Jolene's Recipe Journal

I'm changing things up a bit for this month's #MuffinMonday and sharing a savory muffin. I was bored with our regular sides for pasta so I went searching the Taste of Home site and found Cyndee P's Italian Herb Muffins. I made absolutely no changes to the recipe.  Just as a public service announcement, there are many levels to parmesan cheese.  The best is the real deal which you grate yourself, second is the preshredded kind. Avoid the green canister! These disappeared in a flash, next time I'll double the recipe.  Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. I liked the garlic butter a lot, next time I think I'd use real minced garlic instead of the powdered kind.     Thanks so much to Stacy for hosting #MuffinMonday and to all the other awesome bloggers who shared recipes today, be sure to go check out what they made using the links down below! Italian Herb Muffins Print With Image Without Image Ingredients 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan c

Continuing my quest to replicate some of our restaurant favorites at home I tried my hand at Chinese Scallion Pancakes from Taste of Home. Though they're made from just a few simple ingredients, the method seemed a bit daunting to me.  I made it easier a few ways.  First, I mixed the dough in my stand mixer. I got it about 99% there and then I kneaded it by hand for the last little bit.  Letting it rest is crucial, and I think next time I'd give it a full hour.  To portion the dough I used a bench scraper.  I cut the ball in half, then the halves in half and so on.  This gave me 8 perfectly equal balls of dough.  I rolled each ball out on top of my pastry mat which is handy because it has measurements on it.  The first few I used way too much sesame oil, making them slippery and a bit hard to roll up.    This is where it can get tricky.   You want to roll it into a spiral, pressing the seams.  The spirals are then rolled out to an 8" circle. Pop them one at a time into

    Mardi Gras is French for Fat Tuesday, which begins the day after the Epiphany and ends the day before Ash Wednesday. Since Lent is a time for fasting, Fat Tuesday was that last hurrah. Some foodie friends and I are sharing dishes today that are inspired by New Orleans favorites, and I made Bananas Foster Bread.  I found Christen C's recipe on the Taste of Home site. I did make a few small changes.  Since I always have chia on hand I substituted that for the flax. I also used Greek yogurt instead of the regular. My rum of choice was Bacardi Black.   For the rum drizzle I went slightly heavier, a tablespoon or two, with the powdered sugar to make it a bit thicker. It's absolutely delicious and would be awesome on things like pumpkin cake or eggnog baked donuts.   To make this even more decadent you could hold the glaze and use the bread as a base for french toast. Then top it with the glaze. I'd planned to do that but the bread didn't last long enough, next time I'

One of the ways we've tried to reduce our spending is by doing a lot less eating out. One of the things I really miss is Chinese food, so I've been looking for recipes to make at home.  I found Darlene B's Crispy Orange Chicken on the Taste of Home site.    I haven't had any luck with the brands of popcorn chicken available at my store, they're usually mostly breading or uneven chunks that don't all bake up the same.  I prefer to buy the "Southern Style" chicken tenders and cut them into bite size pieces.  I only made a few other very small changes.  Instead of the hot sauce I used crushed red pepper flakes, a nice big pinch. I also added a little bit of ginger powder. I'd prefer fresh ginger but my goal was to use pantry staples.  I loved the natural sweetness of the carrots and the orange juice with the heat of the pepper flakes and warmth of the ginger. I served it over Jasmine rice.  It was even better than take out! Next up I plan on conque

My guys love pork and will eat it just about any way, but I'm a little more picky. Normally I do chops pan fried with panko and cheese, but Donna C's recipe in Taste of Home's 5 Ingredient Comfort Food caught my eye because of the cornbread mix, which I happened to have in the pantry.  The only change I made to the recipe was to use thinly sliced center cut chops instead of slicing up a pork loin. The package I had was over a pound, so I doubled the breading ingredients.   I held out the salt because I prefer to sprinkle on kosher salt after frying.  I had no intention on blogging this recipe because it's hard to get decent pics late in the day without dragging out a light box and eating cold food.  I took a couple quick snaps with my cellphone  and sat down to eat.  Clean plates all around. None of used the recommended sauces, I thought they were great as is.  I served them with some steam in bag green beans and some ready in 90 second microwaveable rice.  Delicious,