Here is a Joyous Home fall jam favorite! In late August you can find Palisade Peaches everywhere, and boy are they tasty. This peach and hot pepper jam is great comfort food to have in the pantry. Start the water in the canner to boil. Meantime, start the jam mixture. Put the peaches, peppers, vinegar …
We love a nice thin cookie that isn’t too hard or flat. This cookie recipe came out great using one unconventional ingredient that I normally don’t add. Here’s how to make thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. We soften the butter slightly, not completely melting it. A rule of thumb is the colder the butter …
We love making this cake at Christmas. Rum cake was my father’s favorite dessert this time of year, and he made it very tasty. We tried using our own white cake recipe from scratch. We found that a white cake mix worked great to show how to make our best rum cake. Our Best …
Ornament sharing is one of the best traditions we have started in our family. I love ornaments. Years ago, we were invited to a friend’s home for Christmas. Their children were well grown with families of their own. Upon seeing her tree, I was fascinated! I didn’t know any of their children, but you could …
Ornament sharing is one of the best traditions we have started in our family. All kinds of handmade ornaments can lend to comfort and blessed conversation in later years. One of the pretty ornaments Jessica made was with ribbon. Here’s how to make Christmas Ribbon Tree Ornaments. Supplies for Christmas Ribbon Trees Makes One 16″ …
Because the days are still cold, we are still mixing up hot drinks. Quick hot chocolate cups are not difficult to prepare and deliver the quickest, sweetest food gift ever. Your friends are going to wonder why they didn’t think of doing this! The Difference Between Cocoa and Chocolate I had never really wondered if …
Grab some craft paper and make Christmas paper houses and ornaments. These look beautiful on a table or mantle with little battery-operated tea lights under them! You can make a whole village of paper houses! Or make a little hole and use embroidery ribbon to hang them on the Christmas tree. Make Christmas Paper Houses …
This recipe was our go-to quick breakfast side for years when the children were smaller. I forgot not only how easy it is to make, but how delicious it is! The buttermilk gives it a lovely light taste. This buttermilk cinnamon crumb coffee cake may become your favorite accompaniment to breakfast. Buttermilk Cinnamon Crumb Coffee …
I love making little appetizers with puff pastry. Puff pastry can be made with very few ingredients, and it’s delicious! I’ve always used the store-bought puff pastry sheets, but making it is very easy! This easy homemade puff pastry can be made beforehand which is super convenient for your next party. Only Four Ingredients for …
Who doesn’t love a cookie that is a bit healthier? This cookie recipe has been tested and tried several times, being a bit different as we use whole grain flour instead of white flour. We seriously cannot tell the difference with this one. Maybe it’s the peanut butter or dark chocolate chips. In any case, …
I love fall! I especially like when apples go on sale. I almost inevitably end up with several bags that will go bad if I don’t do something quick. Apple butter, my love of all fruity spreads, is better homemade. It’s time to make homemade apple butter using a crockpot, horray! Make Crockpot Apple Butter …
This pancake recipe is sure to become a favorite – Buttery Whole Wheat Pancakes will be a loved recipe for your family’s breakfast. It can be adapted to add your favorite spices – think pumpkin in the fall and Speculaas at Christmas. Or how about a little buttermilk in place of regular milk? I use freshly …
Each time we make this meatloaf recipe, I have to roll back a few years to the night we had baby 9 enter the world. I know we were just a crowd of hungry people, but it was the best meatloaf EVER. It’s been Joyous Home’s favorite classic meatloaf recipe since that fine day years …
There’s no question that you can make your own tortillas. I thought it would be too much of a task to handmake tortillas every time we wanted them, but it’s actually quite simple. Easy homemade white flour tortillas can be made with just a few ingredients in a minimal amount of time. Jessica has been …
I didn’t think I really needed a fabric design board. However, my sewing room said I did! I can’t fit two tables in the room, and while putting together our new Belle pattern, I had to move things to cut fabric, and then start over on the layout. Time is valuable, let’s make a design …
Here’s a winter comfort soup that’s easy to make, super delicious, and doesn’t require a lot of special techniques. This hamburger soup is rich and gets tastier when made early in the day to simmer, which is a great plus for our busy family. Hamburger Soup This recipe is for a large family, but it …
Character Matters When we started having children it wasn’t hard to keep track of undesirable behavior in one or two of them. As more children came along, we realized it was getting harder to keep track of each and every issue that could potentially produce bad character traits. We can plead, promise, talk or yell, …
The year has flown by, and we all know 2020 was an ‘interrupted’ year. We have had to work harder this year than usual to keep our children encouraged. They’ve been fearful, sad, and uncertain at times. We finally decided to quit talking about the news, quit watching the news, and dwell. I’m referring to …
Old Virginia Gingerbread Cookies are adapted from the many recipes that I came across when I lived in Colonial Williamsburg. Some ingredients in these recipes are interesting, but I wanted easy, and I wanted to use butter. Simply searching out what ingredient does what helped me make a recipe that turned out spicy and easy …
This is probably one of our favorite Christmas cookies. Russian Tea Cakes is a traditional cookie recipe in most homes, and we’ve made them every year for as long as I can remember. Russian Tea Cakes In my house growing up, among the other Christmas cookies at the table, there was always a tin of …
Jessica made this candy years ago and put it in one of our journals. At the last minute one day I decided to whip up a batch. It was going so well, I thought I’d get a quick video. Quick and easy molasses candy is a recipe you’ll keep. The molasses gives it a deep …
We had a craving to make a small butter cookie, but really wanting chocolate in the recipe, and these were perfect. What I really like is how versatile the finished cookie is, so I added the ideas below. I decided that I’d call the recipe salted caramel chocolate butter cookies. Salted Caramel Chocolate Butter Cookies …
I made the best, simple banana bread recipe for breakfast this morning. This is one of our favorite recipes, and it hasn’t changed much from the hand-me-down directions from when I was little. You can add more bananas if they are small – just make sure they are very ripe, and mash the bananas until …
Blue cheese bites are a perfect party appetizer, or accompaniment to any soup or stew, and this quick bite only uses 3 ingredients. We used Pillsbury Grands™ to make it fast to prepare. This appetizer can be served with soup and salad, or just hot by itself. I didn’t think these would be very tasty, …
Joyous Home’s community is now open. Any homemaker may participate by registering to join. To start off the community, we have a Playful Pumpkin Patch Quilt Challenge! See the details below. A quick rundown on the community: You have to register, or update your old password to login. We have one chat group, Joyful Homemaking Chat. Chat …
