Jolene's Recipe Journal

One of the things I love most about blogging is how it inspires creativity, and forces me out of my cooking comfort zone. When Camilla from Culinary Adventures with Camilla suggested that the #FestiveFoodies make dishes for Bastille Day, I hesitated.  French food is not something I really cook or eat often.  But then I remembered how my guys bought me a kitchen torch for Christmas, still sitting unopened in the package, and I thought, "What a great excuse to make creme brulee!"

I searched through lots of recipes, and these Caramelized Baked Custards seemed like the perfect starter recipe.  We've always got Bailey's on hand, and all of the other ingredients are pantry staples too.  These come together easily, and my tip to you would be to beat the eggs and sugar in a 4 cup glass measuring cup (like Pyrex).   That makes it much easier to pour the custard into the ramekins rather than out of a bowl.

My ramekins were only 4oz, so they took a little closer to 25 minutes. …

It's Taste of Home Tuesday! It's been crazy hot here in New Hampshire, and one of our favorite ways too cool off has been with ice cream floats.  I made amazing homemade fresh strawberry ice cream, and I searched for a recipe to use it in and found these Strawberry Patch Frost on the Taste of Home site.

Floats are so easy to put together.  This one starts with a little strawberry jam in the bottom of the glass, mixed with a little water.  I made it with plain this time, but I've got some strawberry jalapeno that I think would be awesome too.  Add your sliced strawberries, ice cream and heavy cream.

Next, pour chilled sparkling water over the top.  If you're not a fan of sparkling water, you could definitely use a lemon-lime soda instead. There are also some "hard" sparkling waters hitting the market that I think would be awesome.

These could easily be made with any berry that you like.  My blueberry bushes are getting ready to start producing, our blackberrie…

July is National Ice Cream month, and the Festive Foodies are having an Ice Cream Social! Grab a spoon and dig in to all the awesome recipes we're sharing today!

We're huge fans of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  We've road tripped up to the factory and done the tour, which is so fun!  I've had the Ben & Jerry's Ice cream & Dessert Book for many, many years, and have made quite a few of the recipes from it. Since strawberry season is still going on in New Hampshire, I chose that recipe this time around.

I have a stand alone ice cream maker that requires rock salt, but I also have an attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer. I keep the bowl part in my upright freezer all the time, that way I don't have to wait for it to get cold if the urge to make ice cream strikes.

The Sweet Cream Base is uncooked, so if you have concerns about raw eggs, you can buy pasteurized. I used local eggs and went with the heavy cream.  I chose to add the liquid from macerati…

Cookies are always a big hit here.  I've been tweaking this recipe since 2005 when I entered it into a local cookie contest.  It's loaded with delicious dried fruit and white chocolate chips.  I go with dried cherries and blueberries when I want to make the patriotic version.   Do buy good quality white chocolate, there really is a difference in taste with the store brand.

If you can't find the superfine sugar, you can make it at home by pulsing granulated sugar in a food processor to break the crystals down.  This is NOT the same as powdered sugar. To get uniform cookies, I like to use a cookie scoop. This helps them all bake evenly.

These are great on their own, but they make wicked good ice cream sandwiches too! If you aren't a fan of white chocolate, you definitely can use semi-sweet, milk or dark.  I've also used cherry flavored dried cranberries in place of the cherries.

Thank you to Ellen from Family Around the Table for hosting our Red, White and Blue celeb…

*This is a sponsored post.  I recieved products to use in the creation of my #CookoutWeek recipes. All opinions are my own.*

I spent some time going through my Gram's recipe box, and there are so many treasures in there.  There was a recipe for Blueberry Squares, but there's still a ways to go before blueberries are ready here.  When my products arrive from Chef Shamy, one of them was a Strawberry Honey Butter, and my wheels got to turning.  I could use the butter, fresh picked strawberries and why not throw in some rhubarb?

I subbed 1/2 cup Strawberry Honey Butter for the regular butter. I ended up using 2 cups diced strawberries and 1 cup sliced rhubarb. The rest of the recipe remained the same.   The smell of the squares baking was absolutely amazing.   They were perfect with a simple dusting of powdered sugar, but could also be topped with a powdered sugar glaze.

This is my last recipe for #CookoutWeek, and I'd like to thank Allison from the PinterTest Kitchen for hos…

*This is a sponsored post. I received product to use in creation of my #CookoutWeek recipes.  All opinions are my own.*

I hope that you are enjoying #CookoutWeek so far!  I know that I'm pinning tons of recipes to try.  I first started making corn on the cob in the slow cooker back in the summer of 2015.   My guys love corn on the cob and I was looking for a way to do it that was less effort, but still delicious. All you do is clean the silk and husk off the corn, lay it on a square of foil, smear it with some butter and whatever herbs and seasonings you like.  Wrap it up tightly, pop it in the slow cooker, and add about an inch of water. Cook it on high for 3 to 4 hours.   This is my go to method now. 

And just when I thought it couldn't get any easier, I was introduced to Chef Shamy Butter.  I was sent the Garlic Butter with parmesan and basil, and I knew right away I wanted to use it for corn on the cob.  I added about a tablespoon to each packet.  Absolutely delicious. When …