!@#$

Malpractice and The Healing Journey

2024-09-11T07:55:00.000-07:00

Hello :)

I have not used this blog in over ten years! However, I have been going through something that has taken a serious toll on me and my body, and I'd like to share my story.

Now, some of you may know that my health started to rapidly decline when I turned 40! I gradually got sicker and sicker and on Thanksgiving Day 2023, I went into the hospital. I was diagnosed with Pneumonia, Covid and Sepsis.

I was put into the ICU for several days and somehow made a recovery good enough to come home. I would find myself going through Sepsis and Covid again over the holidays and the first part of 2024. It was the hospital visit in late March 2024 that traumatized me and left me with a lifelong injury.

Now, I dont remember many details about all of the hospital stays over the holidays and before the stay in March. It is all so blurry to me and though I do remember being sick as a dog and having to have a PICC line put in more than once, its still blurry.

So, with that being said, lets go back to Mid-March 2024 where I went to the ER at White River Health in Batesville, AR. I felt sick, my leg was hot and red and I was running a fever. I knew I had Sepsis again. Due to a cellulitis infection in my leg that had yet to heal.

Before I was checked in, my husband took a photo of my leg. Here you can see it is hot, red and full of fluid (lymphedema)

After being admitted I received IV antibiotics and within 24 hours, my leg took a turn for the worst. It had developed HUGE disgusting fluid-filled blisters all over the front and back. It was so painful and a complete mess. My leg began draining and blisters would pop from me getting up and down from the hospital bed. The care I was receiving at this time was awful. They did not know what to do or what they had done. There were no explanations for the blisters other than "cellulitis." The pain was awful and it was hellish trying to get them to give me pain meds. I think I got one hydrocodone 10mg. Anyway... here's a pic of the blisters... sorry so graphic, its going to get worse!

Now, fast-forward to being discharged from a shitty doctor experience in the hospital. I was instructed to go to the Wound Clinic one week after being at home. I was not instructed to do anything to my wounds except to "keep my leg elevated." LOL Like that is going to help THIS. I don't think I was given any pain medication to take home or even any cream for my wounds, maybe some antibiotics.

One week later, I go to the Wound Clinic.

The doctor, Craig Pickren, comes in angry. "You're going to lose your leg!" He hatefully states to me as he begins to maniacally debride my leg. Which was absolutely unnecessary, IMO. My leg wounds were so fresh and painful and he comes at me with a blade of some sort scraping off skin and being completely rude to me the whole time.

Here are pics of my leg before I went to the Wound Clinic... one week after my hospital stay, as directed.

THIS is what he was scraping as I cried my heart out. He was being so mean and he was hurting me. They tested my blood sugar, which was high, and that made him even more mad! I could not help it, I was not on any diabetic medication at the time and I was not aware that wounds can raise your sugar levels as well as your A1C.

Finally he says he can't do anymore and instructs the nurse to take me to the back so that I can lay on my stomach and he can debride the back. I am miserable at this point but little did I know that everything was about to get worse!

I lay on the table and he comes in debriding more as I continue to cry. I dont really remember much else except he instructed the nurses to wrap my leg in kerlex that had been soaked in Dakin's solution.

OKAY. So they do that and tell me to take the wrappings off the next day and rewrap it like they did. Kerlex soaked in Dakin's solution with an ACE bandage to hold everything in place. I asked for some sort of numbing cream or ANYTHING to help with the pain. All they called me in was my own bottle of Dakin's solution and a small tube of lidocaine cream, which was pointless.

The next day rolls around and we are ready to unwrap and rewrap my leg. As we begin to take the bandages off, I am finding out that the kerlex that had been soaked in Dakin's solution was stuck to my leg! It had formed like a cast on my raw and blistered leg! We tried everything to get it to soften up and unstick but there was no budging it.

I was too scared to go back to the hospital after my experience with the Wound Clinic and my stay a week prior. I am now at home, in pain and stuck with an unwanted cast on my open-wounded leg. Uncertain of what I would do to take care of this.

The next day we decide to get me to Unity Health Hospital in Searcy, AR. They quickly admitted me and a team was working with me and decided they'd have to RIP IT ALL OFF.

Now, I am already in pain and I have a pretty good tolerance to pain medication. So they end up giving me IV medication.. four of them. Versed, Dilaudid, Morphine and then they break out the big guy.. Ketamine. I was still in terrible pain as the nurses picked pieces of this off, it was going to take forever!

I remember one of the doctors asking me why I was crying, if the nurses were taking too long.. and then he RIPPED it off as fast as he could. My soul left my body. That was some of the worst pain that I have ever had to endure. And I was not even out of the woods yet.. still am not after six months.

Upon ripping the cast/kerlex off, he also took layers of skin. I wish we had a picture of what the skin itsself looked like but we only have leg pictures.. you can see where the skin was taken, though.

I would end up staying at Unity Health for six days. They sent me home with proper supplies to wrap my leg without it sticking and forming a cast. From then one we would be bandaging my leg everyday for a few months. Home Health would be coming in once a week and Physical Therapy twice a week.

I somehow have finished Physical Therapy and my Home Health will be discharging me soon.

I also have a mobile Wound Clinic APRN that checks on me once a week, who is also almost ready to discharge me!

Things look much better now and I am still on the mend. My leg still gets wrapped up each week. But not everyday, like it was from the beginning.

I cannot stand for anything to touch my leg or foot. I also had a split happen in my foot from it staying wet all of the time from the drainage! I forgot to mention the drainage, oh my gosh. I could not even leave the house for weeks on end without leaving a puddle of fluid if it leaked through my bandage. It was humiliation at its finest.

I've had to use a walker, a cane and now I am making due without either one. I am learning to keep my balance and regain my strength to walk on my own again. I am grateful for positivity and healing.

I have reached out to the hospital but have not received a response.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story and understand what has been going on with me the past year.

Sushi

2014-02-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

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..

2014-02-08T19:44:00.001-08:00

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

2013-10-15T17:18:00.001-07:00

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.

2013-10-09T10:56:00.000-07:00

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.

taco salad

2012-08-13T09:46:00.001-07:00

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

2012-07-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

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

2012-07-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

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.

spicy velveeta taco dip

2012-07-09T14:24:00.000-07:00

velveeta dip is good, but its reallllllly good with taco meat and spicy ro*tel!

you will need:

2 cans of Ro*Tel [i used one can mexican and one can chili fixins because i like things spicy.]

2 pounds of ground beef chuck [you can use whatever you like]

1 large block of Velveeta [i used mexican here just to try it, ive used the blanco kind in this recipe before and it was really good too.. just whatever you like]

2 packs of taco seasoning

put the meat into a hot skillet and let it cook until its done, stir occasionally.

slice the velveeta into cubes

add to double boiler. i just put a small amount of water in a big pot and a smaller bowl inside.. the heat gets the water hot enough to melt the contents of the bowl without burning them. scorched velveeta is no good! always use a double boiler or you could even use the microwave.

add both cans of ro*tel.. i didnt drain them fully but pretty much.

the meat should be getting done by now.. time to drain it

i use a colander on a plate

return the meat to the skillet and add both packs of taco seasoning

add water according to the seasoning package

stir

looks good! let it cook on low for a while

the velveeta dip should be melty by now

add the meat after it has cooked the water out..

stir it up.....

let simmer in the double boiler for a bit longer

these chips looked good, you can use whatever you like.

^_^

pumpkin fudge brownies

2012-07-09T11:47:00.000-07:00

this simple recipe uses canned pumpkin in the place of vegetable oil and eggs for making brownies. you can use low calorie brownie mix and peanut butter to make this even healthier.

the consistency is fudge-like but soo good!

you will need:

1 box of brownie mix [your choice!]

2-4 tablespoons of peanut butter [also your choice, i prefer the Peter Pan honey roast creamy]

15-ounces canned pure pumpkin [for some reason i always buy the 20-something ounce can and use about half]

get a large bowl and put the brownie mix in

then the pumpkin...

stir together until blended

pour the mixture into a baking pan, i used an 8x8 glass dish. use a little butter to grease the inside of the dish to help with sticking.

now the good stuff..

put a few spoonfuls onto the mix, you can do however much you like

swirl it around.. bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 30-45 minutes. i can tell when its done by putting a knife in the middle and it comes out nearly clean. and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the dish.

i usually let mine chill for at least 1-2 hours before serving. they are even better the next day.

^_^

store leftovers in refrigerator!

sunshine

2012-06-05T23:02:00.001-07:00

sunshine. . .

i waited around for quite a while tonight to try and see venus eclipse the sun. i took a ton of pics and here are some of my favorite. i didn't get to see the full sunset because the trees are so tall here. you can see a black spot at the top of the sun in the last picture, i assume this was venus.

smoked brisket

2012-05-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I hope you had a great Memorial Day! We decided to smoke a brisket at my house. This is my first attempt at smoking a brisket and just my second time using a smoker.

to get started you will need:

a brisket

dry rub seasoning

clear plastic wrap

I also used some salt, pepper and garlic powder

after removing the plastic from the brisket I decided to use mustard to help the seasonings stay on the meat better..

.....

all over on both sides.

I bought McCormick's Grill Mates dry rub for this brisket. I ended up using the Smokin' Texas flavored packs over the Memphis Pit. It just tasted better to me. I used two packages on the brisket.

cover both sides with the seasoning

after you've seasoned the brisket to your liking, wrap it up in clear plastic wrap and set it into your refrigerator to chill. I chilled this one for 6 hours and let it set out at room temperature for 1 hour before cooking.

you could use whatever wood chips you like, we chose hickory. you will need to soak these at least one hour prior to cooking.. this is a smaller bag of wood chips and we used them all.

just put them into a large bowl and fill with water, I put a heavy plate on top of these to make sure they were properly soaked.

while the wood chips are soaking and the meat is resting at room temperature now is a good time to get the smoker coals going.. we used about 18lbs of charcoal throughout the entire process.

place coals in bottom of smoker pan and use charcoal starter and light them.. let them rest until they become an even gray color and are glowing hot.. have patience!

we decided to use Mott's apple juice during the first hours of smoking the brisket for the moisture pan. You can use water here or whatever you want.

This is the unwrapped brisket that has set for about 6-7 hours in the dry rub

after you've got your coals hot and wood chips onto the fire and smoker assembled, its time to put the meat on the grill.. let cook for 6 hours without taking the lid off.

6 hours in.. I flipped the brisket at this point and continued to add apple juice or water into the moisture pan as well as new charcoal to keep the fire going.

Finally done.. we took it off of the smoker after about 14 hours of slow and low cooking.

time to let it rest.. wrap the brisket tightly in aluminum foil..

.....

and then into a towel.. place in cooler or refrigerator for at least an hour. I think I left mine in about 3-4 hours.

looks great! slice against the grain and your brisket should be tender and flavorful.

yum. happy memorial day <3

tater tot casserole

2012-04-25T18:53:00.001-07:00

Tater Tot Casserole.

This is a versatile dish that is easy to make and is quite tasty. I've made it many times and have made it many different ways. I think the way I am about to show you is the best.

I used:

1 bag Ore Ida tater tots

2.25 pounds of ground chuck beef [you dont have to use exactly 2.25 pounds, that's just how its sold at the store I shop at]

some Kraft sharp cheddar cheese [I didn't measure. See pictures.]

1 onion

1 can Campbells Cream of Mushroom soup

about 3 tablespoons of Daisy sour cream

First of all, I like to cook the tater tots in the oven before cooking them again in the dish. This saves time and trouble. Cook them about 20-25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

begin to brown your hamburger while the tater tots bake..

when it begins to brown, stir it up some making sure it cooks evenly.

dice 1 onion by slicing this way

turn it around and slice it this way again

turn it over and slice again

yay, diced onion!

add the onion to the meat and let them cook together for a while

add some garlic powder..

and soul food seasoning, i love this stuff! You can use whatever spices and seasonings you prefer though.

After the meat has finished cooking you should drain it...

for this I just put a plate under my colander

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

Return the meat and onions to the skillet and turn the heat down to low. Add the Cream of Mushroom soup...

and about 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream

stir.

let it cook together for a little bit..

tater tots should be golden brown and fully cooked by now...

line some in a baking dish.

After you've placed the tots, begin to put the meat mixture on top of them..

even it out..

add some cheese! add however much looks right to you

arrange the remaining tots on top and bake for about 20-30 minutes on around 350.

after you've baked the casserole for a while and its heated throughout you should add some ketchup on top. It makes it even better. I always use Heinz.

ketchupppp.

After you finish putting ketchup on it, turn your oven on broil and put the casserole back in. Let the ketchup cook a little bit, I usually take it out after the ketchup isn't shiny but isn't burnt. Up to you, I just like the ketchup cooked.

done! :D

spinach stuff

2012-04-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I buy the bagged fresh spinach. I like it instead of lettuce in salads but for cooking reasons I should probably buy frozen or canned. The bag they put this stuff in is ridiculous. It is so thin, crackly and loud. It rips so easily too. That is why I made spinach stuff tonight. The bag had ripped and so the spinach needed to be cooked asap before it got all weird.

I usually just make regular Popeye spinach with some old school pepper sauce. But this was different and turned out pretty good.

I used:

1 10-ounce bag of fresh spinach leaf

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

fresh grated parmesan cheese

ricotta cheese

1 jar of mushrooms

some garlic powder

After getting the spinach out of the already ripped annoying spinach bag, I put it all on a plate. Which was way too small for all of it but whatever, it worked. :P

Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet and tear the spinach leaf up in bunches

add the mushrooms, make sure you drain all the nasty mushroom juice off of them first though.

some garlic powder..

now, let the spinach and mushrooms cook down...

this looks about right to me.

add 2-3 tablespoons of ricotta cheese.

stir..

its going to look a little weird

add the fresh Parmesan cheese to the top

stir the cheese into the spinach mixture

be careful not to burn the cheese up.

beans & cornbread

2012-04-24T20:12:00.001-07:00

Beans & Cornbread

Beans & Cornbread is easy to make and easy to mess up. It could go either way.

If you've never made pinto beans before you must soak them before you cook them. If you don't, its a mess. Seriously.

So, get about 1 pound of dry pinto beans and about 2 cups of water

Pour the dry beans in a bowl and put the water over them, you want them to be covered. Sort through the beans and get any weird stuff like rocks out.

After the beans soak up the first 2 cups of water [or however much it took you to cover yours] add more water until they are covered again. Let the beans soak for several hours. I left mine in water overnight.

After the beans have soaked properly, drain them in a colander.

The soaked beans should be ready to go into your favorite trusty cooking pot. This is my favorite cooking pot. My mother had sent it to me as a gift one year and I called to thank her for it and it turns out the company she sent the pot from had actually sent the wrong item. She never ordered a cooking pot for me, but I kept it anyway.

Put enough water to cover the beans and turn the heat up to medium..

cover the pot with a fitted lid and wait for...

30 minutes! Mine actually started boiling before then so about 15-20 minutes you should check them. If they're pretty hot and boiling good enough turn the heat on about 2-3/simmer.

At this point, I add stuff. I didn't measure any of it either.

I also added 3 or 4 bullion cubes.

I like to buy pre-cooked meat that is already chopped, it's worth it. Seriously, who wants a big ole' ham hock in their beans? Not me.

I took the time to cut it up even more and cook it longer in the skillet before adding it to the beans.

add the ham..

stir it up.

omg, don't forget the jalepenos!

stir in some jalepenos and cover and continue to simmer the beans..

wait it out...

In the meantime, make your cornbread. I like to use Jiffy brand mix. The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of milk and 1 egg along with the contents of the package. I like to add a little bit of sharp cheddar shredded cheese and jalepenos to the mix.

plain cornbread..

add some cheese

stirrr.

grease a cooking dish with butter

smooth batter out into greased dish.

add some jalepenos ..

push them into batter with a fork or spoon or whatever you're using. add some more cheese to the top, bake in preheated 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes

yumyum.

back to the beans..

if they seem to still be too watery after all that simmering, turn the heat up to medium and take the lid off for a while.

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

these look done.

^_^

chicken salad

2012-04-23T18:17:00.001-07:00

Chicken Salad. Not my favorite food but I had the ingredients for it and needed to use them up.

I'll have to get used to having a blog, I already had these things mixed up before I realized I wasn't taking pictures. I do not usually measure things. So as you can see, I used:

2 cans of white chicken meat in water

2 eggs

real mayonnaise until you have a consistency you are comfortable with, i don't use too much. i dont like things freakishly thin or soupy.

some pepper

some garlic powder

and some sweet relish. i like sweet relish better than dill relish.

and here are the above mentioned ingredients mixed together..

boil your eggs.. i always put some salt into the water and let them simmer on medium for a while.

oops. i forgot to put a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce into the salad. so i added some.

I used a can of Pillsbury crescent rolls.. bake as directed.

the eggs have finished boiling and are still a little hot. i used an ice cream scoop to crack the shell.

peel and rinse the boiled eggs.

slice

chop

add the eggs to your chicken salad mix

gently stir.

put some chicken salad onto a crescent roll

done.

potato soup

2012-04-23T14:11:00.000-07:00

i am not much of a soup person but today i wanted to try this. plus i needed a first post for this blog.

4 16oz bottles of water

1 package Bear Creek soup mix [i hope your store has more choices than mine.]

bring 8 cups of water to a rolling boil.. i use bottled water for all cooking because i have a well. the well is weird to me.

pour, pour.

a watched pot never boils. turn the heat up if you're impatient.

i cant eat this stuff plain. i will add some cheese and soul food seasoning to mine.

finally, a rolling boil!

pour that stuff in there.. and whisk.

or use a strange large fork like i did. i should buy a whisk.

simmer for 15 minutes

on medium heat.

lookin' good!

nomnomnom. i also added some dry chives.