New Years Resolutions: Send a Card Because Sometimes Texts or Social Media Is Not Enough #newyearsresolution

~Post by Patricia~

One of my favorite things to do is to send and receive cards from family and friends.

I love looking back through old cards that I have received and reading sweet birthday messages, or loving words from my kids on Mother's Day cards.

Do people still send cards like they did back before Texting, Instagram or Facebook let you wish someone a happy birthday? I really think that a happy birthday wish on Social Media lets people think they have met their obligation, and they needn't do anything else, not even a phone call, and especially not bothering to sending a card.

But sending or receiving a card lets you hold physical evidence of those loving thoughts or words that can become even more precious as time goes by.

By the time I was born, my parents had been married a long time, had a lot of struggles, three other kids, and not a whole lot of love existed between them, or so I thought.

But when I was about ten, I discovered a scrap book they had kept of cards they had sent each other during the first years of their marriage. There were birthday cards, anniversary cards, and just cards that expressed how much they loved each other.

The declarations of love, the sweet words written, especially by my father, helped me to change my view of their marriage. Their marriage was far from perfect, but now I saw there was a real love that still existed between them, and it would last for many decades, and until my father died.

So I will continue to send cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards, thank you cards, and more. I encourage my adult children to give cards, and they are pretty good about it.

How about you?
Do you send cards, do you love receiving them?

I would love to know!!

#Repost #ThrowbackThursday Holiday Cornish Game Hens and Cranberry Apple Stuffing #Ad

**This is a #Repost of a recipe from 2015** #ThrowbackThursday

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CornishHenHolidays #CollectiveBias





The holidays really are my favorite time of the year to be in the kitchen, and I love cooking for family and friends. It makes me so happy to bring everyone around the table for a delicious meal, and I like trying new recipes.

This year I bought Tyson® Cornish Hens to make, and they are honestly so simple to cook. And it's nice to change up the holiday menu, and serve the hens instead of the usual ham or turkey.

Not only are these hens fabulously simple to make, they are 100% All Natural with no added hormones or steroids. They are also yummy, comfort food, just like Mom used to make.

I paired them with simple roasted sweet potatoes and a great Cranberry and Apple Stuffing, made with an easy boxed stuffing mix. It might all look like a fancy dinner, but it was super simple!

I'm a big stuffing fan, I could eat any kind and love it, but this stuffing is one of my favorites. It's perfect for the holidays and makes your kitchen smell so, so good.

It goes great with any meat or poultry, and it went particularly well with the hens. I think the tartness of the cranberries and the sweetness of the apples are a great combination.

I bought a few of the the Tyson® All Natural Premium Cornish Hen twin packs. I put some in the freezer so that I can have them on hand for more holiday meals or birthday dinners that are coming up. I know some people are a little intimidated when it comes to cooking these hens, but when you do serve them, you can make even a normal weeknight meal feel special.

Look for Tyson® All Natural Premium Cornish Hens in the meat and poultry department at your local Walmart.

And you can take advantage of a great money saving offer from Ibotta. Ibotta is a mobile rebate app that you can download on your phone or mobile device.

Install the Ibotta app today and get $1.50 cash back when you purchase your Tyson Cornish Hens.

I'd love to share my easy recipe for Holiday Cornish Game Hens and Cranberry Apple Stuffing. Each hen provides a generous helping of meat for each person. Since the hens come frozen, be sure to put them in the refrigerator overnight so that they can defrost. Simply rinse them off and pat them dry with paper towels. I set them in a 9x11 inch baking pan with the sweet potatoes, and they were ready to be brushed with olive oil and seasoning.

I sliced up two medium sweet potatoes and put them around the hens to bake. We've always had sweet potatoes for our holiday meals and it just wouldn't be Christmas without them.

For the Cranberry Apple Stuffing, I sautéed 2 peeled and diced apples, along with 1 cup of fresh cranberries. I added this to a boxed stuffing recipe mix and popped it in the oven for 30 minutes. It's super festive without a lot of work.

Recipe for Holiday Cornish Game Hens and Cranberry Apple Stuffing

Ingredients:

1 Tyson® All Natural Premium Cornish Hens twin pack
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
1 tablespoon seasoning salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

For Stuffing:

2 tablespoons butter (for sautéing cranberries and apples)
2 apples, peeled, and chopped
1 cup fresh cranberries
1 box prepared stuffing mix
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add yams to 9x11-inch baking pan. Remove thawed hens from wrappers, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Place hens in baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix together dried onion flakes, seasoning salt, and black pepper. Thoroughly brush hens with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning mixture. Bake in the oven for 60 minutes.

To make the stuffing, heat 2 tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, sauté apples until softened. Add cranberries and cook 5 minutes longer. In a medium bowl, add stuffing mix, water, melted butter, apples and cranberries. Lightly mix together. Place mixture in a medium baking dish and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

Be sure to check out more great recipes from Tyson. Do you have a special holiday recipe that you love making? Leave me a comment and let me know what it is!

German Apple Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting #Recipe #ThrowbackThursday

#Repost of a recipe from 2016 of one of our favorite #cake recipes #ThrowbackThursday

I don't know about you, but Halloween sort of exhausted me this year. Between cooking and baking, and parties and trick-or-treating, I needed a rest. Of course, these are all things I love doing and love spending time with my family, but it's a nice lull right now before the Thanksgiving madness starts.

I've been wanting to make this German Apple Cake for awhile now, ever since I saw the recipe in one of my Taste Of Home magazines. The combination of apples and walnuts are one of my favorites, especially during this time of year. The recipe actually calls for pecans, but since I had just bought a giant 5 pound bag of shelled walnuts, I used them instead and it worked out great.

I like this cake as one you can take on a fall picnic, or tailgating at the game, or to someone's house. It's sturdy and smells and tastes just like fall. The cream cheese frosting is one of my favorites, and absolutely worth the effort to make it. I really don't like the taste of already-made frosting anymore even though it's convenient in a pinch. But honestly, there's nothing like homemade.

Recipe for German Apple Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

3 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups chopped and peeled apples

3/4 cup pecans (or walnuts)

For frosting:

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons butter, softened

2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; add to egg mixture and mix well. Fold in apples and nuts.

Pour into a greased 13x9-inch baking dish. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter. Add confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth. Spread on cooled cake.

Makes 12 servings.



Hatfield Ham for the Holidays #HolidaysWithHatfield #simplyHatfield #ad

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HolidaysWithHatfield #simplyHatfield  #CollectiveBias #ad

When you think Holiday, think Hatfield®! Hatfield® Ham has been an essential part in gathering families around the Holiday dinner table for generations, and Hatfield® Ham continues to deliver quality and convenience in offering various ham options & sizes. For a limited time only, receive a $2 Rebate with purchase of any Hatfield® Uncured Ham.

Be sure to also check out Hatfield’s NEW ¼ pre-sliced and ½ PIT Ham options to better serve your family, big or small.

Holiday Favorite Recipes: M&M's® Hot Chocolate Christmas Cake Recipe #repost #throwback #recipe

***This is a REPOST from November 2015 #throwback 
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BakeInTheFun #CollectiveBias

The holiday season is here and I'm very excited that I've already started my holiday baking. It's my favorite time of the year to share desserts and treats with family and friends. I have the most wonderful memories of my mother being busy in the kitchen, baking delicious pies, cakes, and cookies.

My mom would save her change in a jar all year round so that she would be sure to have enough money when Christmas came so that she could buy the ingredients she needed for her baking and candy making.

I like to think about her when I'm baking for my children and grandchildren, and they seem to love my baking, just like I loved hers.

I've mentioned before how much I enjoy the seasonal M&M's® I always find at Walmart, and sure enough, the other day I found M&M's® Hot Chocolate flavor. So, so good!! And I also bought the Pillsbury™ Funfetti® Holiday Cake Mix and Pillsbury™ Funfetti® Holiday Vanilla Flavored Frosting to make a yummy cake for my family.

It's so easy to whip up a cake with this cake mix and frosting, and I simply added hot chocolate mix and chopped M&M's® Hot Chocolate candies to the cake batter for a great hot chocolate flavor.

I also bought some M&M's® Holiday Peanut because peanut is my absolute favorite kind of M&M's®, though I have to say that all the other flavors are a close second.

When my four year old granddaughter saw this cake she said it was beautiful, and that is one of the reasons I bake, for love, for family.

I want her to remember her and I baking together, which we frequently do, and remember how much fun we had in the kitchen.

Simply add chopped candies and hot chocolate mix to the batter to give it that great hot chocolate flavor. I always make sure to use parchment paper and vegetable oil so that my cake doesn't stick to the pan, it works every time.

Put together and frost both layers of the cake, then the real fun begins! Decorate your cake with the sprinkles that come with the Pillsbury™ Funfetti® Holiday Vanilla Flavored Frosting, and the M&M's® Hot Chocolate flavored candies.

This is really such an easy way to make a fun and festive cake that you can enjoy at home, or bring to a holiday gathering.

Recipe For M&M's® Hot Chocolate Christmas Cake

Ingredients:

1 box of Pillsbury™ Funfetti® Holiday Cake Mix
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup hot chocolate powder
3/4 cup M&M's® Hot Chocolate flavored candies, roughly chopped

For frosting cake:

1 container Pillsbury™ Funfetti® Holiday Vanilla Flavored Frosting
additional M&M's®

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil and place parchment papers (if using) into 2 8-inch round cake pans.
Combine cake mix, water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with a hand mixer at medium speed until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add in chopped candies and hot chocolate mix, stirring well.
Divide evenly into the prepared pans. Bake 20-24 minutes until done, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let cool 10 minutes, then remove cakes from pans, put on a wire rack and let cool completely before assembling and frosting.
Decorate with sprinkles and candies.

My family and I drink a lot of milk, we can go through quite a few gallons in a week. I always appreciate the low prices on Great Value Milk at Walmart.

Having a glass of milk with dinner and dessert is something that many people take for granted. But many families with children aren't that lucky, and go without milk and it's essential nutrients because it's not typically donated to food banks, even though it is in high demand.

More than 46.5 million Americans – including one in every six children – rely on Feeding America food banks each year. And one of the most requested food items is milk. But sadly, food banks are only able to provide the equivalent of less than one gallon of milk per person per year.

But we can help out by making a small donation at pourmilklove.com. The Great American Milk Drive will deliver a gallon of milk – and all of the essential nutrients, including protein, that it provides – to a family in need in YOUR local community.

When you purchase two bags of M&M's® at Walmart ( 9.4 oz. bags or larger) up to a gallon of milk will be donated to the drive. What a great way to help get milk to children who need it. And you can also make a donation to the Great American Milk Drive here.

You can find all these products, and additional flavors of M&M's®, at your local Walmart. Check out the baking aisle for all kinds of great dessert and baking ideas.

Use this coupon to save $1.00 on any two (2) bags of M&M's® Chocolate Candies 8 oz. or larger.

Be sure to check out more delicious holiday baking recipes here. And tell me what your favorite holiday recipe, I'd really love to know.