My new favorite snack: Japanese peanuts!  Have you tried these before?  My mentor, Shelly, introduced them to me, and I love them.

We recently made one of James’s favorite salads – Pistachio salad!  Actually, it’s not a salad at all – at least not a healthy salad.  It’s a dessert salad and we love it.  Both of my grandmothers made it years ago, my mom makes it, and now we’re making it.  Definitely a special treat.

Pistachio Salad:
1 lg. pkg. (3/4 oz.) Jello Pistachio instant pudding
1 (20 oz.) crushed pineapple with juice
1 – 1 1/2 c. mini-marshmallows
1 1/2 – 2 c. thawed Cool Whip
Mix dry pudding mix with pineapple & juice.  Stir in marshmallows.  Fold in cool whip and refrigerate overnight or at least 1 hour.

And, a few months ago the kids helped me make a fruit pizza for book club.  It had been years since I’d made one.  Kind of a time consuming dessert, but in the end it looked pretty and tasted great.