jenny can cook

This is the ONLY chocolate cake I make. I took a new picture of my sweet potato chocolate cake which was in my cookbook and is now here on my recipes page. This was one of the most popular recipes in the book and this new photo better shows off the moistness and deliciousness of this fabulous dessert.

You should try serving this cake and then ask if anyone can guess what’s in it. It’s such a rich-tasting cake they might think it has lots of butter but the cake is made without butter and with less sugar than most cakes because the sweet potato is naturally sweet. And you can make it with extra light olive oil! The frosting uses only two tablespoons of butter.

It’s pretty easy to make, too. I just chop and boil the sweet potato and either mash it with a fork or put it through a ricer. (it’s easier to clean the fork!) Then I spread the sweet potato out on a dinner plate to cool while I prep the other ingredients. It’s a one-layer cake to it’s easy to frost since you’re just frosting the top and sides. I refuse to give up my desserts so I make them as healthy as I can. This is a healthier chocolate cake and it’s an easy recipe. Good news for me: I had to make the cake to take the picture and there are still 4 slices left!

If you want a moist, delicious, guilt-free dessert, try my amazing sweet potato chocolate cake. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Remember buckwheat pancakes? Did you know that buckwheat has more antioxidants than some vegetables? So forget the pancake mix! You can make these healthy, high fiber, and really delicious pancakes for breakfast in ten minutes. While the griddle heats up, you mix together a few simple ingredients and ten minutes later, you’re doing your body a lot of good. Here’s why you should eat buckwheat…

~It’s high in fiber.

~It can help stabilize blood sugar.

~It’s a complete protein.

~It’s a good source of magnesium, which reduces blood pressure.

~ It’s rich in B vitamins, particularly niacin, folate and B6, all beneficial to cardiovascular health.

~It’s full of antioxidants, including lignans, which protect against breast cancer.

~The powerful antioxidants and flavonoids in buckwheat prevent premature skin aging.

~It tastes great!!

Don’t skip breakfast. Take a few minutes to have this healthy, high fiber breakfast and you’ll have sustained energy and stable blood sugar, so you won’t be snacking on things you shouldn’t. This is an easy pancake recipe, but then all pancakes are easy to make from scratch. I use a non-stick griddle, which doesn’t need greasing but I sometimes just rub it with a stick of butter. If you can’t find buckwheat flour at the grocery store, look for it at a health food store. You can also order it online. And it’s good to store it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge.
Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

My fall-off-the-bone ribs are NOT spicy hot. This recipe has been really popular but having an international following has brought on some new challenges. I’m hearing, “I made your fall-off-the-bone ribs and they did fall off the bone but they were so spicy hot we couldn’t eat them.” It turns out that spices are not the same all over the world and the different labeling in some countries has caused my delicious ribs to be too hot to eat. But I don’t like spicy foods and my ribs are not supposed to be hot, so I am here to clarify the confusion for my international visitors.

My rub and sauce recipes call for Chili Powder but I think some people are using Chili Pepper which is not the same thing. Not at all.  Chili Powder is a mixture of spices and peppers and is a bit spicy but not anywhere near hot. That’s why I use 2 teaspoons in my rub and my sauce. But 2 teaspoons of Ground Chili Pepper, which is pure cayenne pepper, will bring tears to your eyes!

As if that’s not enough, the terms “chili” and “chile” are often used interchangeably but they don’t always mean the same thing. Chili powder is usually a blend of spices and it not considered hot, while Chile powder most often refers to pure ground spicy hot chiles. Since every country is different, the only way to tell is to READ THE INGREDIENT LABEL and DO NOT USE pure ground cayenne red chili pepper.

The recipes I post are all the things I make for myself and I do not like hot & spicy foods so I hope this helps everyone from Malaysia to Australia to Belgium enjoy these delicious fall-off-the-bone, NOT SPICY HOT ribs. And my thanks to Lee and Alissa who took time to let me know. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

Any time I can make a recipe better or healthier, I’m always willing to try. I was craving lemon brownies today (maybe because my lemon tree is getting full!) so I decided to make lemon brownies and this time, I decided to experiment with whole wheat pastry flour. “These are just for me,” I thought, “so if they don’t turn out, nobody has to eat them.” I expected they would be too dense and heavy but you never know if you don’t try and any time I can bake with whole grains, I do it. I just assumed it would not work with my light and soft lemon brownies.

Guess what? They were fabulous!!! I seriously could not tell the difference from the original ones I made. All I did was replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and now my lemon brownies are even healthier: no butter and no white flour! I could hardly wait to share this with everyone because “Easiest Lemon Brownies” is one of my most popular recipes. Even the picture looks the same.

Whole grains worked with my chocolate brownies and now the lemon ones too. I guess I should have known but this was a learning experience for me, to always be open to making things better. I’m so glad I decided to try this and I have just changed the printable recipe to include the whole wheat pastry flour. Everything else stays the same. If you haven’t tried them yet, you should. I just had one that was still warm. Make that two. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I love easy cookie recipes where you just dump everything into a bowl, stir, drop, and bake. That’s how easy these coconut macaroons are to make. It only takes five ingredients to make these show-stopping cookies and that includes the chocolate. And there’s no butter! Chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons make perfect gifts. People will think you’re a gourmet baker but this is a foolproof, easy recipe.

I make these cookies every year for our annual holiday open house and there’s one guy who only comes to have these cookies. (Mark, you know who you are!) No matter how many I make, they always disappear too soon and now I think I may have to check his pockets when he leaves… 🙂

Here’s how easy it is to make these chocolate-dipped macaroons. Everything but the chocolate goes into a bowl and you combine it with 2 forks. That’s the best way I’ve found to stir it all together. Then I shape the mounds on the baking sheet using the 2 forks but you can use spoons if you like. While the cookies bake, I melt the chocolate. I used to do that in a double boiler where I placed a pyrex bowl over simmering water (the bowl can’t touch the water) but now I just microwave the chocolate to melt it. I check it at 30 seconds and a minute to stir so if you microwave, keep checking and stirring until it’s melted.

There are so many ways to add the chocolate. 1) You can cover half the cookie with chocolate and leave half plain. 2) You can drizzle strands of chocolate across the cookie back and forth with a spoon. 3) You can dip the bottom first and then add chocolate to the edges like in the photo. That’s how I usually do it. I found the first few were easy to roll around to cover the edges but when there’s less & less chocolate, I spooned it onto the edges. Then you place the chocolate-dipped cookies onto wax paper to set.

If you make them, send me a picture! Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I can’t remember the last time I bought bread at the store. I’m finding easier ways to make my own delicious and healthy homemade bread and this may be the easiest and fastest. I’m done with proofing yeast and rising dough twice. This is my go-to bread that I use for sandwiches, French toast (it soaks up the eggs in seconds!), and soft bread crumbs.

A few things to keep in mind when baking bread: 1) An instant read thermometer really helps to measure the temperature of the milk. Too hot and you’ll kill the yeast – too cold and it won’t grow. 2) Other additions should not be cold, like the oil and egg. If I’m short on time to warm up a cold egg I have been known to put it in my apron pocket and let my body heat warm it up. Note to self: *Next time, let your partner know about the egg before he hugs you goodbye!

This is one of my most popular recipes, probably because it’s so easy. Well, it’s also because it’s a really soft wheat bread, perfect for sandwiches or toast. I tried making it with 100% whole wheat flour but without much success. It didn’t want to rise and it was too dense and heavy so it needs some bread flour in the mix.

I’m calling it simple whole wheat bread because it really is… and it’s fast. Start-to-finish: 90 minutes! This is as easy as it gets to make homemade bread so I hope you’ll try it. Did I mention that your kitchen will smell terrific too?  Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones

I’ve been so busy working on new recipes and photos that I’ve neglected some of my older recipes and this week, I had a taste for carrot cake. I was surprised at how much healthier my baking is now and I thought that if any cake could be made with olive oil, it’s carrot cake. There is so much flavor there with the pineapple, toasted pecans, and cinnamon, I didn’t think you would ever taste the olive oil. So I tried it… and I was right. But that wasn’t the only change I made.

I also made it with whole wheat pastry flour so now it’s whole wheat carrot cake and I’ve even simplified the process. Carrot cake is such a great American creation. I remember the first time I was offered a piece of carrot cake. It was in the early 60s and my landlady in Las Vegas asked me if I wanted to try some carrot cake. Who puts carrots in a cake? You might as well put broccoli in my ice cream! What’s happening here? I must have made a face because she immediately said, “I know it sounds weird, but it’s really good. Just try it.” So I did. Wow! I loved it then and still love it today.

If I’m going to have cake, it has to be as healthy as I can make it and whenever I can avoid butter, I do. This cake has no butter, not even in the frosting. It’s a cream cheese frosting made with reduced fat cream cheese. Regarding the flour, the new recipe calls for 1/2 whole wheat pastry flour and half all purpose flour but you can make it with 100% whole wheat pastry flour or even 100% all purpose flour if you like. All variations taste great.

One more thing: toast your nuts! There is a world of difference in flavor between raw and toasted nuts. And it’s easy. Put the raw nuts on an ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees F  for 7 – 10 minutes. I toast a whole bunch at a time and keep them in the fridge for all my baking. I prefer pecans in this recipe but walnuts work too… toasted!  I hope you’ll try my new Whole Wheat Carrot Cake. Click here for the recipe.

Why buy a jar of tomato sauce when you can make your own in 20 minutes? Seriously. By the time you boil the water and cook the spaghetti, your delicious, homemade, spaghetti sauce is done. And it tastes way better than the stuff in a jar. If your family likes spaghetti and meatballs, they will LOVE spaghetti and meatballs with this homemade sauce. It just tastes so much better.

You can even make this recipe using fresh tomatoes but it takes a little longer because you’ll need to peel the tomatoes first. I’ve made this sauce many different ways… with fresh peeled tomatoes, with cherry tomatoes (unpeeled) from my garden, I’ve done it with roasted tomatoes, but most of the time I like the quick and easy 20-minute version. I’ll be using it in a recipe I’ll be posting soon… oven-baked chicken parmesan!!!

Did you know that cooked tomatoes are a great source of lycopene, which is a known defender of prostate cancer? But they need a little fat for better absorption so be sure to use the full amount of olive oil (1 tablespoon). Oh, by the way, tomatoes are also believed to protect against heart disease, memory loss, macular degeneration and may even prevent some wrinkles caused by the sun. Click here for the recipe.

OMG! I love these breakfast cookies so much! They are so healthy and each cookie has over four grams of fiber! Let’s talk about what’s in them… and what’s not. First of all, there is no butter and no white flour. There are lots of oats and whole grain flour, and then I add some high fiber cereal or wheat bran for even more health benefits – and crunch. They are sort of chewy and crunchy at the same time. The prunes not only add fiber, they help keep the cookies moist. Dark chocolate does have health benefits…. and it’s chocolate!  Now some info on the ingredients:

~Flour: Whole wheat pastry flour is not the same as whole wheat flour. The pastry flour will make a lighter cookie.

~Oats: I use Quaker Old-Fashioned Oats, not quick-cooking.

~Cereal: I use Smart Bran (from Whole Foods) or Kellogg’s All Bran Original or plain wheat bran.

~Oil: I use avocado oil but they also work with  extra light olive oil or canola oil.

~Chocolate: Dark chocolate has antioxidants so the darker the better. I use dark chocolate chunks, usually a 70% dark chocolate bar.

~Prunes: They are not all the same. Moist prunes keep the cookie moist so I use Sunsweet Premium Prunes in the round can or St. Dalfour French Prunes in a jar. If you can’t find these prunes, try pouring boiling water over regular prunes, cover and let stand for 15 minutes, then drain and chop. Without moist and sticky prunes, these cookies will be dry.

Why should you make this cookie? It’s all about the fiber in this healthy breakfast cookie, which contains lots and lots of soluble and insoluble fiber. The benefits include everything from lower cholesterol, protection against colon cancer, heart disease & stroke, reduced risk of diverticulitis, hemorrhoids  & diabetes as fiber slows the absorption of sugar, more stabilized blood sugar, less constipation, easier weight management because fiber keeps you feeling full longer… but if you increase your fiber, it’s also important to drink plenty of water for it to assimilate properly. But enough about fiber. Make this cookie. Try it. It’s so good, you’ll be doing what I do and having it for dessert too! – Jenny Jones  Click here for the recipe.

UPDATE Feb. 27th:

In case anyone finds their cookies to be dry, please make sure to use moist prunes and not the typical ones that are more common. If you can’t find these prunes, try pouring boiling water over regular prunes, cover and let stand for 15 minutes, then drain and chop.

Any dinner that all cooks in one pot is for me! And if it’s low fat, healthy, easy to make, and tastes yummy, I have to share. Sure I use a can, a box, and a carton but it’s all good. The can is the red kidney beans. They provide fiber, calcium, and help reduce cholesterol. The box is Pomi strained tomatoes. Cooked tomatoes have lycopene, a great prostate protector and wrinkle preventer. The carton is unsalted chicken stock which is handy for my 30-minute chili. I try to use my own homemade chicken stock in this recipe but the carton is easy to keep on hand. This really is quick and easy chili but it tastes like it cooked for hours.

It’s hard to mess up this easy recipe so feel free to make it your own. Here are some other suggestions… 1) You can use ground beef instead of turkey but keep it lean. Use ground sirloin. 2) Use a different tomato product like canned crushed tomatoes or stewed ones. 3) Use a spicier chili pepper like habanero, if you dare. 4) Spice it up with some cayenne pepper or hot sauce.

For my taste, this is just the right amount of spice and just the right amount of easy. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones