Jolene's Recipe Journal

As soon as the Halloween decorations are down, I'm already plotting and planning my holiday baking.   I love poring over old family recipes and cookbooks, trying to choose that year's treats for our holiday gatherings.

I'm excited to be joining the Muffin Monday bakers again this month! Muffins are always a hit around here, but I tend to make the same varieties over and over.  I was browsing recipes for this month when I came across these Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins from Taste of Home. I made some slight changes to the recipe.  I only had a half a cup of fresh cranberries left over from another recipe, but I had some dried cranberries on hand to make up the difference. Instead of the recommended cinnamon sugar topping, I used raw sugar. The finished muffins are such a beautiful color, and the taste is amazing!  They aren't overly sweet, which is nice.  They were great plain, but also excellent griddled and spread with a little cream cheese. Thank you so much to Diane M. for sharing her recipe. #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board .  Updated links for al

One of my favorite ways to serve up vegetables is roasting them.  I just love the depth of flavor they develop.  Root veggies are particularly great made this way, and I'm always pinning new variations to try, like these Roasted Parmesan Carrots from Taste of Home. It caught my eye because of it's simple ingredient list, most of which are things that are pantry staples.  I had baby carrots on hand, so that's what I used. For the cheese, I used some grated Grana Padano.  I discovered it back when I made Granny Smith Pizza a few months ago, and have been using it ever since. Not only are these delicious, but they are such a beautiful pop of color on the holiday table! Thank you again to Heather for hosting #HolidaySideDishes Week and to all the other #FestiveFoodies for sharing their recipes. I hope you've enjoyed this week as much as I have! Roasted Parmesan Carrots Print With Image Without Image ingredients: 1 pound fresh carrots 1 teaspoon

I hope that you're enjoying Holiday Side Dishes Week as much as I am!  For my second recipe,  I made Company Rice from Taste of Home.  Since I changed my eating habits last year, I have been eating significantly more rice than I ever have in my life.  It's really been challenging to find ways to change it up! I used Bemuda onion because it was what I had on hand, plus it added a pretty color to the dish. I changed the ratio of long grain to wild to use up what I had in the cabinet.  I absolutely loved all the flavors and textures of this one!  Thank you so much to Jayne S. for sharing her recipe! Be sure to go and see what the other amazing #HolidaySideDishes the #FestiveFoodies have made today by clicking the links at the bottom of the post! Print With Image Without Image Company Rice ingredients: 1 celery rib, thinly sliced 1 large carrot, finely chopped 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 tablespoons butter 5 cups chicken broth 1 cup uncooked wild

Welcome to Holiday Side Dishes Week! I often prefer the side dishes over the main dish when it comes to holiday eating, is that strange? My guys will eat the same thing over and over for all the big holidays, but I've been trying to shake it up a bit with some new things. Squash has been my go-to this fall.  There are just so many kinds available right now.  I stopped by the local farm and they had some beautiful delicata, so I grabbed it up.  A quick search for recipes on the Taste of Home site led me to these Quinoa Stuffed Squash Boats from Lauren K. I made only one change to the recipe, and that was to omit the cheese because I forgot to buy it. Nothing else I had on hand seemed like a good fit.  It was still delicious.   I loved the sweetness from the dried cranberries, and the crunch from the pepitas. It was great the day of, and it also froze and reheated great, which is pretty awesome around the holidays when I'm always looking to save time.  If you can't

The variety of squashes available right now is absolutely amazing!  One of my favorite ways to eat them is roasted, I just love the texture, and you can fill them with so many awesome things, like cranberries! I found this recipe on the Taste of Home site, and immediately printed it out. I didn't make any changes to this recipe.  The stuffing comes together quickly, while the squash is in the oven.  If you can't find acorn, this would be great in butternut or delicata too.  I vacuum sealed and froze some, and they reheated perfectly. Thank you to Dorothy P. for sharing her recipe! Thank you again to Caroline for hosting #CranberryWeek, and to all of the #FestiveFoodies for sharing their recipes.   I've added a bunch to my to-try list, and I hope you have too! Acorn Squash with Cranberry Stuffing Print With Image Without Image ingredients: 2 medium acorn squash 1/4 cup chopped celery 2 tablespoons chopped onion 2 tablespoons butter 1 medium

I'd marked this recipe to try using leftovers after last year's Thanksgiving dinner, and never got around to it.  I ran across it again in my to-try files, and I decided that it would be a great way to use the Maple Honey Cranberry Sauce I'd made. I used mini whole wheat bagels, and I went to the deli and got sliced roasted turkey.  I know it says thinly sliced, but I went with about 1/2" thick slices.  I went light with the cheese.   This made a great snack, and definitely would make a great brunch item Thanksgiving weekend! Perfect brunch or snack turkey cranberry bagels provolone cheese I hope you are enjoying #CranberryWeek so far, there are so many creative ways to use cranberries being shared! Check out today's offerings by clicking the links below the recipe. Turkey Cranberry Bagels Print With Image Without Image ingredients: 4 plain bagels, split and toasted 8 ounces thinly sliced cooked turkey 1/2 cup whole-berry cranberry

Welcome to #CranberryWeek! As a New England girl, cranberries are something that I've always loved.  As a child, we went down to Cape Cod to see how they were farmed, such a cool process! I'll admit up front, my guys are fans of the can. I've made a few attempts at converting them to the real deal, and they've not been met with much enthusiasm at all.  I saw this recipe on Taste of Home, and considering how much they like maple syrup, I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't make any changes to the recipe. I was fortunate enough to hit the farmstand and grab local honey, but storebought would be fine too.  I love hearing the cranberries pop, and the house smelled absolutely amazing as this cooked. I reserved a little orange zest to put on top when I served it. I liked the chunky nature of it, the guys mashed theirs down some more. Overall, I'm marking it down as a success, but they did ask if we were having "normal" cranberry sauce for the hol