If you’re making a Thanksgiving turkey dinner, try making fresh cranberries this year. This recipe is as simple as it gets and it takes about five minutes. Check the ingredients in the canned stuff – it has high fructose corn syrup and …isn’t it really cranberry flavored jello? Make the real deal and you’ll get all the health benefits too.

It makes an impressive bring-along if you want to impress your mother-in-law. She will love this dish but she’ll still think you’re not good enough for her baby! Oh well…

Click here watch my video

Click here for a printable recipe

I tried making granola bars a few years ago and they were, let’s just say… a little crisp. It took some effort to actually bite into them but there was no way to determine if the extreme crunch was the bar or one of my teeth. So I gave up, but only for a while because I am not a quitter. I challenged myself to make a healthy, crunchy, chewy granola bar that wouldn’t double as a tire iron. I did it. It took a few tries but I finally came up with this easy recipe and you can customize it a bunch of different ways with different nuts, dried fruit, even chocolate chips. I use the mini chocolate chips but Denis always wants the big ones. Maybe when the garage gets cleaned out…

Click here to watch the video.

I love Chinese food but everything I like is batter fried! So I finally mastered my own recipe for Orange-Sesame Chicken that is healthy, crazy good, and it cooks in less than ten minutes! You’ll need a couple of not-so-common ingredients like toasted sesame oil but this dish is so worth it. If you can’t find the toasted sesame oil or toasted sesame seeds, try the Asian section of your market, Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. It took me about ten tries to get it just right and now I have to share it.  I hope you don’t like leftovers because there won’t be any! Click here for the recipe.

Jenny,

If I want to add lowfat healthy seasoning to the paperbag popcorn what would you suggest? before or after popping? mrs.dash has several varieties without sodium etc, have you experimented?

Lynda

Lynda,

If you pop without oil, I would add the dry seasoning after because otherwise, it won’t stick. If you use oil, you can add the seasoning with the oil and shake the bag well before popping. I like my popcorn the traditional way so I pop it in the microwave plain, with no oil, then I add a little melted “Canola Harvest” (I don’t use butter) and I add popcorn salt. But your question inspired me to experiment and since I love kettle corn, I tried popping with a little canola oil and about 2 teaspoons of sugar and it was great – a very light, slightly sweet treat. Depending on your tastes, you can add all kinds of seasonings like garlic powder, cayenne pepper, chili powder, onion powder, dried herbs, or a little parmesan cheese.

Jenny

As promised, here is the recipe for my Sweet 3-Hour Pickles.

I know I said the dill pickles were my favorite but now I think I like these better. They really are ready to eat in three hours but you can keep them a lot longer than that.

I’ve always loved pickles and sauerkraut and now I know they are good for you… As long as you don’t put them on a bacon burger!

Click here for the recipe.

Can you believe you can make pickles in three hours? Delicious, crisp dill pickles? Hello! Three hours. That’s why they’re so crisp! A few of you asked for my pickle recipe so here it is. I tried a few more versions over the weekend and I like this one the best.

Just so you know, all fermented foods like pickles, sauerkraut, olives, even sourdough bread, provide healthy probiotics (aka friendly bacteria). Yes, even fermented yak milk from Tibet! Probiotics strengthen your immune system, aid in digestion & the absorption of nutrients, and they are great to take after antibiotics to bring back those friendly bacteria.

I also have a recipe for sweet pickles which I will post this week but the dill pickles are my favorite.  Click here for the recipe.

It’s Denis’s birthday today!

Happy Birthday, MPLPF.

He’s just as cute today as in this photo so my pet name for him is  “My Precious Little Puppy Fluff.”

We’re going out to dinner tonight and then coming home for birthday cake. I made a two-layer strawberry cake from scratch and it’s chilling in the fridge.

He’s been my partner and best friend for over 25 years.

I love you, Mr. Fluff.

xoxoxoxoxo

xoxoxoxoxo

UPDATE: 9 p.m.

We’re back from dinner and just had cake. It was heavenly good, like dipping strawberries into sweet clouds from heaven. I made it with two pounds of strawberries. So delicious!

I had two slices and Denis may have to hide the rest. It’s his birthday cake after all. But it’s not his birthday after midnight so all bets are off at 12:01.

I  took all the peaches off my tree today.

I wanted to fire up the grill and make squirrel-beque.

I made peach pie instead.

It was the therapy I needed to let go.

Feeling better today.

I still hate the squirrel.

I’ll be doing what everybody else is doing this weekend – barbeque!

It’s going to be 100 degrees on Sunday so cooking indoors?… not a good idea.

I’m sharing my recipe for this 4th of July weekend and it’s really, really easy. Basically everything in one pot & cook it.

I usually make baby back ribs but my homemade sauce is great on chicken, too.  I cook my ribs for 2 1/2 to 3 hours and they fall off the bone.

Have a great 4th of July weekend, everybody. Enjoy my recipe, and some fireworks too.

The only fireworks we will see is after I cook all day and Denis says, “You know we could have gone out and got ribs.”

“What did you just say?!?”

He defends himself by saying he doesn’t want me to work too hard (at something I love!)… He just doesn’t know any better. But I still love him. Happy 4th! And Happy Canada Day!

click here for the recipe

With ninety-one organic apples on my tree, I had to come up with a very special recipe and here it is. It’s a lot less work than making traditional apple pie and the best part is… it’s healthier… made without shortening or butter, only heart-healthy canola oil. I love that!

It tastes just as good as a pie, in fact, Denis keeps calling it pie but I say a piece of pie is pointed and this is square – it is NOT pie! Whatever you call it, this is one of my best recipes.

And try to eat just one piece of p….. uh…. I mean one bar. 🙂

Click here for the recipe.

June 25th

I made apple pie bars again. I had to. My apples were calling me from the tree: “We’re ready! Over here! Eat us! Bake us into one of those pie bars! We need a purpose! We like being snuggled in that delicious crust. Please Jenny, take us before the squirrels come!!”