All posts by pamelashank2015
CHRISTMAS SHOPPING IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS
I always enjoy being a part of the Christmas shopping hustle and bustle but things seemed to have changed over the years.
I can remember going Christmas shopping with my mother and grandmother from the time I was a small girl. We always shopped in our downtown. There seemed to be so many stores to me. I can still feel the chill of the cold air as we darted in and out of each store. The snow was blowing in our face, Christmas music was playing over loud speakers on the street corners, and there were happy people every place.
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MASCARPONE FILLED BREAKFAST ROLLS FOR 2
Mascarpone Filled Cranberry Walnut Rolls for 2..a delicious, easy brunch recipe. Refrigerated biscuits stuffed with mascarpone cheese, rolled in butter-cinnamon-sugar. Sprinkled with cranberries and nuts. Drizzled with a rich icing.
In 2008 I was chosen as a finalist for the 43rd Pillsbury Bake-off Contest. I cannot even express how exciting this was and what an unforgettable experience. My recipe was Mascarpone-Filled Cranberry Walnut Rolls.
THANKSGIVING FUN WITH THE FAMILY 2015
This year my North Carolina family was able to come to our house for a few days over Thanksgiving. My husband came home from his deer camp for the day. We had the traditional Thanksgiving dinner followed by a lot of activities.
The weather was very nice so I took the opportunity to do some outside Christmas decorating on the Friday after Thanksgiving. The boys (age 3 and 6) wanted to help me. We needed to take down the fall decorations first so that kept them busy for a while. The 3 year old wanted to get it done quickly, so he decided that he could do it by himself.
Whoops!!! They were a little heavy.
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GRANDPARENTS SHARE THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS
Thanksgiving traditions are created from memories.
Traditions are defined as the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation. I was thinking of my Thanksgiving traditions and asked a few of my friends to tell me about theirs.
When I was growing up I remember that my mother cooked and baked for days preparing foods for Thanksgiving. I believe that I can still feel the warmth in our home and experience the wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. Everyone came to our house to eat including grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. My father and the men in our family always liked to deer hunt so they were out in the morning doing that. After dinner we drew names for our Christmas gift exchange.
When I was in high school we moved to the country and for several years the same tradition continued. My mother decided to try hunting and enjoyed it so she started going out herself. Over the years as my brother, sister and I grew up and had our own families we were not always able to be together.
MEMORIES OF THE PILLSBURY BAKE-OFF CONTEST 2014
Sharing memories of the Pillsbury Bake-off Contest 2014
This time last year, my husband and I were in Nashville Tn for the 47th Pillsbury Bake-off Contest. I had been chosen as a finalist with my entry: Strawberry-Mascarpone-Hazelnut-Choc. -Tart. So many wonderful memories. I am so honored to have been chosen. To see my blog post on this trip, see HERE.
My 11 year old granddaughter called me one day and said that she was required to do a “How To” demonstration speech in one of her classes. She asked to do my Pillsbury entry! She came to my house one evening and made the tart and I took pictures. This was an easy recipe to do and I am so proud of the great job she did.
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EARLY HALLOWEEN FUN WITH THE GRANDKIDS
There was a lot of fun and activities at our house last week. My 3 year old grand-daughter got to spend the day with me on Friday. I had baked some Halloween cookies, so she helped me make cookie trays and candy bags to give to people.
She carefully arranged them and re-arranged them many times. She also named each person that was suppose to eat that particular cookie. It seemed that her personal cookie tray was getting larger than the others, so I moved some cookies around when she was not watching.
COOKIE BAKING ORGANIZATION IDEAS
Sharing some Cookie Baking Organization Ideas to get your pantry organized and your ovens going.
Happy National Homemade Cookie Day. I have been busy baking a variety of cookies for the past 2 days. I have also baked 16 dozen of cut-out sugar cookies for Halloween but they are not decorated yet. My grandchildren love when I bake them cookies.
MY COOKIE RECIPES IN TASTE OF HOME MAGAZINE
I am always so excited and feel so honored when one of my recipes is published in a magazine. This week I received 2 magazines from Taste of Home with one of my cookie recipes in each.
This is my recipe for Halloween Party Cutout Cookies. It is in the Taste of Home magazine posted above. I have not made my cookies yet for this year but here are a few from last year.
I use my recipe for decorated sugar cookies, and decorated these very simple. Some of the grandchildren helped with these.
The second magazine is a cookie swap edition and is full of great looking recipes. I will be trying several of them out this year. The cookie recipe of mine they published was actually one I created a few years ago as an after school snack for some of my grandchildren. 
This recipe only has 4 ingredients. If you like chocolate and peanut butter together, this will hit the spot.
[yumprint-recipe id=’25’]
SWEET 16 PARTY AND DECORATED SUGAR COOKIES
A few weeks ago one of my friends asked me to do some cookies for her daughter’s “Sweet 16” Birthday Party. The theme was a Victoria Secret Theme.
They turned out cute, co-ordinated with her other sweet 16 decorations and cake, and the guests really liked them.
Another grand-daughter was having a “Spa” themed birthday party the following week and wanted some of the cookies too. She turned “12” so I made these. 
I bought the dog cookie cutter at a kitchen store in our mall and for the other cookies I just used heart shaped and a round cookie cutter. I did not take great pictures as I did not really plan to post them but they are a cute idea so I wanted to share them.
I used my recipe for decorated sugar cookies.