Jolene's Recipe Journal

This month, I'm jumping into another cool challenge, the Fantastical Food Fight!  Each month a theme or ingredient is chosen, and all the participants make something and share it.  This month's ingredient is bananas.

We are huge, huge banana bread fans.   I am constantly pinning new variations to try.  After looking through them for a while, I finally settled on Banana Split Bread from Taste of Home. I made a few changes. I subbed 1 cup mini chocolate chips instead of the 2 cups of regular, it's what I had on hand.

The recipe calls for walnuts, and my guys are nut allergic.  In some cases, you can just leave them out, but what I've found with quick breads and other baked goods, crushed Rice Krispies makes a great substitute!

I love that it makes two loaves, one for now, and one to freeze. I wrapped the second loaf in Press N Seal, and put it in the freezer until it was solid.  You can then vaccuum seal it, or use a ziptop freezer bag.

Thanks so much to Sarah for hostin…

I love to try new recipes, but I have a problem- I have so many saved, pinned, and printed, I sometimes have a hard time narrowing down what to make!  Having a theme makes it so much easier for me to decide. This month, I'm joining the #BakingBloggers, and we're sharing biscuit and scones recipes.

Poring over my mountain of choices, I thought about what flavors I'm loving right now, and what I have on hand.  We moved 4 blueberry bushes from my parent's property to ours this spring, and while it was a slow year for them, there's been a good amount.

I ended up choosing these Lemon Blueberry Biscuits from Taste of Home.  I had all the ingredients on hand. The only change I made was using Greek yogurt, and I only had a 5.3oz container, so I made up the volume difference with some sour cream.   I used a cookie scoop to portion, and next time I'd probably not. It made them a little more smooth-topped and a tiny bit compacted on the interior.

These disappeared in a fl…

We're still experiencing temps in the 90s here in New England, so I've been making meals that come together quickly and don't heat up the house.  I've actually made these twice, once indoors on a grill pan on top of the stove because a thunderstorm rolled through at dinner time, and once on the outdoor grill. 

I used the variation on the dressing suggested by its creator, Laurie R. for the dressing, which was using 1 tablespoon each of ketchup and mustard along with the ranch. So good! Filling, but not heavy.   Next time, I'd melted the cheese on the burger and add some chopped crispy bacon.  You can never go wrong with bacon!

On Tuesdays, I like to share what my fellow Taste of Home Volunteer Field Editors are making. This week Angela made Simple Lemon Ice Cream, which sounds like the perfect dessert to go with the Cheeseburger Bowl!  Do you have an amazing recipe you'd like to submit to Taste of Home? Follow this link and learn how! Want to apply to be a Volu…

Even though the clock is ticking down on summer, the farms are still loaded with quality produce, and I'm busy stocking the freezer with meals. On my last trip, I grabbed some to make these Zucchini Carrot Muffins, but had 2 left over. What to do with the rest? I searched the Taste of Home website and found this recipe for Stuffed Zucchini.

The recipes calls for 4 to 5 zucchini, and I considered halving the recipe, but I also had 2 cubanelle peppers, and I thought the filling would work well in those too. Only a few small changes to this one.  I don't like green bell peppers, so I used red.  For the bread crumbs, I used chunk of a locally baked loaf of Parmesan, Basil and Oregano bread.  Be careful not to pack the filling in too tightly, or it won't cook properly.

I ate one immediately after cooking them, absolutely delicious.  The rest I put on a baking sheet and into the freezer.  When they were solid, I vacuum-sealed them in single portions. Thank you so much to Marjori…

School starts tomorrow and I've been working to stock the house with easy on-the-go snacks and after school treats.  These Zucchini Carrot Muffins from Taste of Home are definitely perfect for both of those things!

I made no changes to the recipe except to omit the nuts due to allergies.  Usually I crush up crisped rice cereal and use it in place of nuts, but I didn't have any on hand.  I overfilled my muffin cups and got 12 full size, plus a dozen mini muffn size. I also sprinkled the tops with raw sugar, I just love that sparkle and crunch! I adjusted the baking time to 24 minutes for the full size, and baked the minis for 13 minutes.

These are great the day of, but they also freeze well.  I set them on a baking sheet in the freezer until they are solid, then I wrap each muffin individually in plastic wrap.  I slide them all into one large ziptop bag. So easy to grab as many as I want. They can be microwaved to defrost, or you can do it on the counter.  Thank you so much to …

Overnight oats have been my go-to breakfast this summer.  It's been great to just go out in the yard and add blueberries or blackberries from our bushes into the jar each day.  But fall is on the way, and what a great way to transition into it than with these Apple Cinnamon Overnight Oats from Taste of Home?

I like to layer my jars, so I started with half of everything.  Oats first, salt, cinnamon next.  Then I topped that with 1/2 a teaspoon of chia seeds.  Next came the apple and raisins. Repeat once more.  Then I pour in the milk, which in my case  was almond milk.

While I was doing all this, I had some pecans toasting in a pan on the stove, the last little bit I had left from another recipe. Maybe 10 pecan halves.  Note to self: never turn your back while toasting nuts.  I went to give the pan a shake, and the bottoms were burnt.  Into the trash they went. You could also use shelled pumpkin or sunflower seeds if you want some crunch.

The next day, I enjoyed this out on the pat…