Anyone with a cast iron pan can make this easy, healthy, low fat, delicious pan pizza at home. Pizza in a cast iron pan? Absolutely! The crust is key to a good pizza and using cast iron is a foolproof way to get the easiest, golden, crispy crust, ready to hold all the toppings of your choice. There’s no kneading, no rolling… no work at all to make this easy pan pizza dough. You can either start it the night before or a few hours ahead.

The dough slowly rises and then you just put it in the pan, add your toppings, and go! It comes out perfect every time and it’s by far the best deep dish pizza I’ve ever had.  Plus it’s low fat so there’s no grease to blot… unless of course you use regular pepperoni instead of my choice of healthy toppings like reduced fat turkey pepperoni, peppers, onions, and mushrooms.

There’s no reason to avoid pizza when you can make an easy, healthy, low fat pan pizza at home and if you use my toppings, you’ll also get a few vegetables in every slice. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Of all my recipes, this meatloaf gets the most rave reviews. I love It! I’ve been making this healthy recipe for years the exact same way and I can never decide if I like it better with my buttermilk mashed potatoes or the next day in a sandwich with a little mustard on a good sourdough bread. It’s hard to mess up meat loaf. Just mix everything up and put it in the oven.

A lot of recipes use a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal but I like to keep it simple and I use the very leanest beef I can find. But it still contains fat so the reason I roast my meatloaf on a baking sheet is to allow any excess fat to flow away from the meat – no one needs that extra saturated fat. So don’t use a loaf pan.

Another benefit of using a baking sheet is… well, there are two: one, is there’s no cleanup because you line it with foil, and second, it browns on all sides! So it’s beautiful, too. I’m pretty sure this “best ever” meatloaf recipe will become a regular part of your own healthy foods and meals.  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Fiber is good. We need fiber. It helps with weight loss because it keeps you full longer, plus it keeps your blood sugar stable. So it makes sense that morning is the best time to have a healthy, high fiber meal. But this does not mean eating something that tastes like toasted particle board or a bowl of spackle!  With me, it means light and fluffy pancakes.

Yes, even 100% whole grain pancakes can be light and fluffy if you use buttermilk – real buttermilk from the store, not the one they SAY you can make by adding lemon juice to a cup of milk – hogwash! That is not a substitute for buttermilk, it’s only a cup of lemon-flavored milk. So get some real buttermilk and make my easy, light & fluffy, delicious, healthy whole grain pancakes.  And here’s even better news: You can use extra-light olive oil… or canola… or any oil of your choice. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Surya asks… Hello Jenny. I wanted to know the brand of  the kettle corn that you use to make the paper bag popcorn and where can i purchase it, in your youtube video channel? Thank you.

My Response…

It’s not kettle corn that I use, it’s just plain popping corn so any brand should work. My choice is Orville Redenbacher’s Original which comes in a large plastic jar and all the grocery stores here seem to carry it. For the paper bag/microwave method, use only plain popping corn and not kettle corn or any kind of popping corn with anything added. The ingredient list should only read “popping corn” and nothing else. When I made the video, I used White Cat brand but it became too hard to find and I actually think the Orville brand is better. – Jenny Jones

Why do I love my healthy chocolate cupcakes? First off, there are only two tablespoons of butter in all twelve cupcakes. Second, these healthy cupcakes are made with canola oil or you can use extra-light olive oil (both are heart-healthy). You won’t even need eggs for this easy recipe. And I mean easy. It’s another of my one-bowl recipes that I know you’ll make again.

Cupcakes are like having your own personal mini cake. There’s no need to have loads of butter when these dark, chocolate-y, rich-tasting cupcakes are so light, you’ll never feel stuffed after eating one… or two! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

If you want to make the best, easiest, most amazing, never fail, Fall-Off-The-Bone Ribs, try my easy recipe. If you’re grilling this 4th of July, or even if you’re not, these sweet, tender ribs are just as good baked entirely in the oven (this photo was from my oven-baked ribs) or they can be finished on the grill.

The key to tender ribs is to first cook them at least 2 1/2 hours in a slow oven, and then finish them with your favorite sauce.  Lemon juice tenderizes the meat as well. I cut the ribs apart before cooking because once they are cooked, they are so tender they might fall apart when you try to cut them.

This is one of my best recipes and my all time summer favorite thing to make. Use your own rub and your own favorite sauce, or mine. Either way, you will love these ribs! Have a great 4th of July, everyone! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Use a vegetable peeler to get those nice, even paper-thin onion slices or other vegetables. – Jenny Jones

I’m happy to report that my “Easiest Lemon Brownies” is one of the three most popular recipes on this website. The other two are my Pork Loin Dinner (I’m not surprised!) and Fresh Strawberry Cake (have you seen the picture!?). I’m always trying something new and baking is my favorite thing to do so today I tried making my lemon brownies with a different oil and they came out great. The original recipe called for canola oil but this time I used extra light olive oil and they were perfect. So if anyone wants to try it, you can make these brownies using olive oil with no olive taste whatsoever. But make sure it’s “extra light” which is very mild tasting and smelling. I use it in my healthy brownies, too. That’s just part of my news.

Someone asked about making my lemon brownies without the baking soda for a chewy brownie. I did that and it turned out okay but I would call it more dense than chewy. I still prefer the original recipe but they both still have a great lemon flavor. Click here for the original recipe.

Here’s a picture of the one I made today without the baking soda. – Jenny Jones

Joanelle asks… Jenny:  You have a wonderful site and personality…however, I am confused….Please forgive this question, but may I ask how often you eat sweets….I don’t dare eat sugar  …….more than twice a week…I don’t have sugar, but they say that it causes cancer…Tumors feed on sugar…so they say on the vegan site…You said you bake a lot , so concerned and how do you stay so thin ..when you bake all the time….SMILE and thank you…

My Response…

I eat sweets every day but always in moderation. Plus I bake all my own with less sugar and calories than store-bought. As for staying healthy, it may be the way I eat them that keeps me in good health. I’ll get to that in a moment. But first, the idea that sugar causes cancer would be terrifying if it were true. I will tell you what my research has shown: Our bodies need glucose, or simple sugar, for energy. The cells in our body grow, divide, die, and are replaced as part of a natural process. Sugar feeds every cell in our body — even cancer cells. If you were to cut every bit of sugar out of your diet, your body would make sugar from other sources, such as protein and fat, for survival. Starving all of your cells of sugar won’t kill or prevent cancer, but it will deprive your healthy cells of a necessary source of energy. I think part of the confusion is about sugar and obesity. Research shows that eating sugar doesn’t necessarily lead to cancer but it can lead to obesity and that is a risk factor for several cancers.

The other issue with sugar is insulin. While sugar does not “feed” cancer cells, a lot of sugar can cause our bodies to produce too much insulin, and insulin can rev up cell growth including cancer cells. Too much insulin also causes inflammation, which can lead to other health problems. Knowing all that, it’s smart not to over indulge in sweets and to know when and how to eat them. When you eat sugar and carbs, there are three things that can help reduce the amount of insulin produced by the body  – they are protein, fat, and fiber.

I primarily eat sweets right after a meal, which will always contain protein, fat, and fiber. I never eat sweets by themselves, not even an apple between meals, without also having fat, protein, or fiber with it (usually a few nuts – they contain all three!). Besides having sweets in moderation, here are the other ways I manage having sugar:

1. No sweets on an empty stomach.
2. No fruit juice first thing in the morning. In fact, I rarely drink fruit juice and when I do, I dilute it with water. In the morning, I opt for green tea followed by a breakfast with protein, fiber, and healthy fat.
3. No commercial soft drinks. I occasionally get China Cola (no HFCS) and always dilute it with Perrier. A four-pak of China Cola lasts me one or two months.
4. Sweets only after a meal or with added fat & protein.
5. I never eat store-bought sweets or pastries.
6. I always bake my own with less sugar, often adding whole grains and nuts so there’s already some fat, fiber, and protein there.
7. When presented with a decadent dessert, I either share or have 2-3 bites to savor and leave the rest.
8. Cookies and milk is my favorite dessert… my own healthy cookies with 1% milk! (fat & protein)

Back to the sugar/cancer issue… I’m not a medical expert but I do a lot of research and I cannot find any qualified authority that says sugar causes cancer. Dr. Timothy Moynihan, a cancer specialist at Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, debunked this popular misconception in a recent article, saying, “Sugar doesn’t make cancer grow faster. All cells, including cancer cells, depend on blood sugar (glucose) for energy. But giving more sugar to cancer cells doesn’t speed their growth. Likewise, depriving cancer cells of sugar doesn’t slow their growth.”

Whenever I have a taste for something a little sweet, this is it. There’s no butter in my healthy version of an old fashioned marble cake – I use heart-healthy olive oil so there’s no guilt when I eat it. And that’s good because whenever I make it, I can’t stop eating it!  It’s light and moist and goes perfectly with a cup of my green tea. I’ve made it without the orange zest when I didn’t have an orange but I can tell you it’s definitely better with the orange (or even tangerine!).

It’s a pretty easy recipe if you’re looking for a healthy dessert. It’s sweet enough for dessert but also perfect for afternoon tea. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones