Protein Packed Pasta Salad is a great high protein food, delicious and good for you.
It is so cold and snowy here in WV that I could eat a warm bowl of homemade soup every day. For the past 2 weeks my husband has been asking me to make a pasta salad. I usually fixed this in the summer or when I need to take something to a covered dish event to feed a large crowd. My original recipe serves about 10 people.
To please my husband, I made this for my downsized recipe this week.
I was recently introduced to the Jack and Annie books through my 6 year old grandson. He started kindergarten this year and his teacher reads these books to the class. He always talks about the books, so I added them to his Christmas list.
It seems like a year goes by so fast. I cannot believe we are going into 2016 already. Where did 2015 go? I wanted to reflect through the memories of 2015 before I give in and move on.
The memories I have from 2015 are a mixture of ones that involve my career, my family and friends.
Each year, for the past 29 years that we have been married, my husband takes up residency in his hunting cabin about 45 minutes away. He use to stay for 6 weeks but now it is only a total of 4 weeks. This escape from civilization begins the week prior to buck gun season. He is a dedicated hunter. He does come home for Thanksgiving dinner and then once a week to re-stock on food and wash his clothes.
The hunting season becomes my time to create the holiday home for our family. I make lots and lots of lists to begin with. I am a micro manager of myself with lists.
I decorate the house, upstairs and down, as well as outside. This year I had some assistance from 2 grandsons with stringing lights in the bushes and creating their North Pole in the woods.
The Festival of Trees is an event held in our town to celebrate the Christmas season. The trees and wreaths are decorated by people in the community and sponsored by different agencies. They are not only beautiful, but for a good cause. They are on display for a few weeks and then there is an auction. The proceeds go to the Easter Seals of West Virginia.
A friend and I went to see the festival of trees and then went out to lunch last week. We are now planning on making this an annual get together.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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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I was recently introduced to the Jack and Annie books through my 6 year old grandson. He started kindergarten this year and his teacher reads these books to the class. He always talks about the books, so I added them to his Christmas list. 
