Kyle and Adriana Porter love raising their children in the northwest Florida panhandle. Initially, the couple met while they were both in the Navy on the USS Ronald Reagan, which was stationed on Coronado Island in San Diego. At the time, they were both Aviation Boatswains Mates (ABE’s).
A decade of wedded bliss and four children later, this couple couldn’t be happier. Elijah (9) is their oldest and is quite the little athlete keeping busy with basketball and football. Samuel (7) is dabbling in music and learning to play the guitar. Issac (6) is in his first grade and simply enjoying the beach life. Their youngest is Ruth (3), who loves to play Barbies and paint.
“This time of year marks the return of good weather, which means getting back outside until the sun goes down,” Adriana shared. “The kids love playing in the backyard, we all enjoy family walks around the neighborhood with our two dogs, Max and Milly, and lots of trips to the beach.”
The beach is what prompted the Porter’s to stay in the area. They both had moved around quite a bit, being full-time in the military, but their last request before transitioning to Navy Reserves and civilian work was to be stationed in Pensacola.
“Surprisingly, for me, I wanted to stay for the beach and the swampy-looking trees,” shared Adriana. “It’s funny to say, but I didn’t realize how deserty Southern California was until I came to the area. I had never seen trees and landscaping like it before, and I thought it was beautiful. I enjoyed that it was warm most of the year, like California.”
Kyle and Adriana are self-proclaimed foodies. They loved adventuring to all types of restaurants while dating, and now, as a family of six, they enjoy scrolling TikTok for fun meal ideas for their family.
Adriana describes herself as the baker in the family, while Kyle is the chef and does the majority of the cooking. They both work intentionally to expose their kids to different varieties of food, and they have a general rule of trying it before you say you don’t like it.
“We chose this sushi bake dinner to share with GPP readers because our kids love sushi, and it’s a quick and easy one-dish meal,” said Adriana. “All of the kids go back for seconds, and it keeps well for leftovers — if there are any.”
Sushi Bake
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of cooked sushi rice
- 10 oz imitation crab
- 8 oz salmon
- 4 oz cream cheese
- Sriracha Mayo
- Furikake
- Seaweed snacks
- Sesame seeds
- Optional or on half: Green onion and sliced or diced avocado
Directions:
- Cook rice according to the directions on package. Set aside.
- Season salmonwith salt and pepper. You can either throw it in the air fryer and cook it at 400F for 10-12 minutes, or bake it in the oven at 375F for 15-17 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- In a large bowl, shred imitation crab and cooked salmon into pieces. Then add cream cheese and Sriracha Mayo. Mix everything together until smooth and well combined.
- Prepare a 9×9 inch or 9×13 inch baking dish by greasing it with extra virgin olive oil or oil of choice.
- Assemble the Sushi Bake. Start by transferring the cooked sushi rice to the baking dish and gently press down to flatten it out and sprinkle a generous amount of furikake onto the rice.
- Top with a layer of salmon-crab mixture. Gently press down and smooth the surface.
- Bake at 400F for 10-15 minutes.
- Take the sushi bake out of the oven. Top with more Sriracha mayo, chili furikake, sesame seeds, and chopped green onions. Optionally add avocado.
- To serve, scoop a spoonful of sushi bake and wrap it with a seaweed snack. Enjoy!
