Brewing spins on old recipes & Drawing for my friends and family

I am not a very talented artist when it comes to drawing and painting, I only draw what I know and what I love. My main form of therapy as an emotional sieve and as an release is writing poetry and writing short stories. Romance is my absolute favorite thing to write about, if you haven't noticed from my stories on here!!

My father taught me how to draw when I was young. He first taught me how to draw trees, and all the little branches and leaves---and at that moment, I was hooked. I loved nature, he instilled this in me with fishing and with his own reverence for what Mother Earth had given us to appreciate and enjoy. I learned how to draw sunflowers because I love them so much, and roses because I enjoy drawing them freehand.

I am little immature in my artistic abilities, I use a regular old pencil, plain copier paper and crayons---sometimes colored pencils. I am a mother so I can use what I find, sue me! I use half-broken, half chewed on pencils and destroyed crayons, but it works. My lines are not clean either, as I am painfully aware of.

I do it for my family. I do it for my friends. I have never made any money off it, nor do I plan to. I just like to draw and color when I can or when the opportunity arises.

My favorite things to make are cards. Mother's Day, Father's Day, Birthday's... all of those things.

I make roses for my mom(like this Mother's day). But I always... I mean always color my roses multiple colors. Nature isn't just one color---its a huge spectrum of hues and shades, and flowers are something that I have noticed, especially roses, that have oranges, reds, pinks, violets and even browns and other shades---sometimes in the same bud--with the blossoming petals to show off its spring-time form.

I also draw Pokémon.

I try my best, and it may not be perfect or the quality that lends itself to ETSY or for a seller's market, but my friends and family do love it, and I can tell they appreciate the effort. The Slowpoke Birthday card took at least three to four days, as I had to do it in between cooking, cleaning, other chores and being with my younger son who is four years old and very active.

The last thing I like to do is make up new spins on recipes. I also learned this from my dad, who is a pretty decent cook. He is more of a fry-cook---frying fresh caught fish, making onion rings, cooking up fresh fried donuts for me and my friends after they spent the night for breakfast(a memory all my friends still remember and talk to me of to this day)---and BBQ.

One thing that got me into cooking (other than the tons of cable cooking shows I watched as a kid and teen) was the effortless way he would create new things from old recipes.

Using fresh ingredients that complimented the meal, adding a new spice to a dish, or just in general, making up a recipe---my dad inspired me to be creative with cooking as well.

I will leave you with my most popular recipe with my family.

These are new and old (with a different twist) recipes I created.

The first one is Mac and Cheese. My son LOVES THIS. And I have been making homemade Mac and Cheese for a long time, but I recently tried to amp it up a bit. I researched spices and found out about the versatility of turmeric and I loved using it---it gave it a bit of depth, smokiness, and a hint of spice. Chives and cheese are very complimentary, and please use FRESH! It is always better.

My Mac and Cheese

Ingredients:

One Pound Of Elbow Macaroni

16 ounces of Finely shredded sharp and mild Cheddar cheese mix

Mozzarella (use a good quality) Only use about 4-6 ounces

2 cups of half and half (use less or more for your preferred consistency)

A half stick of unsalted butter

Salt and Pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon Turmeric

1/2 teaspoon White pepper

1 teaspoon Paprika

2 Springs finely chopped fresh chives.

Cayenne Pepper (For me to sprinkle on my serving lol, optional)

Bacon (any kind you like)

1 Tablespoon of all purpose flour

I bake my bacon in the oven until slightly crispy and let it cool before I start the sauce and pasta. I bake it for twenty minutes at 400 degrees preheated with black pepper. Let fat drain. Crumble into pieces for Mac and Cheese later.

Make a roux in a sauce pan, melting the butter on low-medium heat, and mixing in flour until cooked all the way through.

Add half and half, with spices, mix slowly--folding in the cheeses on low to medium heat until creamy consistency. Add chives and bacon only at the end of the sauce with the heat off. Taste sauce, add salt if necessary.

Cook pasta in boiling water until Al Dente, add cooked pasta in sauce with pan, mixing carefully with the sauce.

Serve immediately! If you wanna get it even cheesier, place concoction in baking pan and place in oven with extra cheese on top at 400 degrees for an additional 15 minutes.

Anyway, here are the projects I do as a mother in my spare time that create small little pieces of happiness.

For me, to see my family and friends happy, is all I care about.

-Melissa