Jolene's Recipe Journal

This month is just flying by but I'm excited to be joining the #MuffinMonday bakers again! I had a grocery pickup list mishap and ended up with two containers of sour cream so went searching on the Taste of Home site for recipes and found these Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Muffins. I liked that it called for melted butter instead of softened because the temps have been crazy and it's too easy for me to miss the "softened" window and end up at the "liquified" point. Instead of the full size chocolate chips I went with mini semi sweet chocolate chips.  You could use any kind of chips you like, actually, mint, dark, cinnamon, they'd all work. Mini M&Ms would be awesome too. I pulled out a few tablespoons of the flour mixture and tossed them with the mini chips in a small bowl.  That's a trick I learned from my Gram to keep things from sinking to the bottom of baked goods. Normally I sprinkle the tops of muffins with some raw sugar but for these I threw...

Chicken is a go to protein around here. It's something all three of us eat and luckily there are lots of ways to prepare it. One of the easiest ways to get a meal on the table is to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. It's excellent as is, but I like to use it as a jump start on another dish, like these Chicken Pesto Stuffed Peppers.   You can shred the chicken or slice it into bite sized chunks. Toss it in a bowl and then stir cooked brown rice.  I like the 90 second microwaveable bags.  If you don't like rice you could use quinoa. Then add in your favorite jarred pesto sauce or homemade if you've got it on hand. Halve some bell peppers and remove the stems and seeds.  I like the yellow and red variety best but green works too.  Place them skin side up on a baking sheet and broil them until they start to blister and char. Turn them over and spoon in the the chicken rice pesto mixture. Pop them into the oven at 350 for five or 10 minutes ...

What an awesome #BBQWeek this has been! I'm wrapping things up with one of my favorite portable desserts, whoopie pies! I found this Lemon Blueberry version on the Taste of Home website. This post is sponsored in conjunction with #BBQWeek. The sponsors, Rainier Foods and Intensity Academy, generously provided prize packages to give away to the readers, however, all opinions are mine alone. Sadly, local blueberries are still a ways off here so I had to rely on store bought.  The container I got was loaded with huge berries. I like to use a cookie scoop rather than fool around with the two spoons nonsense.  It helps to keep them all the same size, roughly. Though the recipe says it makes a dozen I only got 10 and I'm guessing that's because my giant blueberries threw it off.  These are smaller than what we're used to and they didn't last long.  I definitely would double the recipe next time. My guys claim to hate cream cheese but they absolutely loved this filling rec...

For day 4 of #BBQWeek I'm sharing one of our favorite summertime thirst quenchers, Iced Strawberry Tea.  I found this recipe on the Taste of Home site but have adapted it to our tastes. This post is sponsored in conjunction with #BBQWeek. The sponsors, Rainier Foods and Intensity Academy, generously provided prize packages to give away to the readers, however, all opinions are mine alone. One thing I love about this drink is that it works with either fresh or frozen strawberries. This time around I used 10oz frozen whole strawberries. I let them partially defrost and then whizzed them up in the blender with lemon juice. The original recipe calls for the sugar to be added after but I find that it's hard to get it to dissolve that way.  I brewed my tea, added the sugar and then let it cool.  You could also use a simple syrup instead of the granulated sugar. This is absolutely fantastic as is but you can make an adults only version by adding some rum, vodka or even bourbon...

We're halfway through #BBQWeek and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am! Today I'm sharing Grilled Buttermilk Chicken, a recipe I found on the Taste of Home website. This post is sponsored in conjunction with #BBQWeek. The sponsors, Rainier Foods and Intensity Academy, generously provided prize packages to give away to the readers, however, all opinions are mine alone. I've always struggled making chicken on the grill that doesn't turn out dry or flavorless.  I find I have the most success with recipes that are marinated first. I like to do my marinating in zip top bags but you can do them in a bowl or shallow pan if you like.  This one had buttermilk, whole cloves of garlic and fresh thyme.  If you don't have fresh thyme you can definitely substitute dried. I wish I could get beautiful grill marks like others can but I concentrate more on getting the chicken cooked through.  I use an instant read probe thermometer and like to pull chicken at around 160 deg...