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Aug 3, 2016

Easy Granola Bars

Homemade Granola Bars RecipeIf you’ve ever wondered which one of my recipes I make the most, it’s granola bars. I make them almost every week. Granola bars were never my favorite thing to eat but I would occasionally buy one when I was away from home and getting hungry because it’s a healthy choice but the ones from the store never left me wanting more. These days I crave granola bars because homemade bars are infinitely better… and easy to make.

I make sure we always have these delicious bars at home and as soon as we run out, I make more. They are full of protein and fiber and they are incredibly easy to make. Everything mixes in one bowl and you bake it.

How To Line a Pan for Granola Bars (with Parchment Paper).

The hardest part is lining the pan with parchment paper because it won’t always stay in place, but I found an easier way to do it… with binder clips. You can get them at a stationery store and since they’re metal, they can go right in the oven.

Cut two parchment paper pieces a little bit wider than your 9-inch pan and lay them in, criss-crossing each other, clipping the ends down as you go. It will keep the paper in place, like this…

Parchment1000_1685Now that you know how  easy it is to make your own granola bars, try them and see if you don’t wind up like me, making them every week.  Every time I go out the door, I take one with me. You will too. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

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Filed Under: Helpful Hints, Snacks/Misc
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Jul 30, 2016

Making a Difference

I am rewarded in many ways for sharing my recipes, from seeing photos people send me to reading personal stories from all over the world of how my recipes have motivated people to cook. But the best feeling I ever get is when someone is able to use one of my recipes to help support their family or business. That’s when I know I am making a difference. Here are some of those stories…

“I am using some of your videos in my bakery education Centre.” ~ Heinz

“Hi Jenny, just want to say THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I made your granola and today I’m selling it, and I’m earning money. I am from México city and I hope you understand my english. I haven’t practiced for so many years. It’s delicious. I already have my bags and my brand printed on them. Again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!” ~ Maria

“Thank you Jenny, I am from myanmar and I am trying to bake my own bread. Your video is very useful for me. Before watching yours, my own making bread is just only for my dog. Now, I am quite ok and will try to open my own bread shop. 🙂 😉 ” ~ thaw maw soe aung

“Jenny, Thank you for the (granola bars) recipe, I’ll try to make it and maybe I’ll ask my son to sell it in his school, hope it can be his extra money. once again, thank you Jenny, God Bless you.” ~ Surya

“Jenny, i will be trying these ribs this weekend, they look fabulous and it will be a simple way to serve them from my foodtruck. Will you marry me? Lol” ~ Michael

“Hi Jenny, i own a Pub in Brazil and i am offering your pan pizza and it is a success. Keep cooking and wish you the best.” ~ Marcio Stewers, São Paulo, Brazil

“I have a confession to make..I follow your recipe “whole wheat bread” and I have a lot of orders and it add income…thank you from Thailand but I’m a Filipino.” ~ Chin Chin

“I absolutely loved the Pan Pizza video you did, I have been searching for some time on how to make the perfect homemade Pizza Dough. I have been looking for resourceful mean of the perfect dough for my small and upcoming business and i found it entirely helpfull.” ~ Tousaint

“Just had to let you know how great this bread (simple whole wheat bread) is. My 11 yr old daughter made this (using a friends organic whole wheat flour) and entered it in the county fair and she got a purple ribbon. Everyone who tasted it, loved it. Thanks for this recipe!” ~ Dana

“Love this recipe. I have a Bed and Breakfast in Naples, Fl. Now whenever new guests are due to check in I have a loaf of this (no knead bread) in the oven. The scent of baking bread warms them immediately and the bread itself is a picture. They love having it with their morning breakfast. Haven’t tried the rolls as yet but plan to soon. Thanks so very much.” ~ Franco

“Hello Miss Jenny, I’m from the Philippines, I tried some recipe the best recipe I got is yours, I find it more easier. Thanks a lot, I’m not buying wheat loaf bread in the store anymore. My husband love it too. I’m selling it to my neighbors and friends. More power!” ~ Evelyn

” I am a freelance script writer. During last 6 months of Covid time, I’ve no job and no income. So I decided to learn some menu to sell online and decided to include Brownies which is my favorite. After going through all the recipes from YouTube I found yours the most easy and affordable cost. Now I am selling online and I am making some income from that. I even have regular customers for my brownies, they always order 10 pieces of my brownie almost 3 times a month. I got comments like, * Same taste from the favorites coffee shop when I visited state! *I cannot eat other’s brownies anymore after eating yours. I am so happy and always wanted to say thank you for sharing your recipes with everyone. Love you and thank you so much from Myanmar ❤️.” ~ Kyae

IF MY RECIPES ARE HELPING YOU AND YOUR FAMILY, PLEASE SHARE YOUR STORY BY LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW.

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Filed Under: General
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Jul 29, 2016

High Fiber Cookies with Dried Figs

 High Fiber Cookies Recipe

Any cookies that are crispy, have lots of fiber, no butter, and taste great are my kind of cookies. It’s this kind of cookie that I always have around the house so there’s always something sweet available. I make almost all my cookies with extra light olive oil but you can use any vegetable oil.

Sweets will always be part of my diet so I try to make them as healthy as I can. And crispy cookies like this keep well. I put them in a zip top plastic bag and keep them refrigerated for weeks and they are still great. They’re big, too. This recipe makes a dozen big 4 to 5-inch cookies. Have one for a healthy, high fiber dessert or as a snack with a glass of milk. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: Baking Without Butter, Sweets
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Jul 17, 2016

How To Toast Nuts

Place raw nuts (walnuts, pecans, or almonds) on an ungreased baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Cool completely before using. Toasting greatly enhances the flavor of nuts. Always toast nuts before chopping.

How to Toast Walnuts in the Oven

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Filed Under: How To . . .
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Jul 8, 2016

How to Make Soft Chicken Meatballs

Best Soft Chicken MeatballsNot all chicken meatballs are soft but these are. The secret is to cook them right in the sauce. Ground chicken breast is very lean and healthy but since it contains so little fat, it’s easy for chicken meatballs to become dry. But when they’re cooked in the sauce, they are beautifully soft and even more flavorful from absorbing the sauce.

Using fresh bread crumbs also helps with their beautifully soft texture. Fresh crumbs are made by using fresh bread, in this case whole wheat bread, and running it through a food processor. Since I always bake my own simple whole wheat bread, that’s what I use for the crumbs so it’s important to use a soft whole wheat bread for these fresh crumbs. Click here for my recipe and video on making bread crumbs.

You can put this meal, with sauce, together in about 1/2 an hour if you use my Quick & Easy Spaghetti Sauce. In fact, you can follow my Quick & Easy Spaghetti & Meatballs recipe and just swap the beef meatballs with my chicken recipe. Both of these sauce recipes are exactly the same. If you don’t want to use sauce and would prefer to pan-fry or oven-bake these chicken meatballs, you can do that. They won’t be quite as soft, and not as pretty, but they still taste really good.

I experimented with both pan-frying and oven-baking and here’s how you would do that. To pan-fry, heat a little olive oil in a large pan and cook the meatballs for about 10 minutes, gently turning to brown all sides. They won’t be meatballs any more… more more like meat triangles. To oven-bake, place the meatballs on a greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated 400° F oven for about 20 minutes. The meatballs are done when the inside reaches 165° F. As I said, they won’t be as pretty as the sauce version and here is the proof:

Chicken Meatballs Pan Fry or Oven BakePan-fried                                              Oven-baked

I told you they weren’t pretty!! Of the two options, the pan-fried meatballs tasted better, probably because they were browned. So now you have options, but I highly recommend cooking these chicken breast meatballs in sauce for the best result. – Jenny Jones

Click here for the recipe.

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Filed Under: Main Dishes
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Jul 1, 2016

Fresh Strawberry Cake for the 4th

Best Fresh Strawberry Cake

Our fourth of July is almost here. It’s a time for fireworks, fun, and food… especially food. And what could you make that would be as exciting as the fireworks? This is it, baby! My fresh strawberry cake. It’s one of my most popular recipes and now that strawberries are in season, you won’t need a loan to bake this delicious dessert.

It’s Independence Day. So declare your independence from store bought sweets and make this beautiful, show stopping, fresh strawberry cake. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: Holiday, Sweets
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Jun 24, 2016

Butterscotch Pudding: 5 Ingredients,10 Minutes

Homemade Butterscotch PuddingI LOVE, LOVE, LOVE butterscotch pudding and you may not know just how easy it is to make. It takes just ten minutes to make and only uses five ingredients, items you probably already have on hand. You can make it with low fat milk or whole milk, just not fat-free milk. I usually make mine with 1% low fat milk but I had some whole milk left over this week from making my chicken pot pie, and homemade pudding is richer tasting when made with whole milk. Of course it won’t be as low in fat but I will take butterscotch pudding any way I can.

I use light brown sugar and remember that cornstarch is not the same as corn flour. Cornstarch is very powdery and is the perfect thickener for homemade pudding. There is no reason to ever buy a box of pudding mix filled with ingredients you can’t pronounce. Make your own healthier homemade butterscotch pudding. It’s so yummy good! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

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Filed Under: Sweets
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Jun 23, 2016

My Made Up Cookies

High FIber Cookies, Healthy Cookies

I couldn’t decide what kind of cookies to make today. I often make my giant breakfast cookies but I wanted something different. I like my crispy oat cookies too but I wanted something with even more fiber. So I made a hybrid of both cookies and LOVED them. They are super crispy and as with most of my cookies, they have no butter and no white flour. I followed my recipe for Crispy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with these changes:

~reduced oats to 1 cup

~added 1/2 cup All-Bran Original Cereal

~used one egg instead of two egg whites

~doubled the vanilla

~added about five chopped mission figs

~added about 3 Tablespoons shredded, sweetened coconut

I baked them at 350° F for 16 minutes and they were perfect. Crispy. Not too sweet. Easy recipe. I like these healthy cookies so much they are now a new recipe here on my site.  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: What I Cooked Today
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Jun 12, 2016

English Muffins for Breakfast

How To Make English Muffins at HomeSunday breakfast usually means there’s time to make something special. Today I made English muffins and as soon as I tasted them I remembered why I never buy them at the store. They’re delicious! You don’t need an oven to make these because they cook on a griddle or large pan. This first photo above is how they look just before cooking. And below is how they look after about 15 minutes on the grill, seven minutes per side…

English Muffins2_1200_9348My recipe is simple. You make a yeast dough, let it rest for 10 minutes, then roll and cut out six circles. You dust them with cornmeal and once they rise in a warm spot, you cook them on a griddle – no oven. I preheat the griddle and just rub it with a stick of butter. They cook for seven minutes per side and now you have your own homemade English muffins, ready to split in half and toast. And yes, there are lots of nooks and crannies!

If you’ve never tasted homemade English muffins, I will say they taste nothing like the ones in the package. They’re a hundred, million, zillion times better! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

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Filed Under: Breads/Muffins, Breakfast, What I Cooked Today
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