Jolene's Recipe Journal

  Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner and today I'm revisiting an old favorite, Frozen Lemon Berry Margaritas. I found Julie H's recipe in Taste of Home magazine years ago and have slowly adapted it to our liking.  Our version has a 16oz bag of frozen mixed berries (blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries) plus a  16oz bag of frozen whole strawberries.  I only defrost the lemonade concentrate enough to get it out of the container and I use it all.    I make it first without the tequila and then pull out a serving for my son, and then add the tequila for my husband and myself.  If it's not slushy enough, then I'll add in a few ice cubes. If it's too firm, then I add more tequila. You can definitely use fresh in season berries too, but you want to pop them in the freezer in order to achieve that slushy consistency. This drink is perfect for sipping out on the patio while snacking on some Zippy Tortilla Chips and salsa. It also make...

  April 26th is National Pretzel Day! It was really hard to narrow down a recipe to make because I love pretzels in all their forms, soft, twisted, rods, sticks, rolls, nuggets. After some deliberation, I picked Jackie R's Loaded Up Pretzel Cookies from Taste of Home.     I used thin pretzel sticks because they were easier to break up consistently than the small twists. I only made one other small change to the recipe and that was to swap out half of the M&Ms called for with semi sweet chocolate chips.   They're not joking when they say these cookies are loaded up.  I've never had a cookie turn out so thick and chewy that I didn't have to refrigerate the dough before baking!  You get a mouthful of goodness in every bite whether it's the coconut, M&Ms, chocolate chips or pretzels. Be sure to go and check out what the other bloggers made for #NationalPretzelDay using the links down below!   Loaded Up Pretzel Cookies Print With Image Without Imag...

  Who's ready for Muffin Monday?  For this month I'm sharing some delicious Streusel Strawberry Muffins from Taste of Home. I didn't make any changes to the recipe except I used Greek yogurt instead of regular.  I tossed berries with flour to prevent sinking and reserved some berries to sprinkle on top.   A lot of times I have to pass on streusel recipes because they have nuts and both my guys are allergic but on these it's just brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter.   Just look at the beautiful bits of strawberry and the light and fluffy texture!  These were great by themselves but they'd also be awesome griddled with some strawberry butter.   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!   Streusel Strawberry Muffins Print With Image Without Image Author: Jolene's Recipe Journal Ingredients 2 ...

When Dunkin came out with their new menu offering of Hummus Toast I was practically in the car before the commercial had ended.  It was delicious, but I try really hard to limit my drive through spending to things that I can't or won't make at home, and I knew this was something I could.      The most time intensive part of it is the roasted tomatoes, but once you do up a big batch or two they last in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for like a month.    After that, it's all easy.  Toast the bread by your preferred method.  Regular toaster, toaster oven, on a griddle, whatever. I did mine on top of the toaster because my slices were huge.    Slather on the hummus. The Dunkin (still feels weird to call it that!) version uses standard hummus, but my favorite right now is a red pepper variety so that's what I used.   Lay on those beautiful roasted tomatoes and then sprinkle the whole thing with Za'atar seasoning. (Side no...

  Today is National Garlic Day and I went all in with this recipe for skillet potatoes from Anita O. that I found on the Taste of Home website.  There are 12 whole cloves of garlic in this recipe!  I used a bag of multicolored potatoes that included gold, red and purple. I also did half red bell pepper and half yellow bell pepper because I had them leftover from another dish. It's pretty enough that you can serve it right in the skillet, I love the pops of red and yellow and purple. Or you can transfer it to a serving bowl. Look at that big whole clove of caramelized garlic right on top! Thank you to all of the other bloggers who joined me for #NationalGarlicDay! You can check out the great recipes they shared using the links down below.  Skillet Potatoes with Bell Peppers and Garlic Print With Image Without Image Author: Jolene's Recipe Journal Ingredients 2 tablespoons olive oil 12 garlic cloves, peeled 2 pounds potatoes, cut into 1/4- to 1/2-inch cubes (about 7 c...