Pasta Monsters

My kids love to be in the kitchen and help as much as they can. It usually involves the use of a plastic knife. In many cases I allow them to cut up fruit or slices of cucumber or spreading almond butter on a slice of bread. I think having them participate makes eating their meals much more successful. I hope they will make healthier choices in their futures by understanding what they are eating.

These pasta monsters were so much fun. Sometimes I just need to let the kids play with their food, this was one of those times. I took raw hot dogs and cut them into 1 1/2" pieces and gave them uncooked pasta to stick into the hot dog pieces. After they were loaded, I put them into a pot of boiling salted water. just until the pasta was done. The kids couldn't wait to eat them!!! These were so much fun!!!

Cut the hot dogs into 1"- 1 1/2" pieces and stick the uncooked noodles through the pieces.

Stick them in your pot and as the noodles soften they will fall into the pot.

Add your favorite sauce, cheese, or eat just like this!!!

Cheeseburger Soup

My family loves this soup!!! This soup is good for both warm and cold weather. I hope you enjoy this cheeseburger in a bowl as much as we do. I have made it with ground beef , bison, turkey, and a combo of these. Anything works!!

Cheeseburger Soup

1 lb ground round, sirloin or turkey
1 cup onion, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
2 tablespoon garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups russet potatoes, peeled and diced
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
1-1 1/2 cup ketchup
1/2-1 cup mustard
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Brown beef in a large pot over med. heat
2. Cook until the meat begins to brown, then add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic.
3. Saute about 10 minutes or until your veggies are tender.
4. Stir in the broth and potatoes; bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer 10-12 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.
6. Melt butter in a separate saucepan over med. Whisk in flour and cook 1-2 minutes or until it has a light brown color and smells a little nutty.
7. Slowly whisk in milk, then add white sauce to the soup and bring to a boil.
8. Reduce heat to a simmer, and stir in the cheese, ketchup and mustard. I always add more ketchup and mustard just to taste. I like mine on the tangy side, you choose!!!
9. Season with salt and pepper.
10. Stir until cheese is melted.
11. Serve. with chopped dill pickles, red onion, and potato stix (these are usually found in a can with potato chips.) skinny french fries work good too as well as fritos!!!

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do. It also freezes great so why not double the batch!

Finding my Tribe

Hello Friends!!!

Happy 2014. I have always been a blog reader never really thought I'd be a blog author. Almost a year ago I found myself sitting at home with two babies watching lots of sesame Street. Such a vast difference from just 4 years prior. I left a fast paced career of sales and marketing to settle down and have a family. My husband and I have now been together for 14 years and married almost 8. We have two kids Carson (4 1/2) and Madison (2 1/2). Back to last January as I found myself sitting here with the kiddos...I knew I wanted to start a business, I was certain it was going to be jewelry, but I didn't know where to start.

I began browsing Etsy, doing various Google searches, spending hours on Pinterst, all wondering if I could learn how to make these pieces and how was I going to learn? Was it going to be YouTube? No, I tried! I had my husband bring home a soldering iron and some solder from Home Depot. It was a mess, until I came across Terri Brush. She was getting ready to offer a new online class regarding soldering, stamped soldering!!! This was so exciting to me. I signed up. Then I saw that she would be visiting San Diego and offering a class. Oh my goodness, she's coming to San Diego? This is a sign for sure.

I gathered supplies for the upcoming online class that was about to begin the end of January. I had the date the class was to start, I arranged to have my mom come to the house to help watch my kids while I took my class. LOL this is funny now because Terri's classes are a watch when you want too, not a certain time you need to sit down! I was such a newbie but so eager and excited!! It was love at first watch! When I met Terri in person that following March I believe it was, I had taken all of her online classes that she had offered up to that point. It was like meeting a celebrity!

I picked up on creating jewelry so fast. I am certain a huge part of this is from my instructor, Terri Brush whom I will always credit! Along with finding Terri I feel like I have found myself again too!! Back to that January, sitting at home with my two babies, I now have an established business, The Rusty Owl, I have found my new "Tribe" of art friends that I just cherish and can't wait to see, and still can't wait to learn more. I will never claim to know it all. I feel like I have so much to learn and I just love to surround myself with creative friends.

2014 is looking to be an exciting year. I'm heading to Washington in February to Whimsy Blue's Creative Weekend http://whimsybluescreativeweekend.blogspot.com, beginning of April is a big show for me in San Diego at Summers Past Farms, End of April I am headed to the Oregon coast for Terri's Spring Art Camp http://www.terribrushdesigns.com/untitled2.html!!!!!

All this in just one year!!! I cannot wait to see what this year brings. I hope to share my journey here. I will not bore you with long drawn out entries like this one, just photos, my favorite recipes, great diy's, and tid bits of this amazing journey. I hope we all have the opportunity to find the tribe that makes us happy, we all deserve it!!!

Thank you to my husband and family for all your support on this journey and to Terri for your unselfish sharing of knowledge. I am so grateful on so many levels!