New Recipe

I'm not sure what to call this. Mexican Bake? It was delicious. I don't usually measure things out much. I kind of just go by look and feel so the measurements are estimates. This is one the kids enjoyed too, well, my younger two did. My older two are tired of beans.

Mix together all of the following in a bowl
2 cans chili beans (or dried and soaked)
1 can corn
1 chopped onion
1 tsp chopped cilantro
1 can of tomatoes (can subsitute with salsa)
1 tsp cumin
chili powder to taste

spread into a glass baking pan

on top pour corn bread mix. You can use a box mix or the following, which is yummy.

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp sugar (not neccessary)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
mix and spread on top of bean mixture in the glass pan.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until the corn bread in done

Enjoy!

New Session Option

The house is still full of sickness. Just when I think we are all getting better some of us start getting worse again. I can't wait for Spring and everyone to get better! I'm looking forward to being able top open up the house and air it out! I'm exhausted.

I'm sharing a sampling of a small photo shoot I did with my daughter recently. This is a new set up choice for photography sessions I am trying out. I really like it. I think I am going to call it, the Angelic Session, the Purity Session or the Dreamland Session. Something along that line.

Updates

First off, I am doing well. I have only one lymph node that I can feel that fluxuates in size. I'm sure there are others doing the size dance, growing and shrinking but they are not obvious to touch. I go back to the Oncologist in March for a check up.
My daughter went for her full hearing tests. She did much better then at the school test. She does have some low frequency hearing loss but it is not as bad as first thought from the results of the school test. She does not require hearing aids at this point. She will need to be checked again in one to two years to see if there has been any progression of loss. Unless she starts showing obvious signs of loss, then she is fine for now.
Sickness is running rampant in the family. All 4 kids are sick. One of them with pnuemonia and bronchitis. Two of them go to the doctor tomorrow and I'm hoping they have not progressed to pneumonia too. They are all in good spirits though.
My second oldest son turns 14 today. We celebrated yesterday and we bought him a drum set. He has had a growing interest in drumming for a few months now. Drum set for him, ear plugs for me!
Also... I am in the process of starting my photography business up again. About time, isn't it?
It has been one year since my diagnosis and now that I am pretty sure that I am not dying tomorrow or even next year, I am ready to start living for today again. For a while there I didn't feel I could give my clients the stability and guarantee of my work, I am ready to be able to offer that again.
So I am in the process of getting set up to start again. The new website will up and running soon and I will be taking on limited amounts of sessions to begin with. There will be some changes to my business then in the past. Over the past year my style and my focus has been refined and that will be seen in my work.

Yummy healthy snack

Banana Roll-Ups

I mixed up some organic peanut butter with some honey and a little ground flax seed. Then chopped up some banana into small pieces and mixed it into the peanut butter mixture. Spread it on tortillas and roll up. I used small tortillas. My kids loved these.

Vegan Poop

I believe I have mentioned that I have received some apprehension of changing over to a vegetarian diet from 2 of my sons. They are my oldest sons, ages 13 and 18. My oldest son has taken pictures with his phone to show his friends vegetarian meals I have prepared and made him eat. We have hit a new level, now that I am transitioning to vegan from vegetarian.

In attempt to heal my body of follicular non-hodgkins Lymphoma I have also been trying to keep sugar out of my diet.

I miss sweets! So I tried to come up with a healthier natural candy/dessert that I could indulge in. When my 13 yr old son CJ came into the kitche and saw me making something, he asked me what it was. Before I could answer he piped in, "Uh Oh, is this vegan?"

I replied with a "yes"

He said, "It looks like vegan poop!"

So, this recipe has been affectionately named Vegan Poop curtesy of CJ. My 5 yr old daughter and I LOVE this sweet treat.

Vegan Poop

• 1 cup rolled oats


• 1 cup almonds


• 2 cups raisins (I prefer Newman's Own organic raisins)


• 1 tbsp. Brown Rice Syrup*


• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg


• 2 tsp. cinnamon


• extra cinnamon to coat after mixed together

This is so quick and easy plus there is no baking involved!

Put the almonds, oats, nutmeg and cinnamon in a food processor and let it run until it is finely chopped into almost a dust, like flour. Then add in the raisins, and brown rice syrup. Let the food processor run until the mixture pretty much rolls up into a big ball (this can take a little while). Take it out of the food processor and place it in a bowl. You can refrigerate it now for an hour or more to make it a little easier to work with or you can go ahead to take pieces and roll into logs about 2 inches long and half an inch wide. Then place them in a bowl of cinnamon and roll them in the cinnamon to coat. Another option rather then the logs is to roll them into marble sized or a little larger balls and roll them in the cinnamon to coat. Refrigerate once made and they will last quite a few days. I am finding I like them in the little balls so I can just grab one when I go in the fridge and just pop it into my mouth. They really make a great quick little treat to satisfy that sweet craving.
Ofcourse, use all organic ingredients if possible for the healthiest treat.

*You could use honey instead of Brown Rice Syrup

The Date

My husband and I went on a date last weekend. It isn't often we get to do that. Our plan was to go to eat and then see the movie The Bucket List.
Since we have become vegetarians, and most recently I have changed over to vegan...it makes it difficult to find places to eat at in our area that can occommodate our diet. We decided to try Ruby Tuesday's. We had been told that they offer a nice salad bar with organic greens. They also offer a vegetarian burger.
On our way there a seagull flies down and lands in the road a ways in front of us. My husband, thinking he was being funny, sped up as if he was trying to run the seagull over. In his mind the bird would ofcourse fly off before he got to him. Well, the seagull did fly up and FLEW RIGHT INTO OUR WINDSHIELD!
As many know, I am a huge animal lover. I was terribly upset by the situation and angry at my husband. However, since we were on our way to having an evening to ourselves I tried to hold back my feelings but I couldn't stop he tears. Jim kept saying, "I'm sorry! I thought it would fly away!" Then he would add "but it was too stupid!" Ugh!
As we get to Ruby Tuesday's I am still wiping tears away. We are seated and I ask the waitress what is in their vegetarian burgers. She didn't know and went to ask the manager for me. He didn't know either so he came out to our table with large piece of cardboard box from the freezer with the ingredients on the side. This made me giggle and perked me up a little. The burger was okay, a bit dry but it was fair.
With me being upset about the bird, Jim decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea to see The Bucket list, a movie about two cancer patients who are dying. So he suggested Atonement, a movie that he been reported as being the most romantic movie of the century...however, what we didn't know is both main characters die in the end of the movie...haha oh well, so much for happy endings!
Now that the evening is over and a few days have past, I can find humor in the evening. Oh, and by the way, I thought Atonement sucked. It started out pretty good but the second half of the movie drug by. One scene went on for so long and was so boring I thought I was going to pull my hair out. Do yourself a favor and read the book, skip the movie.

Growing up

This week my oldest son turned 18 and graduated highschool and my youngest child got her first real hair cut.
My 5 year old daughter decided she wanted her hair cut. She had 16 inches cut off and is donating it to Locks of Love, an organization that makes wigs for children who have no hair.