Any time I can cook dinner all in one pan – in 30 minutes – it’s a good day. And it leaves me more time to make dessert! This is one of my go-to healthy meals because it’s quick and uses just a few ingredients. Nutritionally, it’s a superstar with all these colored peppers. Brightly colored vegetables each have their own set of antioxidants. For instance, a red pepper has more vitamin C than an orange. Yellow and orange peppers support lung and eye health while green ones fight asthma. But all peppers help protect against many degenerative diseases so I try to include all the colors in my cooking.
This recipe was in my cookbook but I’ve simplified it (like I’m doing most of the recipes there) because my goal is to motivate more people to cook at home, so if I can make a recipe easier, faster, and healthier, my work is done. I wish I liked brown rice better but it’s still a struggle for me so I use Uncle Ben’s converted rice here. But you can use brown rice if you like and just cook it an additional 25 minutes.
Does anybody think this would also work with shrimp? Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
What can I say? This is the most amazing, dramatic, show-stopping dessert ever! And if you think it looks good, wait until you taste it! Having a barbeque? Going to potluck? They’ll remember you forever if you bring this to the table. Fruit pizza is basically a giant sugar cookie (of course, my version is a little healthier than most because I use less butter). You bake and cool the cookie and while it’s cooling, you get all the fruit and glaze ready. Then you build your creation.
It’s perfect for summer parties but I make fruit pizza all year round. In the summer I use peaches, raspberries, blueberries, nectarines, strawberries, and cherries when they’re more affordable (this one has Queen Ann cherries and yellow grapes on the border). In the winter I use bananas, kiwi, papaya, grapes, mango, and whatever else I can find that’s soft and colorful. If you use bananas, make sure to coat them with lemon juice as soon as they’re sliced to prevent them from turning brown.
Creating the design is so much fun and I’ve never decorated two the same way. Always start with the border first as you create your own masterpiece. And trust me – it tastes just as good as it looks. To make your own fruit pizza, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Here is my summer gift to all the bakers. My lemon meringue pie will spoil you forever because there is nothing that compares to homemade lemon meringue pie. And when it’s healthier and easier than all the other pies, it’s a true gem. This lemon meringue pie is healthier because the crust is made with extra light olive oil, no butter or shortening, and it’s easier because you can make the whole thing, from scratch, in an hour. That includes the easiest crust ever, from scratch, and a foolproof luscious lemon curd that will never fail you.
I make all my pies with an oil crust to avoid saturated fat and they are so much easier (and healthier) than the butter or shortening kind. Oil crusts can be patted into a pie pan or rolled between wax paper and simply placed into the pan. The beauty is that if there’s a crack or opening in the crust, you can just grab some dough from somewhere else and patch it. I love that. I make mine with extra light olive oil but you can use canola or any vegetable oil of your choice.
As for the lemons, it helps to have a juicer but you do have to make fresh lemon juice. And don’t even talk to me about bottled juice! So now you have a healthier, easier way to make one of the great American classic summer desserts, lemon meringue pie. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I could live on egg salad! And that’s easy because it takes me five minutes to make my low fat, easy egg salad. I prefer it simple with just yellow mustard and light mayo but I know a lot of people like to add extras like pickle relish, onion, celery, olives, etc. So go ahead. Use my simple, healthy recipe as a starter and then make it your own. But for me, plain old egg salad on some whole grain bread with lots of lettuce and tomato – it’s the perfect breakfast, and a perfect lunch.
For a while people were avoiding eggs because they contain cholesterol but all the latest research indicates that they may contain cholesterol but they do not raise serum cholesterol. This is good news because eggs have so many nutrients including complete protein; lutein for your eyes; and choline (in the yolk) for your brain and to reduce inflammation. They also contain sulphur to give you beautiful hair & skin, and strong nails. Here’s a link to some of the latest research on eggs: http://www.prevention.com/health/health-concerns/latest-research-health-benefits-eggs
Now that eggs are back, you can enjoy this easy and healthy egg salad. But even my delicious egg salad is no fun if it takes ten minutes to peel a boiled egg. So to make things even easier, I can show you how to make perfect, easy-to-peel hard boiled eggs.
Who knew croutons were so easy to make? Once you try homemade croutons made with fresh ciabatta bread you will be spoiled forever. You could use a different kind of bread but… why? Okay, maybe sourdough, or maybe a loaf of French bread but make sure it’s fresh. They say to use day old bread but I respectfully disagree. Fresh bread will make fresh croutons. The big surprise is how incredibly easy it is to make them at home. Five minutes prep, twenty minutes in the oven, and you have big chunks of toasty, crunchy croutons for your salad, or soup, or (your choice here).
I like croutons to taste like bread so my recipe is super simple – just olive oil, salt & pepper. But you can always add spices and herbs of your choice, like fresh garlic, fresh parsley, dried oregano or basil, onion powder, garlic powder, or parmesan. If you’re a bread person like I am, and a crunchy food person too, you will love this easy recipe. I especially like croutons or breadsticks with my salads and in my kitchen, homemade is the only way to go. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Wow! If you ever want to up your game when baking brownies, you have to try these awesome, fudgy, moist, delicious Black Forest Brownies. It’s a simple, one-bowl recipe and by lining the pan with foil, there’s almost no cleanup. Using canned dark sweet pitted cherries makes this is an easy recipe and it’s the main reason these brownies are so moist and yummy. Oh right… then there’s the chocolate chips. What an awesome combination.
Using Dutch-processed cocoa powder, like Droste brand, is what will give you a beautiful, rich dark color but that’s not the only reason to use Dutch processed cocoa. Cocoa processed this way is less bitter than the other kind like Hershey’s natural cocoa. But… you can make these brownies with Hershey’s with just a minor change, switching from baking powder to baking soda.
My recipe uses no butter, only two tablespoons of olive oil, and Greek yogurt. I like Fage 2% yogurt (never fat-free!). I use all-purpose flour in this recipe but I’ve also made them with half all-purpose and half whole wheat pastry flour. Either way, they are not too sweet, with a delicious combination of rich chocolate and dark, sweet cherries. To try may amazing Black Forest Brownies, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
I’ve reinvented by barbeque chicken pizza! It used to take almost 2 hours but now… 50 minutes! That’s right. Less than an hour from start to pie hole! I make homemade pizza so often that I’ve learned how to make it faster and better. I no longer let my pizza dough rise for an hour. A ten minute rest is enough to make a fantastic crispy crust and healthier pizza than most. I always use reduced fat mozzarella and with this pizza, it’s lean chicken breast so it’s a healthier, low fat pizza and that means I can eat it more often.
I made this one on a pizza stone, which is a great way to get a crispy crust but if you don’t have a pizza stone and wooden peel, I also make this recipe using a regular pizza pan. The best kind of pan is the perforated one with the holes to help make it crispy (like the one in my pepperoni pizza video). My kind of pizza is crispy. I never use a fork… I just pick up a slice and eat. Oh wait… I do use a fork… for my salad. I always have salad with pizza.
If you ever have some leftover chicken, especially barbeque chicken, use it to make pizza. When I don’t have leftovers, I just cook a chicken breast and shred it with two forks. And a note on cheese: I know they sell pre-shredded pizza cheese and I have one way to handle pre-shredded cheese: with a ten foot pole! They put something in that stuff that makes it dry and it will never melt like real cheese, so take a minute and shred your own like I do. I makes a big difference.
You don’t have to make this pizza the quick way. You can always take longer and let the dough rise for an hour but I just don’t do it any more. Who wants to wait for pizza?! Not me! To try my barbeque chicken pizza, click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
It’s 100 degrees outside! That’s potato salad time! And barbeque time! I don’t think I’ve ever made my “fall-off-the-bone” ribs without potato salad. Naturally, I make mine as healthy and low fat as possible and that’s easy to do. I use light mayo in the dressing (Best Foods brand, which is called Hellman’s east of the Rockies) along with low-fat buttermilk. The mayo makes it nice and creamy and the buttermilk gives it some extra tang, and less calories.
My special trick is to soak the still hot potatoes with vinegar and salt before adding the creamy dressing. This quickly infuses the potatoes with extra flavor and just takes a minute to do. I always use red potatoes for my potato salad but other waxy varieties like yellow finn and yukon gold will work too. They hold up better than Russets. When you boil potatoes, try not to over-test them for doneness. And don’t use a fork. It’s best to test a potato with a skinny knife, which won’t allow too much moisture to penetrate the potato and make it waterlogged.
Just a note about celery: to me there is a big difference in the taste of celery hearts and the outside stalks. The hearts are sweeter than the outside parts so try to use the inside hearts of the celery and save the outside bitter stalks for other cooking or making soup. I even chop up some of the tender yellow celery leaves from the very inside, which add some pretty color, too. I’ll be making my lightened-up potato salad all through the summer and I hope it becomes your favorite too. Click here for the recipe. – Jenny Jones
Chinese food is easy to make at home. And it’s quick. You put the sauce together first, then stir fry your food in a hot pan, add your sauce and it’s chow time! Or is it chow mein time? I love this dish so much, especially because with lo mein, there’s no rice to serve separately. It’s noodles mixed in with the vegetables. Quick and easy one-dish meals are the best – everything in one pan. I use chow mein noodles but if you can’t find them, you can use spaghetti (but it won’t look as pretty and wavy). They always have these noodles at my grocery store:
Lo mein is great to make when you have some leftover pieces of chicken or shrimp, which you can stir into this dish. Edamame is another way to up the protein a little but I usually serve this just this way — with lots of antioxidant-rich vegetables. I’ve been to lots of Chinese restaurants but I have never had lo mein this good. For my easy Vegetable Lo Mein recipe, click here. – Jenny Jones
Here’s my custard pudding that I should have called “Gone in 60 Seconds.” I can hardly wait for this delicious pudding to cool down before I inhale the first cup, and then the second cup is in luke warm jeopardy. I didn’t know if I should call it Custard Pudding or Vanilla Pudding (since there is no vanilla in the recipe) but it tastes like vanilla pudding, only waaaay better!
It’s easy to make pudding from scratch. This simple recipe uses only four ingredients and it’s stuff you likely have on hand. I don’t just have it for dessert. It’s the same custard I use to fill my paczki and my custard-filled jelly roll (coming soon). Here’s an odd thing though. Once when I was anxious for it to cool down (go figure!) I poured it into pudding cups and then I stirred it a couple of times and it never firmed up after that, even when I refrigerated it. I don’t know why but my point is don’t stir it – just let it stand undisturbed until it sets. It’s not very thick when you cook it but it does firm up nicely in about an hour. Click here for the recipe.
To see me make this pudding in my Paczki video (at the 6:20 mark) click here. – Jenny Jones
