Blog

Blog

May 27, 2016

Persian Pickles

Homemade Persian Pickles

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

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: What I Cooked Today
1 Comment
May 10, 2016

How To Store Celery

I got tired to throwing away half of my celery when it went bad so I found a way to keep it twice as long. Here’s how:

Separate and wash the celery.
Pat it to remove excess water.
Lay down a large sheet (about 18 by 18 inches) of heavy duty extra wide aluminum foil.
Wrap the still damp celery in 2-3 paper towels and place in the center of the foil.

Best Way To Store Celery5. Wrap the celery in the paper towels and then the foil, starting with the long side and then fold in the ends.

How To Make Celery Last Longer6. It’s easy to open and re-close the celery packet when you use heavy duty foil. The paper towels continue to keep moisture away from the celery, allowing it to stay fresh much longer. The worst thing to wrap celery, or any other high-moisture vegetables in, is plastic.

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: How To . . .
3 Comments
May 8, 2016

Sunday Breakfast

Breakfast on Sunday morning is always special for me. Today, I made hash browns with scrambled eggs. When I went to flip my hash browns over, they broke apart but I really liked them that way – more edges to get crispy! Click here for the recipe.

Best Hash Browns RecipeI had a last minute taste for a sweet bread and I wanted it fast, so I made my simple whole wheat bread, the one everyone is making, but I made it into whole wheat raisin bread.

Cinnamon WW_8819 copy

All I did was double the sugar and add a cup of raisins. It turned out great, especially when I toasted it and made cinnamon toast. Wow! Click here for the original recipe (then just double the sugar and add the raisins when you add the additional 1/4 cup of flour. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: What I Cooked Today
1 Comment
May 7, 2016

Weekend Baking

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.

High Fiber Breakfast CookiesNext, 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.

IMG_8772 copyWhile 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.

IMG_8774 copyWell, 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

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: What I Cooked Today
2 Comments
Apr 21, 2016

Easy Lemon Herb Chicken

Lemon Herb Chicken BreastYou 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 here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Easy Recipes For Beginners, Main Dishes
12 Comments
Apr 17, 2016

Cinnamon Rolls Without Butter

Best Recipe Cinnamon RollsIt’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 here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: What I Cooked Today
7 Comments
Apr 9, 2016

Crispy Hash Browns

Best Crispy Hash Browns RecipeWhen hash browns are just right, there’s nothing better with breakfast… crisp and golden on the outside (especially those crunchy edges!) and moist and tender on the inside… that’s how they should be. And you can do this!  This may be my only recipe with just ONE ingredient so you know it can’t be hard. There are just a couple of things that can make them foolproof every time. You’ll see… Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Filed Under: Breakfast
Leave a Comment
Apr 9, 2016

I Made Sandwich Buns

Homemade Sandwich BunsWe 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…

Healthier Hamburger BunsAnd here they are after 35 minutes in my warming drawer…

Healthier Sandwich BunsI 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.

Easy Homemade Hamburger Buns

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.

Homemade Sesame Seed Hamburger Buns

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

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Breads/Muffins, What I Cooked Today
24 Comments
Apr 8, 2016

Easy No Knead Rye Bread

No Knead Rye BreadI 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

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Breads/Muffins
7 Comments