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Creative Recipes

Do you enjoy cooking, trying out and even creating new recipes?  Did you know that you can have more food and more satisfaction by incorporating Volumetrics® strategies into your meals and recipes with only minimal extra calories?

Creative Recipes has been a Jenny Craig tradition since centres first opened in 1983, when clients and consultants began sharing innovative ways to add new flavor to Jenny’s Cuisine®.  These recipes include Jenny’s Cuisine® entrées and snacks with the addition of grocery foods and/or Free Foods.  Most Creative Recipes also incorporate the Volumetrics® approach.  You can use these same techniques to create your own recipes using Jenny’s Cuisine® foods.

Creative Recipes cookbooks
A new Creative Recipes cookbook is developed every year.  The recipes in each cookbook are designed to add flair and flavor to your weight loss, Halfway or Maintenance Menus.  Every cookbook provides a range of recipes for each meal occasion and includes food group serving information for the Jenny’s Cuisine® item and any additional grocery foods to make it easier for you to keep track on your menu or to create a Meal On My Own.  The Creative Recipes are developed by clients as well as by Jenny Craig Centres and At Home staff.  For more recipes, ask your Jenny Craig Consultant about the Creative Recipes cookbook.

What is the Volumetrics® Approach?
Along with the Creative Recipes, the Jenny Craig Menus incorporate the Volumetrics® approach, a set of eating techniques designed to enhance satisfaction while managing calories.  It is a sensible approach that can be tailored and modified to fit your individual preferences and needs.  Based on the research of Barbara Rolls, PhD, professor of nutritional sciences at the Pennsylvania State University, the Volumetrics® approach shows you how to eat more food, keep hunger in check and manage portions to lose weight.

How does the Volumetrics® Approach Work?
The Volumetrics® approach is about optimizing food choices.  Choosing foods abundant in water, fiber and lean protein, while lower in fat, will add more volume to you menu and provide more satisfying meals.  Great examples are non-starchy vegetables like asparagus, bell peppers and tomatoes – all will add fiber and help you to feel full.  Selecting lean meats like skinless poultry, fish or beef sirloin instead of higher-fat meats such as prime rib beef or poultry with skin helps to lower fat intake.

Using the Volumetrics® Approach in Recipes
In addition to being quick, convenient and flavorful, you’ll find that using Volumetrics® strategies in recipes allows you to add more foods that are filling, nutritious and naturally low in calories.  Reinvent your menu by using seasonal fruits and vegetables and savory herbs and spices.  For a list of seasonal fruits and vegetables, refer to the Peak Season Guide for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables article on the Jenny Craig Website.  Use the tips below to inspire your creativity.  As you reinvent your menu, meal by meal, you can develop some unique and healthy recipes of your own. 

Tips to Make Your own Healthy “Creative Recipes”

• Incorporate Free Foods and Limited Free Foods* into your recipes
• Choose lean cuts of meat (< 3 grams of fat per serving) such as loin or chop cuts, or skinless poultry
• Use herbs and spices such as basil, cayenne, cilantro, cumin, curry, dill, garlic, ginger, oregano, pepper, rosemary, sage, tarragon or thyme
• Substitute crushed whole-grain cereal or oats for bread crumbs
• Add fresh or dried fruit to green salads
• Use low-fat or nonfat plain yogurt instead of using mayonnaise, sour cream or heavy cream in recipes
• Replace half of the butter or margarine in recipes with applesauce, nonfat yogurt or fruit purée

*You can include a wide array of unlimited Free Foods, such as non-starchy vegetables, calorie-free beverages and herbs and spices, with your Jenny’s Cuisine® entrées and snacks each day.  The servings of Limited Free Foods are low-calorie (<35 calories per serving) but you’ll want to limit them to no more than three per day to keep your daily calories consistent.  For a complete list of Free and Limited Free Foods, refer to the back of your menu, the back of Success Made Simple or Jenny Craig’s Pocket Guide to the Volumetrics® Approach.

Sample Creative Recipes
The recipes below were created by Jenny Craig In-Centre, Jenny Craig At Home staff, and Jenny Craig Home Office staff, and are featured in Creative Recipes cookbooks.  Use these recipes to refresh your menu with the addition of non-starchy vegetables, fruits, savory herbs and spices and other flavorful ingredients.  Each recipe is designed for one person unless otherwise indicated.

Breakfast Recipe:

Blueberry Pancake Parfait
Created by Molly W.

Jenny’s Cuisine® Blueberry Pancakes & Sausage
6 oz nonfat vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup blueberries

Cook Blueberry Pancakes & Sausage according to package directions. Layer one or two pancakes (depending upon the size of glass used) on the bottom of parfait glass and top with spoonful of yogurt and berries. Repeat layering process and top with remaining berries. Enjoy the sausage patty on the side.

Per Serving:
Blueberry Pancakes & Sausage (1 1/2 Starch, 1 Meat, 1 Fat)
1 Milk
1 Fruit

Lunch Recipe:

Skillet Veggie Pizza
Created by Rae W.

Jenny’s Cuisine® Personal Pizza
nonstick cooking spray
1 garlic clove, minced
2 mushrooms, thinly sliced
3 quartered canned artichoke hearts, halved
1/2 small tomato, chopped

Heat Personal Pizza as directed on package. Heat pan to medium and coat with cooking spray. Sauté garlic, mushrooms and artichokes for 1-2 minutes, add tomatoes the last 30 seconds. Place vegetables on a plate. Pour out any remaining liquid. Spray pan with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Place Personal Pizza in hot pan, and cook on crust side for 2-3 minutes. Top with cooked vegetables.

Per Serving:
Personal Pizza (1/2 Vegetable, 2 Starch, 1 Meat, 1 Fat)
1 Vegetable
2 Free

Dinner Recipe:

Chicken Carbonara Diablo
Created by Amanda R.

Jenny’s Cuisine® Chicken Carbonara
1/4 cup broccoli
1/4 cup red bell pepper, sliced
1 whole mushroom, thinly sliced
dash red pepper flakes
basil, for garnish

Prepare Chicken Carbonara as directed on package. Halfway through heating entrée, add vegetables and continue heating for entire time indicated on package. Top with red pepper flakes and basil, if desired.

Per Serving:
Chicken Carbonara (2 Starch, 2 Meat)
1/2 Vegetable
1 Free

Snack/Dessert Recipes:

Bruschetta Chips  & Salsa
Created by Nina D.

8-oz can diced tomatoes
3-5 sprigs cilantro, chopped
1/3 cup onions, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh lime juice
Dash ground pepper to taste
Jenny’s Cuisine® Bruschetta Veggie Chips

Mix first 6 ingredients together and place in storage container. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Serve with Bruschetta Veggie Chips. Makes 4 (1/4 cup) servings.

Per Serving:
Bruschetta Veggie Chips (1 Starch, 1/2 Fat)
1/2 Vegetable
2 Free

Banana Toffee Pudding
Created by Tiffany R. & Carlotta T.

Jenny’s Cuisine® Toffee Cookies
1/4 cup sugar-free vanilla pudding
1/2 small banana, sliced
1 Tbl sugar-free whipped topping
2 Tbls raspberries

Layer half the Toffee Cookies, pudding and bananas in a small dish. Repeat layers. Top with whipped topping and raspberries.

Per Serving:
Toffee Cookies (1 Starch, 1 Fat)
1/2 Fruit
2 Limited Free

Free Foods Recipes:

Cucumber Dill Salad
1 cucumber
1/3 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1 tsp dill
1 slice red onion, finely chopped
1 Tbl lemon juice
dash of black pepper

Slice cucumber and mix ingredients together. Chill in refrigerator for 1 hour and serve. Makes 2 servings.

Per Serving:
1 Vegetable
2 Free

Easy Teriyaki Broccoli
Created by Alexa H.

nonstick cooking spray
6 oz prepackaged broccoli slaw
1 Tbl teriyaki sauce

Heat pan on high and coat with cooking spray. Stir-fry broccoli and teriyaki sauce for 3-4 minutes.

Per Serving:
1 Vegetable
2 Free

Raspberry Lemonade Spritzer
2 Tbls lemon juice
8 oz club soda
1 packet sugar substitute
4-5 mint leaves, chopped
1/4 cup raspberries

Stir lemon juice into club soda. Add sugar substitute, mint and raspberries and mix until well blended. Chill for 10 minutes before serving.

Per Serving:
1 Limited Free
4 Free

Zucchini Hash Browns
Created by Tina B.

2 zucchini
nonstick cooking spray
dash black pepper
2 Tbls ketchup

Grate zucchini with a cheese grater. Heat pan to medium and coat with cooking spray. Spread zucchini in thin layer in pan. Sprinkle with pepper and cook on each side 3-5 minutes until slightly browned (Hash browns will not be completely hard/crisp as typical hash browns.) Serve with ketchup. Makes 2 servings.

Per Serving:
2 Vegetable
2 Free

All trademarks are owned by Société des Produits Nestlé S.A., Vevey, Switzerland, or used with permission.
VOLUMETRICS® is a federally registered trademark of Barbara Rolls, PhD, used under exclusive license by Jenny Craig, Inc.
Rolls BJ. The Volumetrics Eating Plan. New York, NY: Harper, 2007.
Rolls BJ, Barnett RA. The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan. New York, NY: Harper, 2000.