Hi Jenny! I just want to ask if you know how to make “Kielbasa” (i think thats the word?) My boyfriend is Polish and I wanna make something for him. What kind of Polish food would be nice to make a romantic dinner? Would Kielbasa be good enough? Do you know any Polish pastas? Thank you so much!

My response:

I’ve never made kielbasa but I have eaten my share in the past. I imagine it’s a lot of work to make sausage. The only Polish foods I make are cabbage rolls, pierogi, borscht, and Hunter’s stew (sauerkraut). There aren’t a lot of Polish pasta dishes but my mother used to make a noodle dish with noodles, mushrooms, and sauerkraut but I still haven’t figured out how she did it. But none of that sounds romantic, does it? I wish I could help you out but maybe one of my readers will come up with an idea…

We already know that avocados are an excellent source of monounsaturated heart-healthy fats. But the lightbulb shape of an avocado looks like a uterus, and it supports reproductive health as well. Avocados are a good source of folic acid, which has been found to reduce the risk for cervical dysplasia, which is a precancerous condition.

Please consider adding nutritional information and portion sizes. I use an app called My FitnessPal/Calorie Counter.. It helps monitor what you eat. They have a My Recipe section where you can add each ingredient manually..it also let’s you scan barcodes to create your recipe,and if the product isn’t in their database it can be manually added. It helped me lose about 13 pounds just by realizing what I was putting in your mouth.

Weekend breakfast is the perfect time to make these fantastic, healthy apple muffins. People have asked me for this recipe so many times, or they just ask me to make them some of my delicious apple muffins. With lots of apples, they could even BE breakfast in a pinch. The batter is easy to make and you will have to peel and slice apples but it’s really worth it. I’m pretty sure if you make these apple muffins once, you will make them again and again. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

There’s no need for guilt with my healthier, easier recipe for red velvet cupcakes. You’ll only have to wash a bowl and a measuring cup and while most recipes call for eggs and lots of butter, my healthy recipe uses no eggs and only one tablespoon of butter (in the frosting) but the cupcakes are moist and delicious. So it looks like now…  you can have your cupcake and eat it too! 🙂 Click here for the recipe.

Vegetable-bean soup makes a healthy meal all by itself. This is the reason I always have a bunch of vegetables in the fridge and my own frozen chicken stock in the freezer. It was “Soup for Dinner” night tonight. So I thawed some of my homemade stock and added… carrots, potatoes, parsnip, celery, cabbage, broccoli, kale, spinach, asparagus, cannelini beans, some leftover diced chicken, orzo, and parsley. It’s basically a delicious vegetable soup but the added chicken and beans provide protein and fiber for a complete meal and a filling one. I was going to have one bowl but it was so good I had two! There were more vitamins in this healthy meal than any vitamin pill.

The similarity between round citrus fruits––like lemons and grapefruit––and breasts may be more than coincidental. Grapefruit contains substances called limonoids, which have been shown to inhibit the development of cancer in lab animals and in human breast cells. For anyone concerned about eating grapefruit,  limonoids are found in all citrus fruits, which have many known health benefits so some citrus should be part of any healthy diet.

Chocolate French Toast? It sounds like dessert but it’s actually a healthy breakfast. My easy recipe is made with a soft 100% whole wheat bread and heart-healthy dark chocolate. The chocolate is a good way to get your family to eat more whole grains and nobody has to know it’s actually good for you. So it seems like a perfect idea for Easter brunch… (Click here for the recipe)

There’s nothing like a good start to the day with a protein and veggie packed breakfast, especially one with this many antioxidants. My healthy recipe uses three different green vegetables but you can make it your own (try to keep broccoli in the mix for cancer protection). I have this with a slice of toasted Squirrely Bread (it’s a high fiber/whole grain bread I usually get at Whole Foods) and I’m good to go for hours. Once you prep, it’s ready in about 5 minutes. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones