Isn’t everything better with chocolate? Today I made my incredibly easy peanut butter cookies but upped the game by adding dark chocolate chunks and extra peanuts. Oh My! They are so good and so easy. These peanut butter cookies have no flour so they’re even gluten free. This is a simple one bowl recipe and I just added some chopped up 70% chocolate bar and some additional chopped salted peanuts. I don’t think I’ll ever make them plain again.
You could use chocolate chips but using a plain dark chocolate bar is a healthier choice. Just use my original recipe for peanut butter cookies and add about 1/4 cup of chocolate chunks or peanuts or 1/4 cup total mixture of both. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Look what I found at the market today! Swiss chard is usually mostly green but today it was an explosion of vibrant color and you know what that means? Even more nutrients!
Designer shoes on sale or hot pink Swiss chard – guess which one gets me excited? I was so excited I rushed home to make my spaghetti with chard for dinner. It’s my favorite pasta side dish and I had it with salmon patties.
The chard is sauteed with some garlic and olive oil, add some Parmesan, stir in the spaghetti and it’s done. Ten minutes. Like all leafy greens, Swiss chard has many health benefits.
If you want to try my easy spaghetti with Swiss chard, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I made pancakes today. From scratch. In five minutes. If you’ve never made buttermilk pancakes from scratch… do it. You will never buy a mix again. Fresh blueberries are just coming into season and I decided to treat myself to pancakes for breakfast.
I put a little butter on the top, which melted right away, and then poured real maple syrup all over. OMG! And here is some good news: you can also make them with whole wheat pastry flour. They are delicious either way.
Blueberries are anti-aging superstars that are full of antioxidants, good for the brain and heart, and defenders against cancer and inflammation. I’ve said enough. Just do it. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I just found a better and simpler way to make pasta with vegetables. Everything cooks in one pot and you don’t even have to drain the pasta. With a small amount of water the pasta and vegetables all cook in the same pot. I love it.
I make it with two of the most important vegetables for health: broccoli and spinach but it also works with just broccoli. This super fast vegetarian meal takes just 15 minutes and here a couple of tips:
Be sure to keep the water boiling (not too high or too much water will boil away).
If too much water boils away, you can add a little more water as needed.
A timer is really helpful so you can set it for the pasta cooking time and then keep an eye to know when to add the veggies.
When you add the broccoli, just open the lid briefly, toss the broccoli on top, and quickly close the lid. The broccoli will steam right on top.
Add more or less parmesan. I like it with three tablespoons.
This can be a side dish or main dish. I plan to try it next with whole wheat pasta and will share my results. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I’ve been reading about how sprouted whole wheat flour is healthier than regular whole wheat flour. Sprouted flour has more fiber, more protein, more vitamins and minerals, and they are absorbed better than from plain wheat flour. It has less fat and less gluten so I had to try it. I was skeptical – too good to be true, right? With less gluten, the loaf would surely be a dud.
Well, lookie here! I made my simple whole wheat bread and just swapped the whole wheat flour with sprouted whole wheat flour and I love it. It rose even faster than my regular wheat loaf. This bread is soft and moist and makes a good sandwich bread. I even made French toast with it this morning.
To make sure it wasn’t a fluke, I will bake a few more loaves and then post it as a new recipe. Meantime, if you want to try it, just use my Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe and swap the whole wheat flour with sprouted whole wheat flour. – Jenny Jones
p.s. One of my visitors (Monita) beat me to it and posted her own loaf made with sprouted whole wheat flour. It worked for her too! See it here.
I love my lemon brownies. I realize that some baked goods are not as good using whole wheat flour but it works with my one bowl lemon brownies recipe. In fact, I always make them this way now and I want to encourage everyone to try them this way. Any time you can avoid white flour, it’s a good thing. It needs to be whole wheat pastry flour and the result is a lovely, soft, delicious lemon bar.
I made them today in an 8 x 8-inch square pan but you can use a 9 x 9 for a more dense bar. I had some meyer lemons on my tree and if you have meyers, which have a milder lemon flavor, well I can tell you they make delicious lemon brownies. Oh, I forgot to mention this is the easiest recipe ever. Everything goes in one bowl, no mixer, no butter, no white flour, and if you make them… no brownies left! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
This is my Christmas Wreath Bread made into a braided loaf. I used the same recipe, braided it, and just tucked in the ends and baked it as a loaf. I love it so much! It’s beautifully sweet, has no butter, and it’s ready in about 2 hours. I make this braided raisin egg bread throughout the year, sometimes with just a little glaze…
Sometimes, I leave it plain for toasting…
I also made a whole wheat version, substituting one cup of whole wheat flour for one cup of white flour.
It’s not quite as soft but still delicious and healthier.
So it’s not just for the holidays. My Christmas Wreath Bread recipe is so versatile, you can make it all year, in different shapes, and even whole wheat. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Everybody loves getting my homemade caramel corn for Christmas but this batch is for me. Why shouldn’t I give myself a Christmas present? It’s not like I would eat it all in one day! I could. But I won’t. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ?
I hope all of your baking turned out and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. – Jenny Jones
Did you eat too much turkey? Is that second piece of pumpkin pie still haunting you? Have some crudite.
Most of us probably didn’t eat enough vegetables over Thanksgiving weekend. Green bean casserole is mostly casserole and not a lot of beans. And aren’t candied yams really a dessert? Thanksgiving dinner is a great tradition and I enjoyed mine just like everyone else, as well as the leftovers but there’s a big container of fresh vegetables in my fridge right now. I always keep crudite on hand but I made extra today.
Vegetables are our lifeline to good health and when you have colorful veggies ready as a snack, you’re doing a lot of good for your long term health. I mix the colors because each color has its own health benefit: yellow & orange for eyes and lungs, red for memory and immunity, green for bones and teeth, purple & blue for aging and blood pressure and that’s just naming a few. Eating a variety of colored vegetables will provide a variety of different antioxidants that can help keep us well.
Eating vegetables every day, both fresh and cooked, is like an insurance policy for your health. And fresh crudite is not only appealing to look at, it’s delicious. Keep and container of fresh veggies in your fridge and see how fast they disappear! – Jenny Jones
Isn’t everything better with chocolate? Today I made my incredibly easy peanut butter cookies but upped the game by adding dark chocolate chunks and extra peanuts. Oh My! They are so good and so easy. These peanut butter cookies have no flour so they’re even gluten free. This is a simple one bowl recipe and I just added some chopped up 70% chocolate bar and some additional chopped salted peanuts. I don’t think I’ll ever make them plain again.
