Jolene's Recipe Journal

When I went searching for this month's Muffin Monday recipe I narrowed it down to something with cherries.  February is #NationalCherryMonth and we are big fans here. I found these Cherry Vanilla Muffins on the Taste of Home website in a mini version. I decided to do them as full size muffins instead. I used vanilla Greek yogurt instead of regular, it's what I keep on hand. I held back a tiny bit of the flour and tossed the cut cherries with it to prevent them from sinking.  I used a muffin scoop to distribute the batter evenly and I got exactly 12 muffins.. I sprinkled the tops with some turbinado sugar before baking.  The guys didn't even wait for these to cool before digging in. I liked the crunchy sugar top but they'd also be great with a drizzle of vanilla glaze. Thanks so much to Stacy for hosting #MuffinMonday and to all the other amazing bloggers who shared recipes today, be sure to go check out what they made using the links down below!  Cherry Vanilla Muffi...

 #NationalPancakeDay is celebrated in February, on the Tuesday before Lent begins each year.  It's also known as Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday.  Here are our favorite ways to celebrate!

I've been absolutely terrible at eating breakfast lately.  I get up, putter around with some housework, make a cup of coffee and then the next thing I know it's closer to lunch than breakfast. I decided that I was going to help myself by doing some meal prep this weekend.  One of my go to faves is overnight oats and I've made a bunch of different kinds.  This time around I wanted to finish up some blueberries that I'd pulled from the freezer for pancakes.   Not expecting to blog the recipe, I just laid out my three jars and started putting stuff in.  First up, 1/4c in each jar of quick cooking oats.  Then 1/2t of chia seeds and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  I spooned on some of the berries.  I repeated those layers twice more.  I added a tablespoon-ish of real maple syrup to the top of the jar and then I poured in some vanilla almond milk.  I popped the lids on and stuck them in the fridge overnight. The next morning I popped one open and ...

Our sponsor for the upcoming Spring Sweets Week event was so incredibly generous this year I'm doing a few posts ahead of time.  Melissa's Produce sent three bags of Key Limes and I knew I had to make my husband his favorite pie. I searched and found this recipe for Classic Key Lime Pie on the King Arthur Baking Company website.  I had a store bought crust I wanted to use up so only made the filling. The most labor intensive part of this pie is juicing the Key limes.  I highly recommend the drop in and squeeze type of juicer, I tried it originally with my over the measuring cup one and kept flipping it over. I used my hand mixer for the beating the ingredients but you can use a stand mixer if you like. I did not use the lime oil called, my limes were perfect.  I liked the tip in the recipe about testing the center for doneness and I used an instant read thermometer to do that.   I topped each piece off with some whipped cream and a lime slice.  Absolutely ...

When my son was little he used to get excited for game day. He wasn't really interested in the game itself but very much enjoyed the variety of foods I would put out to nibble on. This year he asked if we could make a few things, mozzarella sticks and corn dogs. The mozzarella sticks disappeared so fast I only got one picture but we made a bunch of the corn dogs so I was able to get a few quick snaps. I found the corn dog recipe on the Taste of Home site.  The batter comes together quickly, but we did have a bit of a hard time getting it to stick to the sausages.  We added a smidge more milk to thin it out and that helped a lot.   We had a great time making them but he still didn't stick around for the game. But I did hear him bragging to his gaming buddies online about the awesome snacks he made. I had mine with some jalapeno ketchup and maple mustard.  They'd also be great with a drizzle of hot honey.  It was fun getting into the kitchen with my son and I look...

I wasn't sure I was going to blog these stuffed waffles since it was the first time I tried using the new iron but since I'd already taken the pics as I went I figured, why not? They aren't perfect but they are delicious! I'd seen videos floating around TikTok and Instagram of people making stuffed waffles so I hopped over to Amazon and ordered the Elite Gourmet version.  The instructions were fairly straightforward but there was no recipe so I made up a batch of Classic Waffle batter. Then I scoured the fridge for things to stuff them with.    First up, some leftover taco meat from the previous night and Fiesta blend cheese,  pepperoni and mozzarella cheese and lastly some strawberries and cream cheese.   For the taco stuffed I added the taco meat and cheese in the middle and then set out some salsa and sour cream to top them with.  Learning curve lesson 1- make sure your ingredients are all room temp before you start, they will bake much quicker....