Sushi

Just a quick tutorial on how I make sushi at home.  It's really good and inexpensive.  Enjoy!

I really like to use avocado, cucumber, crab meat [i just buy the seafood snackers or imitation crab leg at the fish section of the store] cream cheese and rice.  But you can use whatever you prefer!

The microwaveable sticky rice works really good for us.  I have made it with and without the seasoned rice vinegar but I prefer to use it

This is just a regular cucumber but you can use the English style cucumber if you prefer

The avocado I had for the demonstration was too ripe!  So I just left it out

Don't put too much rice on each nori sheet or it will not roll up very well.  You can also make the rice on the outside of the roll just add a bit more than I did here and flip it over and add the ingredients to the other side and roll

Roll the wrap forward and firmly to make everything stick together

Set rolled sushi aside on a clean plate

Wrap each roll individually and refrigerate until ready to serve

Serve with soy sauce, wasabi, pickled ginger or whatever you like. 

shameless plug..

Hi guys!

We have been very busy lately but all is well.  Love being a parent and will be doing photography more often soon!  Hope to get back to blogging too :)

Please check out my facebook for my photography and 'like' it!

www.facebook.com/deniseburnsphotography

also, my husband has a facebook fan page for his music, the link is :

www.facebook.com/otherear

Thanks!

7 weeks

A lot has happened in the past 7 weeks.  About this time 7 weeks ago I was waking up in the ICU after having a c-section surgery to deliver my daughter, Violet.  That was such a rough day.  I had went into the hospital the day before, August 26, because my doctor had sent me there immediately when he saw me at my weekly appointment with him that day.

I had so much weight in fluid on me due to pre-eclampsia and my blood pressure was going nuts.. I dont really remember everything my doctor said to me that day except that I'd be having a complicated surgery and it was very high-risk.  I remember coming home, gathering up things for the hospital, saying bye to my dogs and just crying.   I was so afraid.  Afraid I wouldnt live to see my daughter, afraid I wouldnt wake up and see my husband, afraid that I wouldnt be coming back to my home that we just had moved into, afraid I was saying goodbye to my dogs for the last time, afraid I was going to the hospital to die.

After I got settled into the hospital room my doctor comes in and tells me they're about to start me on medicine [magnesium] that'll make me feel like I've been hit by a big truck.  Seriously?  I thought he was joking but he wasnt.. I think they mustve put me on sedatives too because I was so out of it that day and night I couldnt even move much.  

And because I was so swollen they didnt even bother with an IV they went straight to a central line.. that was horrible.  A central line is inserted into your jugular vein in your neck.  And oh my gosh that procedure was HORRIBLE.  They put me in the most uncomfortable position in a bed bending my neck out so that my jugular was stretched and easily accessible.  Then they cut my neck open and put a line in it .. I swear I felt it go in my vein he told me it was about an inch away from my lung and only 1 in 200 times it went wrong or something like that.. I was so scared and upset.  I remember screaming in pain and crying so hard as they put it in me and stitched my neck up.   My neck was so sore the entire hospital stay over that.  But almost everytime they needed blood or medicine had to be given to me it went into the main line in my neck. Rough times.

I remember telling the nurse my water broke and telling my husband that I was about to give birth in Mamie's neighborhood and it was going to be in the 1990s.  I was saying some wild things.  In my head I knew I was trying to give birth and wanted to have her naturally SO bad I did not want a c-section!  I started having contractions that night - they were very painful and I just wanted to push and push but the medicine kept me so sedated and I assume slowed the birth down.  I had contractions up until I went into surgery the next day.

I was allowed a few small crushed ice cubes every few hours but nothing else.  I was hoping Id end up having the c-section the next morning but the doctor wasnt very clear on the time which was passing soo slowly.

By Tuesday morning I was still so out of it, I figured my surgery would be at 8am then somehow it was going to be around 11am then the doctor said he was trying to get things in order making sure I'd be okay .. he had  another surgeon, maybe 2?, in the room with him as well as a pediatrician and 2 anesthesiologists.  There was quite a team preparing to get me through this.

Throughout my pregnancy the pre-eclampsia kind of came and went but by week 39 I was miserable and my blood pressure was so bad and my body was so swollen it was just horrible all around. 

My doctor offered to let me go to Little Rock because everything was looking so scary but I did not want to wait any longer and he was sure he'd be able to do it and wanted to because he knew me and my situation well.   I trusted him.  I was either going to live or die and I was just ready to get it over with.

Finally around 2 or 230pm I was taken to a room to get me ready for surgery.. my husband wouldn't be able to be in there with me because I was going to be completely under.  And possibly on life support in ICU when the surgery was over.  I was panicking having trouble breathing and my mouth was so dry from all the medication and not being able to drink any water for the past 24 hours or so.  I remember telling the anesthesiologist all of that but he said it'd be okay and they had called in another anesthesiologist to help him out.. Gosh.

My husband, aunt and grandma were with me up until the surgery.  A lot of people were there in the waiting room, waiting on my surgery to be over and to see Violet.  I was so scared and worried but tried to remain calm and positive for my husband who held my hand up until the moment I was wheeled away to the operating room.

I just told everyone to please let me wake up and be with my husband and daughter.  They needed me and I needed them.  They just told me theyd take good care of me and do all they could for me.

I just knew I was about to die.  

They began prepping me in the OR and didnt put me under until the moment they began to cut because of the baby and anesthesia. 

I remember they were listening to Eminem and other party music in the OR.. and a nurse who had the attitude of "yeah! surgery!"  I felt like I was at a hospital rave party .. or an adult swim show.. I was just laying there, scared to death and all these people standing over me I couldnt see anything but their eyes and I heard their voices and party music.  Then I went under...

I faintly remember them moving me from the operating table to a bed and how bad it hurt but I was back out and I remember struggling to breathe and someone coaching me thru in recovery.. 

Then I woke up in ICU. . but I wasnt on life support!  I thought I had been in a car wreck and was in the hospital in Little Rock.

I dont remember how or when my husband got in there but he showed me a picture of my precious baby girl who was born at 2:56pm on August 27.  I had him get my grandma to come back to the hospital..everyone else had went home.. nobody got to see Violet except for my husband, I think it was late by this point.  

I wasnt able to see my baby or hold her.  But when my doctor came in I told him I wanted to see her but since I was in ICU she couldnt come there.  He called Violet's nurse and had her bring her to my room in an incubator so that I could look at her.  I called my husband and he and his mom came to my room and my grandma was there and we all got to see her together.  She was so precious I just stared at her but they wouldnt let her stay long.  My husband went back and forth from ICU to maternity ward that night checking on me and our daughter.  It wasnt until the next day that I got to hold her.

I didnt know it but I'd be in the hospital for a very long 8 days until I got to go home... but I'll have to tell you about that later.

Today I am just thankful that Violet and I both made it through that crazy day. 

Here is my beautiful baby this afternoon, smiling, laughing and having a good day with mommy :]

At 7 weeks Violet now sticks her tongue out, "dances" [plays "legs" as we call it], smiles, kind of laughs, recognizes certain people [by smiling at them], eats well, sleeps well.  She is wonderful and everyday I am grateful for her and my husband for our beautiful family <3

im back.

It is said that the days drag on but the years fly by.. how true that is.

It has been over a year since I last posted a blog here.. I started this blog one boring day mainly to have a cooking blog that was fun.  And it was a lot of fun deciding what I'd cook next, taking pictures, editing.. etc.  I love photography and writing.  My dad enjoyed it too and even some of my friends have asked why I stopped.

Well, sadly I lost my dad to a horrible fight with cancer on July 30, 2012.  We never really talked to our family and friends about it.. or each other.  We just fought it together until the end.  We told some people mostly just close family but my dad was a private person and didn't want to be "the guy with cancer," he just wanted to be Russ.

That was a mistake.  We should have reached out and told our friends and family.  God knows I could have used the support but at the time I didn't feel that way.  I just wanted to isolate and help my dad live as best as he could.  Hindsight is always 20/20.

Maybe I'll talk more about his battle later, maybe I won't.  Losing him was the absolute hardest thing I have ever endured.  I still can't even play SongPop on Facebook to this day because he isn't there to play it too.. I can't do a lot of things anymore but I am slowly getting better and I'd like to start my blog back again.

Since my last post in 2012 I have:

• turned 29
• moved back to my hometown 
• spent my first holidays with my BFF & boyfriend Craig 
• found out I was pregnant 
• Craig began his new job 
• moved into our first home together 
• Craig and I got married! 
• turned 30
• gave birth to our first and probably only child, Violet.. who is now 6 weeks old <3

I am so thankful for all the good things in my life, it took a lot of hard times and bad times to get here. Having Violet was a wonderful/scary experience I will tell you all more about later.. I almost died but luckily I am alive and well and home with my family now.  Life is good.

<3

taco salad

This is my favorite way of making taco salad,  it has a lot of ingredients but you can adjust everything to your liking

You will need:

1 bag family size nacho cheese Doritos

2 cups of shredded cheese [your choice]

1 large or 2 small cucumbers

2 pounds of ground hamburger [i use ground chuck]

1 can diced chili tomatoes

2 avocados

shredded lettuce

diced tomato

chopped purple onion

4 cans of beans [i used ranch, chili, dark and light kidney.  use whatever you like and however much or less you want]

1 bottle catalina dressing

begin cooking the 2 pounds of hamburger meat in a hot skillet until it has browned

add the can of chili tomatoes after the meat is browned, continue to cook.  i drained the tomatoes before adding them

in the meantime... drain your beans and cut up your vegetables for the salad.  i bought my tomatoes, lettuce and onion already chopped to save some time and trouble.

you can make this salad with whatever ingredients you prefer

............

after the meat and tomatoes have fully cooked and been drained of the grease add both packages of taco seasoning

add water according to taco seasoning packet directions.  simmer until water is cooked out

after water is cooked out add the beans to the meat and continue to cook on low until heated throughout

time to build the salad.  using a large glass bowl begin with chips on the bottom

then add meat and beans..

pour some of the catalina dressing over the meat and chips.. enough to cover it.  [i used two different bowls because this makes a lot of taco salad.  half up your ingredients if you dont have a glass bowl big enough to hold everything at once]

next add about a cup of cheese, save the rest for the top of the salad.  you can use whatever type of cheese you like. I would normally use cheddar but I wanted to try Velveeta pepper jack this time.

more catalina dressing... this stuff makes the salad taste really good.

layer the remaining ingredients on top of the mix.  I put lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, avocado and olives.

serve in a glass bowl so that the layers can be seen.  this dish is good hot or cold.  store leftovers covered in the refrigerator.  

^_^

barbecued chicken

to make this awesome dish you will need:

all purpose flour

salt/pepper/garlic powder [and any of your other favorite seasonings]

chicken

vegetable oil

barbecue sauce

heat vegetable oil in skillet on medium heat

pour flour onto a plate and add seasoning, mix lightly 

open up package of chicken, using thinly sliced cuts or strips works best

dip each piece of chicken into milk and then into flour mix.  repeat, set chicken aside.

after you have finished breading the chicken the oil should be hot enough to begin cooking.  put one piece into the skillet

cook for about 5-6 minutes on one side, the chicken should be a dark golden brown when flipped.  add a second piece, repeat until all chicken is cooked.

finished.. 

time to add bbq sauce.  sometimes i use regular sauce and add mustard and brown sugar to it, but i thought this brand was fine by itself. 

add chicken to a baking pan of choice and cover with bbq sauce

after all pieces are thoroughly covered, cook in preheated 350-degree oven for about an hour

let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving

^_^

peanut butter pie

1 cup peanut butter [your choice]

8-16 ounces of Cool Whip

1&1/2 cup powdered sugar

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup milk

2 ready crusts

chill pies in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight for best results.