This is a version of a pasta salad I saw a couple of weeks ago on FB! Today is a dreary rainy day so we needed something that would add a little sunshine! Both Randy and I loved it! The only thing missing was some Italian garlic toasties that we love from Market Street or Eatzis. So we settled for just plain Saltines today! But this pasta salad will be on our lunch tables now quite often. Or the dinner table should we have a heavy lunch when eating out! Used the corkscrew triple colored pasta this time. Loved it!!!

Pasta shape or your choice. Cook until desired doneness!

Drain and rinse. Add a Tablespoon of olive oil and Italian seasoning while pasta is still warm. About 15-30 min before serving add chopped ripe avocado, cherry tomatoes, chopped fresh baby spinach, shredded Parmesan cheese and diced dry Italian salami. Add salt, pepper, Trader Joe’s Aglio olio seasoning to taste, olive oil and because I had the Rosa’s seasoning we bought at Elliotts Hardware. Was shocked at how much food seasoning/barbecue seasoning they sell!! Back to the pasta salad….

Add the above items to the pasta and chill in fridge for 15-30 min before seasoning!

Did not give amounts as the additions need to be according to the amount of pasta you use! But add the items according to the ratio of them to the pasta that you like!

Last week I read about this dip (in Southern Living) that was popular with people who made it when going out in their boats and would just stick it in a container in the ice chest to enjoy while out on the water! Well, I don’t have a boat, but I have lots of containers, so I decided to make it and take it to a New Years game day at a friends house!

All I can say is “wow”. It is absolutely delicious and we almost ate the whole bowl! In fact, I thought I’d just take a bite when I opened it and then quickly got addicted to it, so every time someone walked in the kitchen, we all started to munch away with a chip or carrot stick and boat dip! It was half gone before I yelled “STOP,” I forgot to take a picture of it! So the picture you see is only half of the recipe! AND pretty green onion tops aren’t on it as I forgot to buy them. Thank you Southern Living for sharing this. It will now be on my list of very necessary appetizers or even just a dip to snack on with cut up veggies when we aren’t hungry enough to cook a full dinner!

• 1 (16-oz.) container sour cream (about 2 cups)
• 1 (10-oz.) can fire-roasted diced tomatoes and green chiles (such as Rotel), drained
• 1 (1-oz.) envelope ranch dressing mix
• 1 (1-oz.) envelope 25%-less-sodium taco seasoning mix (such as Old El Paso)
• 1 (8-oz.) pkg. shredded Cheddar-Jack or mild Cheddar cheese (about 2 cups)
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallions (about 2 medium) (optional)
• Tortilla chips or potato chips, for servin

And if I ever get a boat, the dip will be the first thing that is carried aboard. Even before a life preserver! Because people started eating it before it was plated pretty with hips around it, the picture won’t win any awards, but the dip will!!!

Many years ago Randy and I decided to find a way to further embarrass our kids and came up with a phone recording (back in the day when we had phone recorders) that went something like this: “Hi you’ve reached Frosty and Noel. We aren’t home right now. Frosty’s at the mall and I’m baking cookies, when he gets home we’ll give you a call.” the kids use to call our house and tell us not to answer the phone so they could show their friends how weird we were! So we have been Frosty and Noel for probably 25 plus years to friends and family. Our Christmas cards were even Signed like that and most of the cards we received were addressed to Frosty & Noel. We have carried a sign from house to house that we had made.

Forward to today and David Jeremiah has been writing devotions for the December weekends that centers on the word NOEL.

His first Dec weekend stated that the N should stand for “giving to the needy” The O stood for opening up your home to others. Todays was the E which stood for evangelize, and that we should take every possible opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus Christ birth and what it meant for us! Can’t wait to read what the L will stand for. It was just this morning that it downed on me that because the Word was such a special word to me that it will be an easy way to remember all year through what I should be doing. Admitting that the N and the O come easy to me (giving and opening my home ) but not so much the E…..why is it that something that means so much to us as Christians; the gift of Jesus and that He has forgiven all our sins when we trust in Him and promised us eternal life, why do we not get excited and burdened to share with others that great gift more than we do? I don’t have a good answer other than maybe we don’t want to make others feel awkward or maybe we feel “oh they won’t listen to what I want to tell them” or maybe we feel inadequate knowing that they might have know us before we accepted Christ and we are afraid they will think “oh I knew them when”! Whatever the reason, may 2025 be the year we quit being afraid to share The Gospel and allow God to use us for the reason he leaves us here! Maybe this year NOEL (Trudy) will remember, not just in December, what her name means, but to use it to share what Christ has done for me and…

Romans 1:15-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

December 1st and “the most wonderful time of the year” is here once again! December came so quickly as it does every year! As we sit at our table every morning looking back and forth between seeing the beautiful blue skies, so many trees that line the street below us and the many Christmas themed decorations that we carry from house to house through the years, we want to hold on to the memories of some of the special pieces that adorn our new place that we so appreciate the Lord giving to us. Some of the pillows that lean on the couch were made by my mom! Some of the Santa’s were special to my dad and for that reason they are now special to me. One of my favorite things is a manger Randys mom passed on to us! It was Randys when he was a young boy and every year when I unwrap the small pieces that are a part of the manger, I can’t help but wonder what Randy was like as a little boy and did he have that mischievous streak then that he has even to this day! If you have read any of the blog stories in Chocolatecastles.com, you know what I’m talking about.

As I have walked past several pieces given to us from dear friends, it is so great to just think of each and the year that we received the gift. So many precious friends who have been so special to both Randy and I. Yes, we have moved A LOT and have had many different houses in many different parts of Dallas, CA and AZ! But the memories and special items we always carry with us has helped us feel at home quickly no matter where we lived. Just like certain taste make us remember certain special events or people, special items can also contribute to times we want to always remember! When I was a young mom and wife, I remember thinking that it would be so great to have money to just go out and buy beautiful Christmas decorations instead of having to use the “old stuff” my mom had passed on to me. Now, I’d give anything to have some of that “old stuff” that was given away to make room for new decorations! Why does it take most of us (I hope I’m not the only one who it took years to appreciate family pieces more than just more Hobby Lobby items added to the collection). Don’t get me wrong. I love HL but I love the old pieces more, the older I get!

Maybe this year as we walk past pieces that may not look like they fit in with the latest trend of decorations, think of the giver when you hold or look at a certain piece! If the giver is still living, offer a prayer for them and ask the Lord to bless them this Christmas season! Drop them a note to express how much they mean to you! Gifts of love and thankfulness to others should be at the top of our Gift giving list! Not only to others but to the Greatest gift giver ever…The Lord God who gave His son for us that we might allow Him to become our Savior.

Not only at Christmas, but all through the year….give thanks with a grateful heart!

They are a prized possession I have so enjoyed every year since then.

It has been such fun to bake some cakes for friends who ordered either a chocolate or pumpkin Bundt cake these last two weeks. Not only has it given me the fun of baking for others but it has also been such a blessing to see some friends I had not seen in quite a while when they came to pick the cake up!

The holidays can get so hectic and in the process of doing all the things on our “to do” list, we sometimes miss out on what truly gives us pleasure. Of course that is different for everyone! But one of my greatest joys is baking for people and visiting with others. I can’t wait to get to Heaven and have millions of folks from every background and language to get to know and talk to! Can’t you just imagine walking down the streets of gold and meet someone who you might not know but as soon as you make eye contact you begin to visit and you possibly hear their story of how they came to Jesus, or how they might have been praying for me or you or a relative for years! Every story will be fascinating! We might be gathered around a table listening and sharing our stories while eating a chocolate cake! Of course Heaven will have chocolate cake or it wouldn’t be Heaven!! But until that day I pray I will have the strength and ability to bake for others. It just adds to the blessing of the greatest reason to celebrate Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years….Jesus Christ! After all, that is what our lives, as Christian’s should be about! No matter the holiday, no matter the day! To glorify His Name!

Both recipes for the cakes will be on Chocolatecastles.com today. (After I get thru baking I’ll post them)

John 10:10b

“I came that they may have life; and may have it abundantly”

Last Thursday we ventured into Trader Joe’s to see if their wonderful cranberry sauce was in stock! On the way to the back of the store (which I never saw the chilled cranberry sauce) I passed a bag of fresh cranberries and grabbed a bag! Immediately thought of this cake that we now make every year quite often. It is one of those recipes that seems to appeal to everyone and always turns out beautifully. Tonight is the first cranberry cake of the season and I can’t wait for it to cool down a little so we can have a piece (or 2) with a little whipped cream.

Next trip to the store, grab a bag of cranberries and begin a new tradition of making this every Fall and Winter!

If you have Tis So Sweet cookbook it is on page 229. If not, it is still available on Amazon or you can simply use the recipe below! If you have not voted….please go vote! We are a blessed country to have the privilege of doing so!

This past week we had two celebration of Life’s for some very special people from our class at church. One service was Wednesday for our most loved teacher, Charles Hebert! What a special person he was! After the second service on Friday, for a dear lady in our class, we sat and talked about what a shame it is that we always seem to find out so many things about people at their funeral services. It made us stop and think about all the things we didn’t know about them and why does that happen? Are we just so caught up in our own lives that we don’t notice others like we should? It made me think about that driving home and I want to try harder to be more invested in others. To truly stop and share more of my self and also ask questions to the people who might just need a listening ear or need to know someone is interested in them!

May that be one of my new years goals; to be a better friend! And speaking of friends, there is a lady who I have known since 2006 who used to live down the street from us. We are in the same class at church and she and I have a Love/hate relationship! We kid each other like we don’t even like each other but in reality, I love her like a sister! She is fun to kid and gives it right back to me! Jerry is a lady with a servants heart. She serves sometimes from the background and is not interested in being recognized. We have a team of ladies who serve the families who are gathered to mourn the passing of a family member! Jerry has offered to help us, so this week she had the opportunity to do so. She brought this amazing pecan cake to serve to the family on Wednesday! It was so good, we all ask her for the recipe! she was very gracious to share it. I made it Friday night and everyone I shared it with, loved it!!! So here is the recipe and I know I’ll be making many more of these. Thank you Jerry McGraw!!! It is a winner!

Also I substituted the chopped pecans for the Praline pecans from Costco . Loved the flavor!

She taught me to put God first in my life! To allow Him to guide me and to live to reflect Him with my life! Did I always do that? Absolutely not! Did I try to make excuses to get out of going to church every time the doors were open? You bet!

Growing up it was always very apparent that my mom had anger issues and discontent with her marriage and her situation! But in so doing she used her time to give of herself to so many others. We always had someone living with us, whether it was a relative or just someone who needed a place to live! She went on mission trips! She cooked at church on Wednesday nights, she and my dad worked with the youth and had many many fellowships in our home! She sang in the choir, made all my clothes until Highschool, constantly took dinners to people who were sick and served at funerals for friends! Maybe she did all these things to not have to think about or deal with her situation, but she loved doing for others! No matter the reason.

As I think back about all of this, it has taught something else about the Lord. He doesn’t use us because we are perfect! None of us are! But He uses us in spite of our weaknesses and flaws! He just wants our hearts and our willingness to be used!

Having spent many years focusing on her faults, I realized a few years ago, that it was time to let all the disappointments I had of her and instead, remember that I am who I am today largely due to her goal of teaching her only child to love God and live a life that shows that! It is taking me a long time to realize that in spite of my flaws and weaknesses, I, like her, can be used by God! I never doubted that my mom loved me Even though some days she should have given up on me! But in her 93 years of life, even through her dementia took away many of her memories, and magnified the anger that she had had, she loved God and shared that Truth with so many others! Including me!

Life’s perspectives constantly change as we live and go through different circumstances and seasons. But I pray that each perspective and each circumstance will grow me closer to live to become more like my Savior!

Happy Birthday Mother! Thank you for your love, support and sacrifices you made to give me life!

This is a casserole we use to serve at the Ministers Wives Luncheons and it always went over so well with Sister Schubert Rolls and a Spinach Salad! Made it tonight for the first time in a while! Was as good as i remembered! Halved the recipe for just us and still had enough to freeze for another meal…and we still have enough to have for lunch tomorrow! It was printed in Princess On The Porch if you still have your

copy of it!