I love these soft, whole wheat buns. This is the exact same recipe as my simple whole wheat bread but it’s shaped into buns and it’s faster than the loaf. If you’re a fan of my whole wheat loaf, you must try making these buns. It’s a quick and easy recipe that takes only an hour from start to finish. With summer coming and burgers about to be made on the grill, you can now have a healthier option for hamburger buns. As for sandwiches, it’s always a healthier sandwich when you use whole wheat bread.
These rolls are so soft, you might forget they’re whole wheat but if you’re not a fan of whole wheat… no problem. These turn out just as well using my simple white bread with egg recipe. Either way, these are quick, easy and delicious buns for healthier sandwich and burgers. Click here for the recipe.
And here are my hot dog buns, made from the same recipe, only made into long buns. They are also soft, whole wheat buns for a healthy alternative to store bought buns. I tried store bought whole wheat hot dog buns and they were terrible – dry and heavy. These are light as a feather but again, if you want to make them white, just use my simple white bread with egg recipe. But since my soft whole wheat loaf is so popular, I hope you’ll try these healthier whole wheat hot dog buns. Click here for the recipe, – Jenny Jones
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 myQuick & Easy Spaghetti Sauce. In fact, you can follow myQuick & 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:
Pan-fried Oven-baked
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
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, 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
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
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
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.
Next, 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.
While 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.
Well, 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
You 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 herefor the recipe. – Jenny Jones
It’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 herefor the recipe. – Jenny Jones
