One Month Down!

Ok! I'm back! 

It' not like me to skip more than on e day of blog posts! So needless to say, it has been a busy and stressful week! Thank God for the weekend! I have already enjoyed making my own schedule and attempting to get stuff accomplished at my own pace. One of those things is blog posts! So here it is! 

Yesterday, was 1 full month of blog posts! So I thought I would share a few of my stats and reflections. This will also go along with my favorite blogging tools thus far! 

Busy as a Honey Bee Current Stats:

Followers: 9

Audience: Americans, Russians, and 1 German! :)

Highest # of page views for one post: 68 (it was my post entitled "Link Party: A gift for the baker or cook!")

Page views all time history: 1,076

Published comments: 14

When i entered this place entitled the "blogosphere" by many well seasoned bloggers, /i felt terribly overwhelmed. I felt completely inexperienced and unprepared, but i knew i REALLY wanted to get started. And so I did and here we are! I truly understand what it means to other bloggers to get comments and people to visit your blog. It feels a bit like I suddenly have a voice and at least a small portion of the world cares to read it! In one word, blogging has been .... REWARDING ... thus far. I don't anticipate that it will change. I am highly motivated to get my stats up and am working on some petty cool posts. Time and energy are truly the keys to blogging! One other thing that helps is a memory that remembers to take pictures in my classroom! 

So, in my month of blogging, what has helped me the most? Here are my top 5 items. 

1. My composition book - this is where i plan every little thing that has to do with my blog. I write down websites, blogs to add to my reader, where to find things i like, notes, thoughts, ideas for posts, and even where i write down my blogging schedule for each post. Here's my composition book! 

2. One other thing i have become addicted to is my Blogger Dashboard! This site is great. It shows stats, an overview, lists posts, and helps to really make blogging a little bit easier. I am totally guilty of checking my dashboard often. (Guess i just like to see that people read what I am writing. You can see blogger in the background in the above picture. 

3. Another tool that has helped me is Leelou Blogs. On this site i searched through all the templates and really tried to find one that was not commonly seen and one that also fit my blog and personality. I currently love my little template and think it will suit this blog for a while. Thanks to Leelou Blogs for the help! 

4. Other blogs have truly been an inspiration for me and this little part of the blogging world!. I am often reading blogs and some of my favorites include Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits, The Girl Who Ate Everything, Somewhat Domestiated, Six Sisters Stuff, I'm Mrs. Keller, and The Teacher Wife. All of these blogs are visited daily by little ol' me! I love to read about everyone's adventures and really find many many ideas from these blogs as well as a long list of others! Thanks to all these ladies for the daily musings! 

5. And last but TRULY not least - I LOVE LOVE LOVE PINTEREST! This site ahs really truly helped to inspire me even more. I have found recipes to try and alter to suit my husband and I (we try to make all recipes healthier, or at least I do for us!) I visit this site or my app on the iPad or iPhone everyday! It is terribly addiction and I have fond 1 too many projects that i wish i could complete. I have been inspired and don't know where this website has been! It is just what many crafty people want! If you would like follow me on Pinterest  and check out my boards by clicking below! 

Well, that's it ... Happy One Month to Busy as a Honey Bee! 

Have a great day! 

New look! New Menu!

Busy as a Honey Bee has a new look! Thanks to Lee Lou Blogs for the free template that I really love! Let me know what you think! I have also added a few widgets to give my blog a little more structure! You can even see the blogs I follow and where I get inspiration!

One spot I found inspiration today is in my friend Jami's new blog! She is a Somewhat Domesticated blogger! I can't wait to read more and learn about all of her newly married adventures! So glad to have you join the blogging world again Jami!

So my hunger has also inspired this week's menu plans... this week we will be having a Santa Fe Chicken Salad and for dinner we will be having Lasagna Soup! The original recipe can be found when you click the link ... but here's my version --- I edited it to make it healthier! 

Lasagna Soup

INGREDIENTS

for the soup:

1-1/2 lbs. Italian seasoned Ground Turkey

3 c. chopped onions

4 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 can tomato paste

1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

6 c. chicken stock

8 oz. mafalda or fusilli pasta

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

for the cheesy yum:

8 oz. fat free ricotta

1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp. salt

pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

PREPARATION

Heat a large pot over medium heat and add ground, breaking up into bite sized pieces until the turkey is no longer pink. Add onions when the turkey is about half cooked and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes. Cook for 1 minute. Add tomato paste and stir well to incorporate. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the tomato paste turns a rusty brown color.

Add diced tomatoes, bay leaves, and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add uncooked pasta and cook until al dente. Do not over cook or let soup simmer for a long period of time at this point, as the pasta will get mushy and absorb all the soup broth. You may even want to consider cooking the noodles separately, and then adding some to individual bowls before ladling the soup over them. This would be an especially smart move if you are anticipating any leftovers. 

While the pasta is cooking, prepare the cheesy yum. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmesan, salt, and pepper.

To serve, place a dollop of the cheesy yum in each soup bowl, sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and ladle the hot soup over the cheese.

Servings:  8

Last night's menu was fun as well.... Italian Style Meatloaf from my trusty friend Trader Joe's and I paired it with some fozen peas and small portions of pasta with butter and a little garlic! My husband loved it! 

I also realized that I never posted what the Three Bean Turkey Chili Ala Simone looked like! I wish I could have posted the smell... 'cause it smelled delicious!!! Here's the shot:

Hope you get to enjoy this yummy soup soon!