Living in Texas, I love to improvise and create different Tex-Mex and southwestern foods. But, hailing originally from near KansasCity, MO., my very favorite things are usually Italian. The Holiday season always started on Thanksgiving with us. It seemed that from Thanksgiving to Newyears, the house was filled with food. Cookies and candies of all sorts lined the breakfast bar for the entire month of December, and part of the tradition was my mom, my grandmother, and me all making them together. The smells of certain types of deserts sstill take me back there. My first successful creation was my Lasagna rolls. I was never on to make lasagna because of the mess in serving. Call me crazy, but I never could get it out of the pan and present it looking pretty. I made a tremendous vegetarian lasagna roll recipe that I fell in love with, and so did all of my friends and family. Too numerous to count, and usually involving me trying to make cajun food. Once I learn the basic recipes, I'm fine there, but inevitably I try to go out on a limb and make something new that I haven't tried before (and without a recipe). I almost always quickly discover that Cajun cooking and me don't mix without recipes.