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 Nuts
How to Make Soft Chicken Meatballs
Not 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:
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.
Fresh Strawberry Cake for the 4th
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
I Love Your Photos! (July)
I am honored when people take time to send me photos of my recipes. It also helps others to see how a certain recipe looks made in a different kitchen, or a different country. So please continue to send your photos and if you like, tell us where you’re from. Please send to: YourPhotos@JennyCanCook.com
JOAN from the PHILIPPINES MADE MY SIMPLE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
“Hi Jenny! I just successfully baked my very first whole wheat bread and wanted to thank you for sharing this recipe! I used soya milk instead of the 1% milk and didn’t let the dough rise for 35 minutes as suggested since I’ve used a different size pan than the one you used for this recipe, but it turned out as it should be and taste great as well!”
SABINE MADE MY MEATBALLS IN SAUCE
“Dear Mrs Jones, today your meatballs with sauce. The meatballs very fluffy and moisture and all together a very delicious lunch. We love it. Thanks for this fast and yummy recipe. Kindly regards, Sabine.”
JUDY MADE MY GREEK RICE, CHICKEN POT PIE, NO KNEAD BREAD & EVERYDAY COOKIES
“Quick vegetarian meal. – Judy L in CA”
“Another Jenny recipe is a success.”
“As promised, super easy.”
“Great recipe. Thanks!”
SABINE MADE MY GRANOLA and NO KNEAD BREAD
“Dear Mrs Jones, we eat only your granola yet. It is so delicious and is doing well in the oven. 🙂 Hardly regards, Sabine from Germany.”
“Today I baked the “no knead bread”. I have no dutch oven, so I baked it in a bread tin and covered it the first 20 minutes. Then I removed the cover, baked it another 15 minute. And at least I took it out of tin and baked it for 10 minutes to brown it. It looks so yummie and it is very crunchy. For dinner I will cut it. Thanks for this nice recipe. – Sabine”
Butterscotch Pudding: 5 Ingredients,10 Minutes
I 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
My Made Up 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
Products I Use
THESE ARE NOT PAID ENDORSEMENTS. I am just sharing some of the products that I use for anyone who is interested.
Cheaper parchment paper usually sticks but Reynolds brand never sticks.
English Muffins for Breakfast
Sunday 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…
My 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
Send Me Your Photo (June)
Did you make one of my recipes? I love seeing your photos so please send it and if you like, tell us where you’re from. Please send your picture to: YourPhotos@JennyCanCook.com (You can also share it on INSTAGRAM or TWITTER and hashtag it #JennyCanCook)
CATHY MADE MY CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD
“I made your cinnamon-raisin bread.”
JUDY MADE MY CHICKEN STEW
“It’s a hit! – Judy L in CA”
MAILEIN ML MADE MY PIZZA DOUGH
“Hi Jenny, I used your recipe to make my pizza dough last weekend, it’s easy and so delicious. Thank you! ?????”
JUDY MADE MY OATMEAL BANANA BREAKFAST BROWNIES
“Thanks, Jenny, I substituted Craisins for the chips. They are delicious! – Judy L in CA”
CATHY MADE MY CINNAMON ROLLS AND DINNER ROLLS
“Tonight for dinner I made your dinner rolls and they were delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your recipes.”
SABINE MADE MY NO KNEAD CRUSTY ROLLS
“Dear Mrs Jones, today I baked the rolls. It was really easy to make them. Nice food for our weekend-breakfast. :-). Lots of greetings from Germany.”
JUDY MADE MY THIGHS ‘n’ FRIES & PUMPKIN MUFFINS
“Hello, Jenny, Today I made your pumpkin muffins. For dinner we had your Chicken Thighs and Fries. Lovely meal with minimal clean up and almost no effort on my part. Thank you! I have time to play in my sewing room tonight. – Judy L in CA”
ALEXANDRIA, 9, MADE MY FLATBREAD
“great flatbread!!!!!”
(I love to see young people learning to cook. Keep up the great work! – jenny)
SABINE MADE MY GRANOLA
“Dear Mrs. Jones, I am a Youtube – Bakingvideo- Fan. I saw your Video “making granola” . I mixed it today and send you a photo. It tastes fantastic, much much better than to buy it. I must say, I am not a Fan of granola or sweet breakfast, but this selfmade I will have tomorrow for breakfast. Kindly regards from Munich, Germany”
CHERRY MADE MY EASY ONE BOWL CHOCOLATE CAKE
“Dear Jenny, I am from Hong Kong. I am so excited that I made it myself for my mother’s birthday. The cake tastes very good!!!! Your recipe is really good, simple, and easy. thanks!!!”
SANJA MADE MY MEATLOAF
“Hi, thanks for great and really the best meatloaf recipe ever! Here is how it turned out for me, it is not so nice like yours, but it tasted great! If you do not mind, I shared it on our blog, but offcourse I put the source Jenny Can Cook. I made it few times and it is one of those recipes that will be made in the future, not just one time only…Thanks once again!!”
SANDYEVE MADE MY CHOCOLATE CHIP COFFEE CAKE
“I followed your recipe, but the only thing I switched out was the walnuts and just added some extra chocolate chips on top… Turned out great! Thank you so much for the recipe! 🙂 “
RECLAIMTHEWORLD MADE MY CHICKEN POT PIE
“Didn’t have a deep enough pie pan. So i used my 8X8 pyrex. I could have used my corningware in hindsight… but it would not have been half as cool to not be able to watch it bubbling after I took it out of the oven. It was delicious. Never felt so fulfilled with food. Wasn’t hungry until the next day-good thing this was dinner lol Looking forward to it again tonight.”
SANDY MADE MY SIMPLE WHITE BREAD
“Simple White Bread… 1st time EVER making homemade bread and it turned out great!
Thank you so much for the AWESOME recipe Jenny 🙂 “
GREG MADE MY CHICKEN POT PIE AND RIBS
“Love your recipes, they always turn out. We’ve had the ribs and chocolate cake several times. The chicken pot pie was awesome. Greg, East Lansing MI”
JACQUIE MADE MY NO KNEAD BREAD
“I made this lovely bread last night. I am such a multi-tasker, I love the fact it doesn’t require a ton of hands on time J Warm bread and homemade Montana Applebutter a combination that is tough to beat!”
ANNA MADE MY SIMPLE WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
“Hi Jenny, I haven’t made your Whole Wheat Bread in over 6 months and though I’d make it again today but using a bundt cake pan to add a fun twist to it! I doubled the recipe and used part of the bread mixture to include dry cranberries. It was SO DELICIOUS! Thank you SO MUCH again.”
CHIANDCHRIS MADE MY CINNAMON ROLLS
“I love your buns! First time making cinnamon roll and your recipe. I can’t believe it’s low fat! The house smell like as bakery.”
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