cup of blueberries for one cup of diced strawberries. I kept track of the time for baking them, these mini’s only baked for about 10-12 minutes in my oven. I was able to make 36 mini strawberry muffins.  Your recipe, again, was wonderful!! THANK YOU JENNY!!!  Making life deeee-licious! Happy Baking! ?”

~  You’re lucky to find such beautiful strawberries. Thanks for another great photo. ~ jenny

LAN PHAM MADE MY FASTER NO KNEAD BREAD
“Hi Jenny, This was my first time making bread and look at it, it turned out so beautifully. I am so amazed! Thank you and thanks to my sister for your recipe of Faster No Knead Bread! So easy you betcha I’ll make it again.”

~  Congratulations on your first bread – great photo! ~ jenny

SABINE MADE MY CINNAMON ROLLS
“Dear Mrs Jones, last weekend we had your delicious cinnamon roles. Very tasty, fluffy and yummie. Always a plessure to work with your recipes. Greetings from Germany.”

~  They look beautiful. Thank you for sharing. ~ jenny

JOSEPHINE MADE MY NO KNEAD CRUSTY ROLLS
“Again Dearest Jenny, Just made your rolls – So easy and fast! Perfect for breakfast or with pasta!! I had made your No Knead Crusty Loaf before.. Just returned from an European Oceania cruise – Think your bread are better! Really appreciate your sharing… Enjoying your bread in Hawaii?”

~  Home baking always beats food in restaurants, even ones that float. ~ jenny

DALILA MADE MY ANGEL HAIR CASSEROLE
“Hi Jenny! ? I made your ANGEL HAIR CASSEROLE recipe and you are right, easy and very tasty!! I was able to split the recipe into two separate 5X7 casserole dishes. One for eating now and froze the other one for another day. When I’m having a busy day I just reach in my freezer and I’m all set for dinner. The small change I made was that I added part-skim mozzarella. I didn’t have any reduced- fat cheddar cheese on hand.  Happy Cooking! ?”

~  That’s a good idea to freeze it for another day. ~ jenny

CHRISTINE MADE MY NO KNEAD CRUSTY ROLLS
“Hi Jenny, From London, Ontario. This was my second batch, and they were even better than the first one. We eat them when they are still a bit warm with a dab of unsalted butter. Yum!”

~  Oh, I love these rolls so much. Greetings back to my hometown! ~ jenny

RYAN MADE MY ORANGE SESAME CHICKEN
“It’s such an easy and delicious dish. I make it often! – Ryan (Redondo Beach, California)”

~  I’m glad you like it. It’s one of my most treasured recipes and I make if often too. ~ jenny

DALILA USED MY PIE DOUGH RECIPE FOR CHERRY HAND PIES
“Hi Jenny! I did make more hand pies using your PIE DOUGH RECIPE. Talk about some delicious hand pies, flaky and so tasty is what they were. I sprinkled them with white crystal sugar to give them a nice crispy top. Your pie dough is wonderful to work with, thank you for sharing your recipe! These cherry hand pies did not last at all….LOL….all gone within a couple of hours!! Happy Baking! ?”

~  They look good. Thanks for another great photo. ~ jenny