Jessica Merchant's Blog, page 39

Tuesday Things.

1. We have our delivery driver snacks out and it’s one of my favorite traditions! Waters, coffees, snacks, etc – I like to keep it out until the end up January because it’s so so cold.

2. Definitely need this chocolate afternoon cake.

3. A reminder that it’s baked lemon ricotta season at Trader Joe’s and oh my gosh – it’s heaven.

4. Very excited my fave jarred marinara is the same as Ina’s.

5. My best holiday tip is to wrap ASAP! Wrap wrap wrap early and then there is less stress late in the season.

6. Brain rot is the word of the year. Along with the contenders.

7. TV things!! Ugh that ending of Yellowstone. I can’t! I’m currently rewatching Virgin River to get ready for the new season… that’s about it right now.  I want to watch Say Nothing!

8. We can’t stop blasting the Wicked soundtrack at full volume.

9. Time to start grilling my pickles.

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Sheet Pan Lasagna Is Perfect For The Holiday Season!

This sheet pan lasagna is a perfect holiday meal! It’s easy to make, feeds a crowd and tastes incredible. It also makes a wonderful weeknight meal paired with a big greens salad and garlic bread.

Say hello to our newest obsession!

Over the last year, my family has gone crazy over sheet pan lasagna. It’s super easy to make, it feeds a big crowd (or you get lots of leftovers) and you can make different versions based on whatever you love!

I call that a huge win. 

Words can’t express how much we love sheet pan lasagna!

And I’ve decided that there is no better holiday meal. Red and green? Check. Super delicious? Check. Easy to serve for a holiday party? Check check. 

This one ticks all the boxes and you should definitely add it to your menu for the season. 

My version of sheet pan lasagna uses lots of cheese and pesto, along with roasted red peppers and fresh spinach. The flavor combo is fabulous and also rather neutral – it’s pleasing to everyone and doesn’t get too fancy. Even the kids love it! 

Serve this with a big greens salad and some garlicky sourdough bread and you are good to go. It’s a lovely weeknight meal, a great holiday dinner or even a wonderful meal to take someone. Pure comforting, cozy food. 

This is how I make it! 

First, I break and boil the lasagna noodles. This is kind of nice because you don’t have to worry if the noodles break! I tend to break them into thirds, boil them, then spread them out on some parchment paper and hit with some olive oil spray so they don’t stick. 

Next, I brown some ground beef or ground turkey. Or a mix of both! I use a large pot and anywhere from one-and-a-half to two pounds of meat. Go the two pound route if you like things very meaty. This gets browned with lots of garlic, basil, oregano and is finished with some marinara sauce. I definitely use store-bought sauce here because it’s easiest. Rao’s is my favorite. 

I also stir in some fresh spinach! It’s nice to get some greens in when it comes to a dish like this. Because they blend in nicely so it’s an added bonus. 

The cheesy ricotta mixture is my favorite part. Ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, mozzarella cheese and a touch of pesto. I always have pesto in my freezer for reasons just like this. But if you have a jarred version that you love, that works well too. 

Now get this: you’re going to add the noodles to the meat sauce and toss them together. 

Next, you’re going to spread the whole thing out on a sheet pan! Yep yep yep. This is also when I add a bunch of chopped roasted red peppers. I like them to shine instead of being mixed directly into the sauce.  (more…)

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A Week In The Life, Vol 49.

Thanksgiving week!!

With these little pumpkin pies.

It was a great one.

Had to go pick up our turkeys first!

Merry merry.

Made some garlic butter salmon for everyone.

Where’s Jordan.

Fave pastime.

Love.

Oh hi.

Had a super fun week with cousins!!

I can’t!!

Thanksgiving was cold and windy!

They had a blast and ate a bunch of rolls.

Roasted.

And smoked!

Kids table!

The poppers are always popular.

Our little Lucy turkey!!

The sweetest!

One plate.

Pumpkin dream!

Cutest cousins.

Working on this!!

We had the best cozy weekend at home!

It was freezing out and we just chilled and relaxed.

Faves!

And we had to see Wicked!

Finally! It was SO GOOD.

I accidentally bought 3D tickets but we still loved it.

Jordan even loved it, fell asleep close to the end.

I am dying to go back and see it again!

And that was the week!

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What To Eat This Week: 12/1/24.

It’s the holiday season!

What’s on your menu this week?!

What To Eat This Week

Pasta frittata 

Ginger lime chicken and rice soup

Black bean smash burgers

Spicy vodka unstuffed shells

Hot ginger salmon salad

Broccoli cheese tortilla pizza

Chickpea tortellini salad

Pumpkin zucchini muffins

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What I Read In October & November 2024.

I’m back, I’m back!! The last month was super busy and I neglected my reading reviews, so I’m here with a round up of books I’ve read in October and November. The last few weeks I got hit with bronchitis and an all-night cough, so I made it through a lot of books as I sat up at night and read. Lots of good ones here!

I also shared my holiday reading list here!

I do have a book of the month membership – I love it so much. That’s where I got a few books from this month. I get so many of my new releases and debut author books there. You can sign up for one here.

Most of these books are linked through bookshop (if available!) and I highly suggest shopping through there because it will support your local indie bookstore. You can choose the local bookstore to support! I support Penguin Books when I buy which is my fave here in Pittsburgh.

Let me know what you’re reading below!

WHAT I READ IN OCTOBER & NOVEMBER 2024Be Ready When The Luck Happens

I could not love Ina more!!! I absolutely LOVED this – I listened to it because she narrates but then I also ended up buying it because I wanted the physical book. I thought I knew a ton about Ina but I loved the little bits and stories in here. She is the best best best.

How My Neighbor Stole Christmas – 3.5 stars

This book was a little ridiculous, but funny. It is absolutely hilarious how the author takes the exact grinch storyline and uses it throughout the whole book – she plugs the characters right into the story and even uses similar (or the same!) names. I could not figure out if this was a parody at first!

The Off Limits Rule – 3.5 stars

This was a cute one. In this book, we follow Lucy who ends up moving in with her brother and falling for his best friend. She’s a little whiney at times (a bit cringe because she is a mom), and it felt somewhat YA to me, but I really loved her and Cooper’s relationship. I liked his character a lot.

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe – 3 stars

This huge tiktok read was cute but didn’t completely do it for me. It felt a little YA to me and almost like a direct copy of gilmore girls and stars hollow. It was fun for the fall season and a very easy quick read. We follow Jeanie who inherits her aunt’s coffee shop in an adorable town and meets a grumpy farmer that everyone in town loves. So many tropes in this one and it was adorable.

Intermezzo – 4 stars

Another Sally Rooney win! Her books are so deep and more of the literary reads for me (ah!) – and this one is no different. Here, we follow two brothers who are grieving the death of their father. Their lives are so different. The writing in this book is incredible. Sometimes a little slow for me (felt like nothing was happening) but I ended up LOVING the ending (just perfect) and thinking about the characters so long after. Definitely a good read.

The Third Gilmore Girl

Speaking of Stars Hollow!!! I couldn’t wait for this to come out. I love Kelly Bishop. This is another one that I listened to and it was fabulous. It was heart warming, honest, funny and just so interesting. What a life and career. Highly recommend.

This Spells Love – 3.5 stars

This was a fun little October read! We follow Gemma who with her friends, tries to cast a spell to remove her toxic ex from her life. The spell actually works except it does other things too – like makes her best platonic guy friend forget about her. The friends to lovers trope in this is fabulous and it’s very cute. Really enjoyed it!

Blue Sisters – 5 stars

Oh my gosh, this one is excellent. Here, we follow three sisters who are mourning the death of their fourth sister. They come home to deal with their childhood apartment and there is SO much family drama. There is a ton going on in this and the sisters could not be more different, meaning there is a ton of incredible character development, side characters and more. I loved this so much, it was heart breaking, heart warming and more. Still thinking about it

Is She Really Going Out With Him – 4 stars

This one is SO cute. This story is about Anna who is recently divorced and in order to try and keep her job, she decides to have her kids pick dates for her (matchmaker!) and she writes about it. This is so funny, so adorable, I laughed the entire time.

Pictures of You – 4.5 stars

I knew this would be a heartbreaker because of the author’s last novel. In this book we follow Evie who wakes up from a car crash and thinks she’s still a teenager… but she is actually much older and married to the man who died in the car with her. This whole book is her trying to figure out her life and remember and the details she comes across are heartbreaking and unbelievable. This book is heavy (triggers!) and intense at times but I really loved it. I could not put it down.

Variation – 5 stars

I LOVED this one. I always love Rebecca Yarros’ contemporary novels. I found this so interesting and while a little crazy dramatic, it was so good. We follow a career ballerina who reconnects with her teen best friend who is a rescue swimmer. They never dated as kids but were in love… and we go from there. There is SO much family drama in this and it’s great – on both sides. I absolutely loved the ending.

Wolf.e – 3 stars

Can’t believe I read this, ha. If I’m being honest, I only read this because I was such a huge fan of sons of anarchy. This is so super dark and steamy – unlike anything I’ve ever read. The story follows Brinley who meets the president of a motorcycle club. He is kind of bad… but kind of good! I swear this was taken straight from a sons of anarchy storyline, but I couldn’t really put it down either.

Holding the Reins – 3.5 stars

This came up after I finished the above book and I started it right away. No darkness here in this one, and I liked it a lot. The characters were all cute (the whole family was amazing). We follow Cece who comes back to her hometown and ends up working with their very close family friend, Nash. Sparks fly, but they shouldn’t – he is best friends with her brothers and her parents took him in when his died. Also a hockey storyline in this! Loved the ending of it.

(This is not sponsored but there are a few bookshop and/or affiliate links above! Thank you for reading!)

The post What I Read In October & November 2024. appeared first on How Sweet Eats.

Currently Crushing On.

This week on the blog I shared this crispy prosciutto & havarti dutch baby. I also shared a ton of thanksgiving leftover recipes and my holiday baking list! And my November favorites too.

Gift guides on the blog are live! So far, we have:

Parents Gift Guide

Kids Gift Guide

Women’s Gift Guide

Men’s Gift Guide

Hostess Gift Guide

Kitchen Gift Guide

Under $25 Gift Guide

Beauty Gift Guide

You can find all my favorites in my amazon store front and LTK shop! I have gift guides here and some more here too!

There’s a new menu for the week and a new peek inside our everyday life.

You can join The Everyday Dinners cookbook club right here! If you have a copy of the book, request to join the group. If not, get one here!  Ready to start on fall! It is such a wonderful community and an amazing place for recipe ideas.

xoxoxox

WHAT I’M LOVING THIS WEEK

Craving this pozole verde.

Steakhouse creamed spinach. Holy cow.

Easy christmas punch! Love it.

Peppermint moscow mule… oh yum.

This pumpkin pasta dinner sounds amazing.

Christmas sprinkle cookie cups. How cute!

Love these frosted gingerbread bars.

Leftover turkey dinner melts. YES.

Making the best lemon pie for sure.

No knead pumpkin bread. Incredible.

I need this red curry coconut soup.

Creamy squash tortellini. Love.

Love all these chicken marinades.

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November Favorites.

A peek at everything I loved in November 2024!

FOOD

David’s Tea holiday tea sampler. I am so into tea right now. The holiday sampler is SO good. I love every flavor.

Cherry Republic cherry vanilla coffee. I bought this in august and have enjoyed it so so much. The flavor is phenomenal. I used it in my breville and make lattes.

American Spoon hot cocoa mix. Another huge win. The kids love hot chocolate, I love it once every month or so. This one is excellent.

HOME

Cedar garland. I got this garland for our mantel and staircase this year. It’s awesome. It looks very natural and real. It also feels super cool and is easy to hang.

Tineco Vacuum Mop. Another repeat. I’ve mentioned this so much but it saves my life daily! Now that we’re in party mode here (the kids’ bdays + holidays), using this after gatherings is so satisfying. Also gross. But super satisfying!

Hotel Lobby Lodge candle. This was my favorite candle last year. It’s warm but smoky but fresh. It smells delicious and is the perfect scent for winter.

BEAUTY

Elemis Cleansing Oil. I’ve searched far and wide for a cleansing oil I loved as much as the MAC one before they changed it. I’ve tried so many. Just recently got this one and it’s the winner. I wish is wasn’t so expensive, but it’s worth it. Def my fave one.

MAC pink peppermint lipstick. I’m pretty sure this is a new shade from MAC and I love it. It’s the perfect lavender/cool toned pink/almost nude. I am in love! I bought two just in case it gets discontinued.

Lawless lip balm in sweetie. This color is another one I am loving. Again, it’s a nude shade with lots of sparkle that is perfect when you do a smoky eye. And these balms are great. I have them in many other colors too.

Fenty toasted marshmallow body cream. Best scent ever. I like even more than the cinnamon one from last year. It is shimmery, so that can be annoying depending on what you wear. But it smells so good.

Laneige eggnog latte lip mask. I thought this would smell gross but it smells incredible! Like warm vanilla cappuccino. Adore it.

FASHION

Varley coffee bean sweatshirt. I’m living for this shade of brown this year. And the varley fabric just can’t be beat. It’s such high quality. I’ve worn this nonstop.

Leopard faux fur peacoat. Favorite find of the fall. Leopard has always been my favorite neutral so I’m going crazy over it this year. Got this coat and adore it.

Lululemon sherpa restfeel slides. These are SO comfortable. I want every color. Got the black, but want the others!

Cushionaire cozy mule. This ugg knock off is one I got last year and it’s great. Sure, it’s ugly, but it’s super comfortable. It can be a slipper but I also wear it on the school runs!

MEDIA

Life on Svalbard. I have been waiting for this and we are SO excited over it. Max, Emilia and I have watched Cecilia on youtube for years. Seeing it come to life in her book is incredible.

Variation. This was my fave read of the month! I love Rebecca Yarros stand alone novels and this one did not disappoint.

The Wicked Sountrack. We can’t stop listening. The end.

KIDS

Kids’ smart watch. Emilia got this for her birthday and she loves it. It’s so cheap and dinky but it’s her favorite thing ever. Now all my kids want one. It has games too.

Fisher Price Wicked Little People. I’ve bought four of these for gifts so far and Jordan has them too. We love little people!! So cute. All the kids are enjoying them.

Perfect Practice putting mat. My kids are OBSESSED with this. We’ve had it for a few years and they still use it almost daily. It’s great for a basement or even can go outside in warm weather. We love it.

[none of this is sponsored, i just love to tell you what i love every month! there are a few general affiliate links above! xo]

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My 2024 Holiday Baking List!

This is my favorite christmas baking list list! Here is everything I’m baking in 2024. These christmas cookie recipes are the ones that are tried and true! Lots of old favorites with a few new cookies sprinkled in, along with a few other holiday snacks.

It’s the best time of year! My holiday baking list is here!

This is such a huge tradition for me that started with my grandma. I can’t wait to hear what you’re baking this holiday season. It’s the only time I actually enjoy baking!

For years, Lacy and I would make some things together. Every year, we’d make a buche de noel together. We usually do this at like 11 at night and it takes us way longer than we expect, haha. This bon appetit one is the best. We also ALWAYS make Tracy’s citrus peels and amaretto – I can’t pass those up. If I do the amaretto on my own, I will gift most of it to friends! Seriously we have made these things since the year Tracy posted them, so… a really long time. It’s so fun.

Finally, we also make my version of whiskey pretzels! Everyone really loves these too. They are a fun snack to gift people. I also like to make a batch of my caramel chipotle chex mix and gift that too.

This year, I also partnered with smiley cookie over on instagram – these were my FAVORITE local cookies growing up and my kids are obsessed with them today. I love that you can send these as gifts and thought they were the cutest way to add some flair and fun to a holiday cookie patter. I wanted to include it here too in case you needed a fun idea for a gift or extra cookies for your plate. You can also get 10% off with the code HOWSWEET at smileycookie.com!

Finally, here is my favorite holiday baking playlist! If you follow me on spotify (at howsweeteats), you can see all of my other holiday playlists too.



MY 2024 HOLIDAY BAKING LIST

Below is my ideal list of what I’d love to make!

These chewy sprinkle cookies from last year. LOVE them.

Always: the chocolate crinkle sprinkle cookies in The Pretty Dish. They are unbeatable!

Royal cookies. A newish one from three years ago – we adore these.

These frosted cranberry drop cookies were a hit last year.

Also, my cashew butter buckeyes! and maybe regular buckeyes? Sometimes I love them, sometimes I’m over them.

My peanut butter blossoms for sure. Definitely my all time favorite and a cookie I just can’t get enough of. The kids’ fave too.

And these lemon crinkle cookies, Everyone freaks over them.

My soft snickerdoodles and these chewy chai snickerdoodles. I can’t ever choose between them!

These soft gingersnaps. Sometimes I make this recipe times four. We LOVE them. And I’m not a gingersnap person!

Of course these definitely these old school oreo balls .

I’m really feeling these bourbon cherry soaked oatmeal cookies this year. Love them.

And mother lovett’s pink and green thumbprints. because can’t have christmas without them – my mom and aunt’s faves.

Also –  mother lovett’s orange cookies. huge hit all the time.

These peanut butter m&m cookie bars – made with red and green m&ms.

Peanut butter fudge. I google a recipe and use a different one every year, even though Mother Lovett had one.

And some peanut butter stuffed chocolate pretzel bark!

Finally, these perfect cut out sugar cookies. these are the BEST foolproof, simple sugar cookies. I use either cream cheese frosting or this dip icing technique (marbled or not!). For the ones above in the photos, I actually sprayed them with edible glitter.

I will probably also make some peppermint bark. And I love to do chocolate covered oreos! They are so easy. I also buy the white fudge covered oreos as a hack and drizzle them with dark chocolate and sprinkles!

HOW I MAKE MY COOKIE BOX

Every year I make similar boxes. Mother Lovett did this for as long as I could remember. Her cookie tins and boxes were her hostess gifts – and they were also what she would give to certain friends and family at the holidays. EVERYONE looked forward to them!

I’ve loved keeping this tradition alive. She used cookie tins – I have found some successfully at places like Target, The Container Store and the Dollar Store. My personal favorite way to give a BIG box is to use these sugar paper gift boxes that I find at Target. They have both rectangle and round boxes. I’ve used these for the last six years and I make my own box. I usually cut up some pieces of another box to make the spaces for the cookies. This is what I did above!

I have to note that I do NOT mail these, so unfortunately I don’t have a ton of tips there! I only deliver these to friends and family who live within driving distance. If I were to mail them, I think it would include a lot of bubble wrap. However, most personal homemade cookie boxes I’ve been mailed in the past? The cookies have always been broken.

So tell me! What are you baking this season?!

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I’m So Thankful For You!

I can’t even express how much it means to me that you spend a few minutes of your day here. THANK YOU! I am so grateful for you. Thank you for being such a wonderful community and supporting this adventure. I love you to pieces!

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20 Recipes To Make With Your Thanksgiving Leftovers!

My favorite recipes for thanksgiving leftovers, including soups and salads, but also mashed potato waffles, breakfast hash and coffee cake. Use up all those delish thanksgiving leftovers!

I love the Thanksgiving meal but I get just as excited leftovers!

My family enjoys that traditional Thanksgiving leftovers the day after the big meal. It’s actually one of my favorite traditions of the weekend because it’s super laid back and casual. At some point on Friday, whether it’s lunch or dinner, everyone will reconvene and enjoy some form of heated up leftovers. But it’s only for that day.

Because while we absolutely LOVE leftovers, we only really love them for a day or two. We tend to have enough to make super delicious meals for the rest of the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I’m sharing some of my favorites below! We have breakfasts, brunch, lunches, dinner and even dessert. Think coffee cake! Mashed potato waffles. Soups, salads and sandwiches.

Of course, anything that is traditional made with shredded chicken can be made with turkey! Easy as that.

20 Thanksgiving Leftovers Recipes

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