Jolene's Recipe Journal

As soon as the Halloween decorations are down, I'm already plotting and planning my holiday baking.   I love poring over old family recipes and cookbooks, trying to choose that year's treats for our holiday gatherings.

I'm excited to be joining the Muffin Monday bakers again this month! Muffins are always a hit around here, but I tend to make the same varieties over and over.  I was browsing recipes for this month when I came across these Cranberry Sweet Potato Muffins from Taste of Home.

 These Roasted Parmesan Carrots are tender and lightly caramelized, tossed with olive oil, thyme, salt, and pepper, and finished with savory Parmesan for a simple, crowd-pleasing side dish.

I hope that you're enjoying Holiday Side Dishes Week as much as I am!  For my second recipe,  I made Company Rice from Taste of Home.  Since I changed my eating habits last year, I have been eating significantly more rice than I ever have in my life.  It's really been challenging to find ways to change it up!

Looking for a healthy, festive, and freezer-friendly holiday side dish? These Stuffed Squash Boats are filled with chickpeas, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds, and might just steal the spotlight at your next holiday meal.

The variety of squashes available right now is absolutely amazing!  One of my favorite ways to eat them is roasted, I just love the texture, and you can fill them with so many awesome things, like cranberries! I found this recipe on the Taste of Home site and immediately printed it out.

Turn your leftovers into a flavorful brunch or snack with turkey, cranberry sauce, and melty provolone layered on toasted bagels. Quick, satisfying, and perfect for that day‑after holiday vibe. I'd marked this recipe to try using leftovers after last year's Thanksgiving dinner and never got around to it.  I ran across it again in my to-try files, and I decided that it would be a great way to use the Maple Honey Cranberry Sauce I'd made.

As a New England girl, cranberries are something that I've always loved.  As a child, we went down to Cape Cod to see how they were farmed, such a cool process! I'll admit up front, my guys are fans of the can. I've made a few attempts at converting them to the real deal, and they've not been met with much enthusiasm at all.  I saw this recipe on Taste of Home, and considering how much they like maple syrup, I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't make any changes to the recipe. I was fortunate enough to hit the farmstand and grab local honey, but storebought would be fine too.  I love hearing the cranberries pop, and the house smelled absolutely amazing as this cooked. I reserved a little orange zest to put on top when I served it. I liked the chunky nature of it, the guys mashed theirs down some more. Overall, I'm marking it down as a success, but they did ask if we were having "normal" cranberry sauce for the holiday. LOL Thank you so muc...