Emma + Spaghetti =

Tomato Macaroni Soup Recipe and More

So my sisters have been sharing some fun recipe's the last little while and I decided that it is my turn. It's always nice to try new recipes and this is one of the Sharp families favorites. This is basically a variation on tomato macaroni soup, but tastes quite a lot like my moms goulash (but even better).:)

V-8 Soup
1 lb. hamburger
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 48 oz. can V-8 Juice
1/2 tsp. marjoram
2 cups grated carrots
1 Tbsp. Sugar
2 cans cream of celery soup
1 Tbsp. Basil leaves
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 Bay leaf
2 cups dry macaroni
3-6 cups water

Brown hamburger and onion in a large pot. Once the hamburger is browned, combine all the rest of the ingredients. For a thinner soup use more water. (Since the macaroni is dry it will soak up a lot of the water and so you want to add enough water to make up for that.) Simmer for 1 hour and then remove the bay leaf before serving. We like to add a little cheese to the top when serving.

(It would be fun to have one of those camera's that could take fancy "food" shots, but I don't so this will have to do.) :)



When I made this last night I also decided to make some "Easy Garlic-Cheese Biscuits", courtesy of Betty Crocker and Bisquick. These are similar to the ones you get at Red Lobster. Yummy!

Easy Garlic-Cheese Biscuits

2 cups Original Bisquick mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees
2. In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese with wire whisk or fork until soft dough forms; beat vigorously 30 seconds. On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by 10-12 spoonfuls about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. In small bowl, stir butter and garlic powder until well mixed; brush on warm biscuits before removing from cook sheet. Serve Warm



These went with the soup pretty well. Hope you enjoy! P.S. This makes a lot of soup and doesn't freeze well so you might want to half the recipe if you are making it for just a couple people. Feeds a family well.

Painting Updates

So I have been trying to think of anything new to share on the blog and I can never think of anything. Our days are usually pretty much the same, Emma is as cute as can be and is learning so many new things. She loves to have us chase her and she will laugh and laugh. She continues to torture the cat, and Gracie is SO patient thank heavens. Emma also loves to eat solid food and will beg for food if we are ever eating and she isn't. She loves these Gerber "puffs" and has been trying to figure out how to get this container open herself. She's pretty determined. Mike is busy with work and we both keep busy with our individual callings. Emma has had a chance to spend more one on one time with her Dad though now that I am gone more during the week for Relief Society. Other than that the only new thing is our BATHROOM!!! I have been putting this bathroom off forever, but finally got a spurt of energy to get it finished. I originally wanted to do the blue walls with brown towels, but the room has no windows and so I decided to go with the yellow and white to make it a little lighter. We were pretty happy with how it turned out and it is amazing how much different it is now. Paint sure goes a long way. I also never showed a picture of our bedroom paint job. I think I am pretty much done with the paint for awhile. It may seem like all of our walls are colorful, but most of the house is still white. We'll have to wait until we can get the rest of the house. Too big of a job for me and too tall of ceilings, and white isn't a bad color except for it is just flat white and shows all of the marks and dirt, etc. Anyway, too much information, but that's what's new with the Sharps.
P.S. The blue is pretty dark, but not as dark as the pictures show. It's hard to get the exact color to show up.

Cough, Colds, and Crummy Weather

So the past week Emma has not been feeling well. She has been irritable, running a slight fever, and now has a yucky cough. I guess it's about time we got a humidifier. It's sad seeing her so miserable. The winters here in Bakersfield have been somewhat interesting. When we first got here we heard that sometimes they cancel school because of fog. It does get pretty foggy here in the winter. I guess Bakersfield and Logan are right up there at the top for poor air quality. So with the weather and Emma being sick we stay inside the house quite a bit. It has been fun seeing Emma learn how to cruise around the furniture. Her favorite "thing" to play with is Gracie. Sometimes Gracie will be in a playful mood and they will play "tag" or "hide and go seek". Gracie will go and hide and wait for Emma to come and find her and then she will jump out and find another place to hide. It is funny because you can see her just waiting for Emma to come and follow her. She has been really good with Emma. She gets annoyed after awhile of Emma following her everywhere, but she is pretty patient. Now that we have our new table, Gracie likes to lead Emma underneath the chairs, and Emma tends to get "high centered" on the cross beams of the chairs. It's kind of funny to watch. She is just so determined though to get through any obstacle. So some of these pictures are sad, but they kind of make me giggle because I see this "boo boo lip" all day long. She sure can make a sad face. She was upset because Gracie ran away from her and she couldn't find her. (I think she is also just still not feeling well, poor girl
)

Birthday Fiesta!

So Mike turned 27 yesterday and we had a fun birthday "fiesta" for him. Last year Mike wanted me to make "Posole" for his birthday dinner. Posole is a Mexican stew that he grew to love on his mission. Well, I got a good looking recipe online and went too it. Um, yeah it turned out HORRIBLE. I think Mike ate it just to be nice, but we just threw it all away it was so bad. I was just like red colored water. So this year we had the help of our wonderful neighbors. Our neighbors, the Romero's, who just happen to be members of the church as well, have helped us out a ton from watching our cat, our daughter, helping us get our table, to showing me how to make really yummy Mexican food. So your main ingredients: Espinosa (pork neck), hominy, chile sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, and salt. First you put the pork meat in a big stew pot and cover with water, adding the garlic, onion, cumin, salt and oregano.Once the meat has simmered for a couple of hours and the meat is tender, you add the chile sauce and hominy.
Once it is ready to go you eat it like a soup. You can top it with tostada's, cilantro, onions, cabbage and a squeeze of lime. Oooo it turned out really well this time. This was the easy way to make posole and it tasted so good. I also made a "Tres Leches" cake which is cake with 3 milks on top. It is normally pretty soggy with milk, but I must have not put enough milk on mine because it was just slightly soggy. > Everything turned out a whole lot better than last year and we had a good time. The Romero's came for dinner as well as the missionaries, and our neighbors across the street.

The missionaries ended up teaching them about the Book of Mormon and asked them if they wanted to take the discussions. It was a big surprise to us, but hopefully things will go well. Thanks for all of your birthday wishes to Mike, he really appreciated it. "Feliz cumpleaños a Miquel!"

Happy New Year!

We had such a fun weekend at Merilee and Mark's. I was so nervous about the drive to Las Vegas, but we really didn't experience any traffic, and Emma slept most of the way. It was a Miracle!! It's so nice to be with family. Sometimes you feel somewhat isolated being so far away, but it is great that we live "closer" to some family. We just had fun eating junk food, playing Karaoke, and watching our two little girls play. It was so amusing seeing the together. Emma definitely likes Annadele a lot more than she likes Emma. Annadele tolerates Emma unless she is sitting on "her" mom's lap. They are so close in age that they are somewhat on the same level and can do a lot of the same things. They both get jealous and are so inquisitive. It was just fun watching them interact. Even though they are cousins they sure have their own unique and special personalities.

It was also nice to have the opportunity to go to the temple. Our closest temple is about 2 hours away and so with Emma it makes for an all day excursion. It will be nice when she is no longer nursing, and then we can leave her with a baby sitter. Anyway, we took turns watching the kids while the other couple went to the temple. The Las Vegas temple is so beautiful, and it is always so peaceful at the temple. It's a very interesting contrast being at the Vegas temple when it's just a few miles from the "strip", talk about getting away from the "world". So our time with the Andals was wonderful, and then we started our trip back home. Who knew that traffic to California on a Sunday and a holiday weekend at that would be so crazy. (I'm guessing a lot of people know that by now.) It took us 4 hours to get to Vegas and 6 1/2 to get back home. It wouldn't have been so bad, but poor Emma did not want to be in the car any longer and screamed the last 2 hours of the drive. I was sure she would fall asleep, but no, she can be pretty stubborn that cutie patootie. It was just nice to finally get home, and Emma seemed so excited to not only be out of her car seat, but to see all of her familiar surroundings. They learn so quick.

So these are some fun pictures of our weekend as well as our New Table!!! My sisters have wanted to see a picture of it so here you go. It is so nice to have a "real" table to sit at, except now it seems way to big for us.:) Now we just need some visitors.:)