jenny can cook

When hash browns are just right, there’s nothing better with breakfast… crisp and golden on the outside (especially those crunchy edges!) and moist and tender on the inside… that’s how they should be. And you can do this!  This may be my only recipe with just ONE ingredient so you know it can’t be hard. There are just a couple of things that can make them foolproof every time. You’ll see… Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

We are heading to Las Vegas for a few days and I always make sandwiches for the drive. I decided to see if I could make sandwich buns from my simple whole wheat bread recipe and look how they turned out! They will soon be salmon sandwiches with lots of lettuce along with a bag of sliced carrots and peppers.

I used the exact recipe for my simple whole wheat bread without changing a thing but instead of shaping it into a loaf, I cut it into 8 pieces, shaped each one into a ball, put them on my baking sheet and flattened them with my hand. Here’s how they looked before rising…

And here they are after 35 minutes in my warming drawer…

I baked them at 375° F for about 12 minutes. I’ve already made dinner rolls from this recipe and now if you’re wondering if you can make whole wheat sandwich buns or hamburger buns like these, yes you can.

Don’t want whole wheat? You can make these easy buns with white flour using my white bread with egg recipe. I made sesame seed hamburger buns using white flour and they turned out fantastic.

So whole wheat or white, plain or sesame seed, just use my easy bread recipes to make your own healthier homemade buns. Click here for the whole wheat buns recipe. – Jenny Jones

I never dreamed I could make my own rye bread as good as the one at the deli but I did. And it’s not only as good, it’s easy too…  because there’s no kneading! I grew up on rustic breads and rye is my favorite, especially with caraway seeds and now I’m making my own!

I have made this bread using the faster method using hot water, and also the overnight method that uses cool water. They both turn out the same. It’s not a big loaf, usually measuring 7 inches across and 3 inches tall.

Caraway seeds give it that “rye bread” taste but you can leave the seeds out and you still get a nice rustic farm bread. I think this is my 6th variation of no knead bread. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Can you use my Simple Whole Wheat Bread recipe to make rolls? YES! I finally tried it today and that quick & easy bread recipe that everybody loves makes fabulous rolls. I used the exact same recipe but after the 10-minute rest, instead of shaping the dough into a loaf, I cut it into 18 pieces, shaped them into balls, and placed them in a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan and covered the pan with plastic wrap, like this…
Then I put it in a warm spot to double in size. After 45 minutes, it looked like this…

Then I baked my rolls in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F. for about 16 minutes (I would suggest 15 to 17 minutes). And they were delicious. I sampled one (I was beautifully soft) and then I brushed some melted butter on some of them, and they looked like this…

They are delicious either way and super easy to make. The whole thing took less than two hours. Click here for the recipe, and Happy Easter! – Jenny Jones

I absolutely love my no knead fruit & nut bread. I made it again today and added just a touch more sugar (4 Tbsp total) and that little extra sweetness is perfect for me. With sugar in this recipe, the bread can burn due to the high oven temperature. That’s why I say to reduce to temperature to 400° F when it bakes. But I found another solution to keep the bread from burning.

I raised up my oven rack one slot and it keeps the bottom of the Dutch oven a little farther away from the heat. I used my 3-quart Dutch oven and it easily fit on the raised up oven rack. I still reduced the temperature to 400 per the recipe and I was thrilled with the result – no blackened crust and a perfect loaf of sweet breakfast bread. If your try this whole wheat fruit & nut bread with lots of sweet raisins and walnuts, and if your Dutch oven still fits, try it with the oven rack raised up a notch. This could be a good Easter recipe.

Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

You can turn my easy one-rise dinner rolls into bunny buns for Easter. Kids will love them and grown ups will enjoy the tasty bread rolls. This recipe is super easy but it will take a little time to put the faces together. This is almost the exact same recipe as my easy dinner rolls but you’ll need a couple of extra tools.

I use two cookie/biscuit cutters that are 2 1/2 inches and 4 inches across. The small circle is for the faces and the bigger one for the ears. To cut out the little noses I use the top of a lipstick tube. You’ll also need raisins and it helps to put together matching pairs or raisins in advance that are the same size and color. You might not notice but a box of raisins has many different sizes and shades.

Now for my photo tutorial. First, you roll the half of the dough into a 6 x 12-inch oval and this is how you cut the circles. The smaller ones are the faces and the bigger ones will be for the ears:

Put the small circles on your baking sheet (I make 4 faces per sheet) and then this is how you cut the ears from the two large circles:

You cut the nose using the top of a lipstick – it’s about 1/2-inch wide:

You tuck the ears slightly under the top of the head, place the nose, and push in the raisins for eyes. This is how they look before baking (four per sheet):

Once you make four bunny faces you cover the baking sheet with a towel and let it rise in a warm spot until doubled. That takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. While they rise you put together the other four bunny buns. They bake at 375° F for about 10 minutes. For the leftover dough, I roll it into a few 2-inch balls, rise and bake the same way.  I hope someone sends a photo!  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Drop some pesto in each compartment of an ice cube tray but not all the way to the top. Then cover each one with a little olive oil, just enough to cover the top completely. This will keep the pesto from turning brown. Freeze the tray and once the cubes are frozen, remove from the tray and store in zip top freezer bags. To make your own healthy homemade pesto, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

No knead bread is the easiest method there is for bread making. I’ve made it plain, multi-grain, fruit & nut, whole wheat, and now I’m sharing my whole wheat Greek olive bread recipe. I use the overnight method where you take 5 minutes the night before to mix together the batter with cool water, let it stand on the counter top overnight, and the next day, you bake the bread.

Here’s how easy it is. You just combine the flour(s), salt, yeast, and olives in a big bowl. Greek kalamata olives come in a jar, already pitted, so I just coarsely chopped and patted them dry with paper towels to add to the mixture. Then you add the water, mix it together, cover and let it stand overnight. Five minutes of work! By the way, olives are a good source of heart-healthy fats. The next day, you bake it in a Dutch oven. My Dutch oven is enameled cast iron. Actually, I have two, a 3-quart and a 5-quart, and I have made no knead breads in both of them.

I made this hearty bread yesterday and had it with a big bowl of soup and today for lunch I used it to make a grilled cheese sandwich with my reduced fat cheddar. Here’s lunch:

I’ll be working on even more variations of easy no knead breads because I am such as bread person so the more variety the better. If you try the olive bread, keep in mind it needs less salt than other breads because the olives are salty. Click here for the recipe. And if you’re Greek…. “Opa!” – Jenny Jones

I made my double chocolate almond biscotti today. I like crispy, crunchy things (except for meatloaf 🙂 ) and biscotti are the best. Mine have tons of toasted almonds and I used two kinds of chocolate – semi sweet and dark (70%). They take a little time to make but then you have dessert for days because they keep so well. Since they’re baked dry, you can keep them for 2 weeks!

I keep mine in an air-tight container, refrigerated, but they never last two weeks. I keep having them for dessert, dunked into a glass of milk. The almonds really need to be toasted for the best flavor. I toasted mine while putting the batter together, at 350° F for 7 to 10 minutes, and I spread them out to cool because they should be cooled before adding.

By the way, if you want to make an impression, biscotti make fantastic gifts because they stay fresh for so long. Homemade biscotti is a rare treat so I hope you’ll try it. My recipe uses some whole wheat pastry flour for added fiber and of course, no butter.  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

UPDATE Feb. 29th – I just made a slight change in the recipe. That is to turn the oven off for the final 20 minutes of drying the biscotti. The oven stays hot enough and it reduces the risk of burned edges.

Like most people, I’m often short on time to cook dinner and a stir fry is usually my solution. Last night I made my quick & easy orange sesame chicken. You should see the reaction I get when I serve it to company. “How did you make this?” “Is this takeout?” “It must take forever to make a sauce like this!”

Actually, it takes 20 minutes… not just to make the sauce but to make the whole meal. That’s why I love to cook Chinese for dinner. Making it at home is always fast and it’s never deep fried, at least not the way I make it. The chicken is briefly marinated and then lightly sauteed and the sauce is so simple you won’t believe it. I make it with…

–  fresh orange juice  –  rice vinegar  –  soy sauce  –  garlic  –  sugar & salt.  It’s thickened with cornstarch and once it cooks you drizzle on some toasted sesame oil at the end. Wow! Make sure you use toasted sesame oil and not plain because the flavor when it’s toasted is intense. Then a sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and you have something so much better than takeout and so delicious, it might be your newest 20-minute meal.

By the way, some steamed broccoli on the side goes perfectly with this. I love it! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones