Joy Wilson's Blog, page 29

The Better Baker Gift Guide and Giveaway

Friends! I’ve been scheming with my friends at Williams Sonoma to bring you this incredible gift guide and giveaway!  I created the Better Baker Gift Guide with some of my favorite kitchen items. Baking isn’t all about the gear – we’re driven by our sweet teeth, afterall.  BUT the right tools make baking that much easier, delicious, and magical! Trust.  I’ve done the legwork.

Here are some of my favorite splurge-worthy kitchen tools. 

Continue reading The Better Baker Gift Guide and Giveaway at Joy the Baker.

Three Great Ways To Ruin Your Appetite on Thanksgiving

Three easy Thanksgiving appetizers that are worth ruining your appetite over. I mean… are you really looking forward to turkey?  I didn’t think so. :)

One of the most under-appreciated aspects of adulthood is SNACKING, grazing, fiddling with the olive jar inside the open refrigerator door.  I snack so regularly, I often ruin my appetite come dinner – a major sin growing up, but an absolute luxury as an adult. Is it really ruined if the snacking was a pleasure?

Continue reading Three Great Ways To Ruin Your Appetite on Thanksgiving at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 394!

Hello, friends!

What’s your favorite fall album? I think the most quintessential autumn album is Paul McCartney’s Ram. Released in 1971, it was McCartney’s first solo record and was conceived on a farm in Scotland where he’d built a love nest with Linda. All the songs have a cozy, domestically blissful feel. And the song, “Eat at Home,” makes me want to push up my sweater sleeves like Neve Campbell in Party of Five and cook a big batch of butternut squash soup.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 394! at Joy the Baker.

Fluffy Cranberry Cream Pie

The perfect retro pie made with Jell-O and Cool Whip.  Pinky sweet cranberry pie topped with lightly whipped cream and, at the very last minute, chocolate covered pretzels.  This sweet lady is this year’s unexpected and delightful Thanksgiving pie.

Every Thanksgiving my family is just chasing the high of my grandmother’s cranberry sauce. It’s a creamy pale pink sauce? spread? dip? dessert? It’s everything and honestly my favorite dish on the table. 

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Erin’s Roasted Garlic Herb Pull-Apart Bread

What’s better than a fresh baked loaf of bread? Making that loaf pull-apart in buttery sheets scented with herbs and laden with butter. This pull apart garlic bread is a contender for any dinner table, but would be especialy impressive instead of store bought rolls this Thanksgiving! Let’s bake!

At the Wilson family Thanksgiving table, it’s hard to pick a carb.  Dad’s biscuits usually reign supreme, but I try to give them a run for their money with my Sweet Potato Biscuits. 

Continue reading Erin’s Roasted Garlic Herb Pull-Apart Bread at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 393!

Friends! Hi, hello! Welcome to your Sunday.

I realized this week, after chatting about Love Languages with Will that my love language is SANDWICHES. Sandwiches, and if I get to pick two sides they’d be and words of affirmation and physical touch.  Shopping for and subsequently crafting an epic sandwich is a devotion I take very seriously.

Rosemary sourdough, basil pesto, grilled chicken breast, sharp Irish cheddar, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, salt, pepper and mayonnaise.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 393! at Joy the Baker.

6 Tips To Throw A Thanksgiving Potluck

For the past 6 years (save for our pandemic Thanksgiving) I’ve hosted an epic (according to me and the reactions on friend’s faces) Thanksgiving Potluck.  I drag rugs outdoors, rent old farm tables, set up a full bar and fill the table to the end caps.  It’s always been a bit of a hodgepodge group of friends who have become family, friends of friends with no family in town, and three years ago, the dreamy guy from Houston I was very newly dating and… both of our sets of parents.

Continue reading 6 Tips To Throw A Thanksgiving Potluck at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 393!

As I write this, it’s not even Halloween, but all I’m thinking about is Thanksgiving. I’m scouring the grocery store aisles for Nov. issues of Bon Appetit and Food & Wine, but they’re not out yet. I want to see tablescapes, read recipes and make lists! I want to plan! Is anyone else feeling like this this year? Is it boredom? Stress? TBD. 

While I continue making a list of questions for my therapist to answer, here are some links and recommendations to get you through your first cup of coffee this morning.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 393! at Joy the Baker.

Here’s What You Should Bake This November

We don’t have to talk about Thanksgiving quite yet. I know, according to every single store I’ve ventured into, we’re supposed to be putting up the Christmas tree and hanging the mistletoe at this point,  but I’m still working on the last of my candy corn and what’s the rush?  We know how Thanksgiving goes.  It’s very yadda, yadda, yadda, save for the extreme amount of preparation it takes to yadda.

But not yet.

Continue reading Here’s What You Should Bake This November at Joy the Baker.

Let It Be Sunday, 392!

Hi friends! I don’t know about you but I am in the middle of Major Life Stuff™ at the moment, and it seems I’m not alone. If I could paint you a picture of what life looks like, I would be in the drivers seat of an earth excavator and I did not listen to instructions on how to use it safely. Everything is knocked down and being rebuilt. I have yanked the proverbial tablecloth off the table called Life.

Continue reading Let It Be Sunday, 392! at Joy the Baker.