Gilcrease Bow Tie Pasta Salad

If you know me, you know I am not a cook. I cook because I need to feed my family. Other than that, I get very little enjoyment out of it. Due to my lack of enthusiasm, my end product is usually lacking. My most awesomest hubby is a fantastic cook and loves to cook. So, we make a great pair.

There is one thing that I can cook well. I guess it involves more cutting and mixing than cooking but I think it will fall into the category of cooking. I decided to add this recipe to my blog. My buddy, Crumbs in my butter, adds recipes and they are always yummy.

Gilcrease Bow Tie Pasta Salad

Salad:
8 ounce Bow Tie Pasta, cooked
½ green bell pepper, diced
½ red bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese (Hint: Use the basil sun dried tomatoes feta cheese)
1 celery rib thinly sliced, optional ( I do not add celery- personal preference)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
Chopped olives, optional ( I do not add Olives- again preference)
¼ cup pasta salad dressing

Dressing:
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¼ cup olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 green onion thinly sliced
1 garlic clove minced
1 tsp lemon juice
½ tsp dried basil
½ tsp dried tarragon
¼ tsp salt
Whisk together salad dressing ingredients

Make the night before. Add ½ of the dressing the night before and the remaining amount before serving.

Garnish with Fresh basil and Plum Tomato wedges right before serving.

I usually double the recipe since bow tie pasta comes in 16 ounce boxes at Publix.

Bon Apetite

BUUURRRRRR!

Woah! It is cold here in the deep south. It was 10.9 degrees this AM with a wind chill of less. I am okay with cold weather but this is uncomfortably cold. I am sure Skip enjoyed letting the dog out at 5:00 AM while she ran and played enjoying the outdoors. We lived in New Hampshire for 4 years. Waverly and Kendall were born in New Hampshire. New Hampshire is part of the great white north and has a reputation for some pretty cold winters. But.. something is different there. I don't know if it is because it is less humid or you just get used to it but it doesn't feel as cold as it is now in Georgia. I remember walking the streets of Portland, ME one night window shopping and the temperature was -1 degrees. It wasn't this cold. I remember thinking.. "Boy, I am not cold right now. Odd?"

In the 4 years we lived in NH, we only had to plow our drive way a couple of times. We lived on a beautiful peninsula in a town called Dover, NH. The Great Bay surrounded our peninsula. Since we were close to water, we didn't get as much snowfall as they did inland. We had to cross a large bridge to get to our house. There would be tug boats (the old fashioned red and black ones) pulling large barges up and down the bay. Maine was on the other side of the bay. I can tell you that as beautiful as the view from that bridge was... it was also a terror on snow days. Me.. with my GA plates.. would drive about 5 mph over the bridge. I would be white knuckled on all 10. I am sure I aggravated the stew out of all the Yankees behind me.

So.. here we are in GA. Thankful we will not have to go out today. Sorry our kids had to get on a school bus... Freezing our little tails off... drinking hot coffee... praying for a snow day.. and complaining. But, it gives our Yankee Transplant friends something to talk about. And Yes, we will all buy bread and milk today even though there is no chance of snow. Just in case.. you never know.

Yea Kendall!!! You did it!!!!!!!!

Hip hip hooray... We are jumping up and down in our house today. Kendall and Waverly got their report cards yesterday and both of them got straight A's. Waverly has gotten straight A's her whole life but this was a first for Kendall. We are proud of Waverly's grades but wanted this post to be a celebration for Kendall. Kendall is a very bright young lady with significant dyslexia. We have explained this to her as a gift, it makes her who she is. A lot of folks have contacted me about her dyslexia because they may be experiencing something similar with their child. From everything I have read, dyslexics have a larger right brain than left brain. PHonics and spelling are in the left brain which explains why it is so hard to grasp those skills. People with dyslexia tend to be very creative and think outside the box. The number of people with dyslexia that have changed the world is amazing: Eisenhower, Patton, CHurchhill, Picaso, Mozart, Beethoven, George H Bush, George Washington, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Louis Pasteur, Da Vinci, etc. I could go on and on... God will use Kendall's dyslexia one day.

Here's the story... Kendall had a difficult time learning to spell, read her sight words and other basic skills. She was on grade level so was not tested by the school system. We finally followed our instinct and got testing on our own. The path we took enabled her to get the proper testing and it was covered by health insurance. We explained the scenario to our pediatrician who then referred Kendall to a neurologist. The neurologist did some basic testing and referred Kendall to an educational psychologist. The testing was extensive and took several visits on her part. Skip and I also had an appointment. The teachers had to fill out paperwork. So.. we went in to meet with the psychologist to get the results of the testing.. turns out she is very very bright(gifted) but has a severe LD with spelling and written expression. She was given an IEP at school and put into an inclusion classroom. By the end of 3rd grade, she was miserable. By the time she got home from school, she was over it, done, finished, not going to do another thing. Her grades were suffering too. She came home day and and had left her books at school. She said to me, "I decided I will just take the X tomorrow." At that point, we realized that the environment was not for her. We cut back on whatever we could to finish the year. We did not ask her to take 1 single AR test the whole 9 weeks. Now, I am not against AR but it was another pressure item that was hanging over her head.

By the last week of 3rd grade, Skip and I just knew that something had to change. She is one of the happiest, bubbliest, outgoing kids on the block but all of that was going away. It is not worth it! We contacted Mt. Paran Christian School. Waverly was already at Mt. Paran but we had not enrolled Kendall out of fear that she would not get services she needed. We met with the principal and curriculum administrator (both have a dyslexic child). This was the place for Kendall. We found out that Kendall qualifies for the GA Education Scholarship. Any child with an active IEP that attends public school for 1 year can get a scholarship for private school. This is a huge blessing. If your child has an IEP, check out the GA Department of Education website for scholarship information.

So, Kendall started 4th grade this year at Mt. Paran. Her teacher, Mrs. Gross, goes to our church, West Ridge. I can't exactly describe why this year has made such a difference to Kendall. I don't know if it is the class size, structure, teaching styles, staff, environment. I think the whole package is just the right fit for Kendall. The work is harder than she was used to but it is reinforced in a way that she responds to. She had strep throat this week and missed 2 days of school. She cried each day because she missed school. WOW.. what a change. Kendall has worked hard for straight A's and really done some extra studying but she has proven she can do it. She still has difficulty with spelling and written expression but her confidence is back. She is happy again and her anxiety is down. She is no longer on medication and does not have trouble concentrating in the environment. She also matured so that makes a difference.

I am not knocking her prior public school or any public school for that matter. Her prior school was an incredible school with incredible teachers. We miss the school and teachers terribly. Grant is still in public school and having a great time. If I learned anything from this very emotional experience, it is each kid has individual needs and that moms need to follow their instinct. I think we try to give the same to all our kids which really doesn't make sense when you think about it. We are all unique and respond to situations individually. We all have different learning styles. What is right for one kid may not be right for the other.