Jolene's Recipe Journal

Z is for Ziti! This year I'm participating in a bi-weekly challenge with some blogging friends to post recipes using all of the letters in the alphabet.  It  can feature a food that begins with the letter of the week or the recipe name can contain the week's letter. I'm wrapping up with Easy Ziti Bake from Taste of Home.  The hardest part of the whole dish was actually getting the ziti!  First my grocery pickup substituted rigatoni.  My husband nicely offered to pick some up and came home with more rigatoni.  Third time was the charm!  The original recipe called for two pounds of ground beef but I used one pound and a pound of ground mild Italian sausage.  I browned them in the same skillet and then drained them.  You can use homemade sauce if you like but in keeping with the "easy" theme I used store bought. We are Ragu fans, for this I used a chunky sauce that already contains herbs and garlic. If yours doesn't, add 1 teaspoon of Italian se...

We're wrapping up Christmas Cookies Week and I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have! Today I'm sharing Chocolate Mint Thumbprints, a festive and tasty recipe that I found on the Betty Crocker site.

While I was searching for eggnog cookie recipes, these Nutmeg Cookies with Rum Icing from King Arthur Baking Company kept popping up. Since not everyone can get eggnog I decided to give these a try.

It's been a year since I first attempted making biscotti at home and now I'm hooked! I've made eggnog , lavender & cardamom and even pumpkin seed cranberry .  After searching through dozens of recipes I decided on these Snickerdoodle Biscotti.

Y is for Yeast! This year I'm participating in a bi-weekly challenge with some blogging friends to post recipes using all of the letters in the alphabet.  It can feature a food that begins with the letter of the week or the recipe name can contain the week's letter.

Looking through past recipes I realized that I use lemon and orange a lot but not very much lime.  I searched the Taste of Home site and decided to give these Lime and Dried Cherry Shortbread a try.

Welcome to #ChristmasCookiesWeek!   We will be sharing delicious recipes all week long in celebration of the holiday season. Bloggers from across the country have joined forces to share some of their favorite recipes for your cookie trays and dessert tables.

X is for Xavier Soup! This year I'm participating in a bi-weekly challenge with some blogging friends to post recipes using all of the letters in the alphabet.  It can feature a food that begins with the letter of the week or the recipe name can contain the week's letter. When I signed up for the challenge this was the letter that I constantly was turning over in my head. I did a lot of internet research and found a recipe for Xavier Soup that is made to celebrate the Feast of St. Xavier on December the 3rd. It essentially is a dumpling soup with a clear broth. This was my first time making dumplings. You start by combining flour, heavy cream, butter and Parmesan cheese in a pot. Over low heat, work the ingredients together until it forms a dough. Beat the salt, pepper, nutmeg, eggs and parsley together in a small bowl and then add it to the pot. I flattened the flour dough out and then made sort of a well in the center to lessen the chance of scrambling the eggs before I ...

W is for Whole Wheat Waffles! This year I'm participating in a bi-weekly challenge with some blogging friends to post recipes using all of the letters in the alphabet.  It can feature a food that begins with the letter of the week or the recipe name can contain the week's letter. I cannot believe how fast this year is gone and that we are up to W already! This one was an easy choice for me because I love waffles. I've not always had great luck with whole wheat recipes, but this one came from the King Arthur Baking Company website so I figured it was a good bet. While you make the batter, preheat your waffle iron.  Combine together whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a large bowl.  In another bowl, whisk together milk, one egg and melted butter.  I deviated from the recipe a bit and added some pure vanilla extract at this point as well.  You don't want to go nuts getting out every single lump. Small ones are okay.  Overworking the batter le...