It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

It's snowing like crazy here today and my living room is a mess of wrapping paper, boxes, tape, scissors and name tags. Ahh the joys of being "santa".

It's been a crazy week here in the Hays house. We got several small storms last week that kept me shoveling snow most days, we had Grandma Ange & the boys over for dinner and gingerbread house decorating on Thursday and Friday we finally closed on the new house YAY! We're just waiting now to get keys because it doesn't fund until Christmas Eve. A great Christmas gift, yes- but we were hoping to celebrate Christmas in our new home and it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Saturday we had Jason's Schlumberger christmas party. We had a great dinner and they raffled off some really good prizes like a gun safe, touch IPods and a big screen tv... we didn't win any of it.

At the Christmas Party

The new house sans Snow

Saturday morning we decided to take advantage of the great snow and took the kids out to the golf course and the Honda Hills to go sledding. It was cold.. 8 degrees to be exact.. but we had so much fun. We're planning a new tradition to go sledding the weekend before Christmas every year.

Sledding at the "Honda Hills"

Dad & the kids sledding at the Golf Course


Gracie was NOT happy


Jake & Madi getting ready for a run in the big sled

Mom pulling Gracie back up the hill

Jason and I both finished up the last of our Christmas shopping this week and now we're just waiting on those wayward items we ordered online that are supposed to be here by Christmas Eve.

On the menu this last week was this amazing Jamaican Chicken & Rice recipe. It was a little spicy so cut the chipotle if you don't like spice, other than that we loved it. I substituted Chicken Breast for the chicken thighs & added a can of black beans to the rice in addition to the red beans. Quick & Easy dinner:

1 cup sliced onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
4 pounds skinless chicken thighs
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon minced chipotle chiles in adobo sauce with 1 teaspoon sauce from can
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Lime wedges, for garnish

Directions
Arrange onion, celery and carrots in bottom of slow cooker. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper and arrange over vegetables.
In a medium bowl, whisk together tomato sauce, lime juice, chipotle chiles with sauce, and garlic. Pour mixture over chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or high for 3 to 4 hours. Serve half of the thighs with this meal (topped with diced avocado and cilantro and garnished with lime wedges) and reserve remaining thighs for another meal.

Jamaican Rice and Peas:
2 cups instant white rice
1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
1 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can red beans, drained
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
1/4 cup chopped scallions
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a medium saucepan, combine rice, coconut milk, water, beans, thyme, and lime zest. Set pan over high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 5 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. Fold in scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper.

(Courtesy of Foodnetwork.com)

Easy Cheesy Chicken Fettucini Alfredo

So good even my kids ate it!

1/2 c. Butter

2 c. heavy whipping cream

1/2 c. fresh shredded parmesan

1/2 c. shredded mozarella

2 Tbsp. chopped garlic

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. pepper

1 bag. frozen chicken breast strips

1 12 oz. box fettucini

In 3 quart saucepan melt butter then add cream stirring frequently over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil. Boil one minute. Add parmesan, mozarella, garlic, pepper & nutmeg. Simmer until heated through. Heat chicken according to package directions and combine with sauce. Boil fettucini according to package directions and serve topped with chicken & sauce mixture.

Serves 4-6

This is perfect paired with bagged salad from the produce department and parmesan breadsticks from the bakery or refrigerated biscuit section of your supermarket. Dinner that tastes like you spent all day in the kitchen but really only took 2o minutes!

Confirmations, Carpentry & Cookies

(Today's Blog title compliments of my creative husband)

Jason was going to confirm Madi last Sunday but since I ended up with strep throat we had to wait until this Sunday. He got as far as saying her name before he started to choke up, which made me lose it altogether and I sat in the pew bawling like a 2 year old while my incredibly wonderful, spiritual, worth priesthood holding husband confirmed our daughter a member of the church. I'm so lucky to have come into my children's lives at this time so I can share these growing experiences with them and Jason. We even took Jake and Gracie to

NURSERY!

That was an experience. Jake freaked out and ran screaming for the door after 30 seconds and Gracie just ran in and started playing with the toys. Once the teachers got Jake interested in the toys, however he was just fine and it was Gracie who had a hard time for the next two hours. I got to go to Sunday school then J & I traded and he got to go to Priesthood. Oh well, a little at a time we'll try again next week.

Last night I came home and whipped up a batch of gingerbread cookies. Jason remembered me struggling to get the right thickness for each sheet of cookies and continually adjusting the cooking time accordingly so he came up with a plan. We don't have a kitchen supply store here .. so he took some moulding we had out in the garage & cut it down to make me some guides for perfect cookies everytime. Leave it to my husband, some baseboard moulding & a sawzall to make gingerbread cookies. The kids thought it was great fun to roll them out

though!

Big Softie Gingerbread cookies

3/4 c. full flavored molasses

3/4 c. butter

3/4 c. packed light brown sugar

3 2/3 c. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. ground ginger

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 egg

In 3 quart saucepan over medium heat, heat molasses, butter & brown sugar until boiling stirring occassionally to blend well. Remove from heat & cool. In large bowl combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, & nutmeg. Blend egg into cooled molasses mixture. Stir molasses mixture into flour mixture until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour. On floured surface roll half of dough to 1/4 inch thickness & cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Bake at 325 for 7-9 minutes or just until dough no longer looks "wet" and edges are lightly browned. Cool on wire rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Pride Goeth Before a Fall... The Ward Christmas Party

The ward christmas party was this past tuesday and each family was asked to bring two dozen cookies. Of course this brought out the competitor in me. I couldn't take just ANY cookies. They had to be the BEST cookies.. the most TALKED about cookies...and presentation was key. So I worked all the day before to figure out what I wanted to make and finally settled on some cute poinsettia cookies. Thank goodness I didn't wait til Tuesday... These cookies took forever to make (about 3.5 hours to make 2 dozen) but they turned out so cute.

I was handed my pride in a handbasket that night however, when my husband came home sick and we didn't even go to the Christmas party. *sigh* Instead I spent an hour at the urgent care with him and sent my slaved over project to the party with my mother -in- law. She says everyone talked about them... but I wasn't even there to enjoy it. Oh well there's always next year. By the way... Jason is fine. He tested negative for strep but they sent him home with amoxicillin anyway since he'd been exposed all weekend. He was back to work the next day.

Sugar Cookie Poinsettias

1 box sugar cookie mix
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 egg
1/3 cup softened cream cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for surface

12 sucker sticks

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a bowl, combine sugar cookie mix, melted butter, egg, cream cheese, and flour; mix together to form dough. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill one hour.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough, 1/2 at a time, into a 15 by 9-inch rectangle. With sharp knife, cut dough into 3-inch squares. Place 3 inches apart on ungreased, parchment-lined cookie sheets. Lightly press about 1 1/2 inches of wooden stick into bottom center of each dough square. With sharp knife, cut the dough diagonally from each corner to within 1/2-inch of center of each square. Sprinkle about 1 teaspoon red sugar over each square. Fold alternate corners of the square to the center to form pinwheel, overlapping the dough at the center pushing down gently to seal in center. Press one M & M in center of each pinwheel.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Using spatula, immediately remove from cookie sheets to wire racks to cool.

Note: this makes a VERY soft dough, so in between batches I put it back in the freezer. Also don't try to remove them from the cookie sheets using the stick, use a spatula and let cool completely before handling sticks.

My presentation container was just a 2 dollar metal bucket from walmart stuffed with floral foam and covered in green tissue paper. I then pressed the sticks into the foam.

On The Menu

So other people blog about their hobbies, interests, activities etc. I've been blogging mostly about what our little family is up to. I've decided to add in a segment devoted to one of my favorite pasttimes- FOOD.. particularly what I'm cooking, baking etc.

My first installment- Last night's dinner. Homemade Lumpia & Fried Rice

Why does my fried rice look like ground beef in the top picture? (top: fried rice -- bottom: lumpia with sweet & sour sauce)


UPDATE: Recipes

Lumpia

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup grated carrots
1 cup minced bean sprouts
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon soy sauce
40 lumpia wrappers
2 cups vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS
Place a wok or large skillet over high heat, and pour in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. Cook pork and ground beef, stirring frequently, until no pink is showing. Remove meat from pan and set aside. Drain grease from pan, leaving a thin coating. Cook garlic and onion in the same pan for 2 minutes. Stir in the cooked pork, carrots and bean sprouts. Season with pepper, salt, garlic powder, and soy sauce. Remove from heat, and set aside until cool enough to handle.
Place 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the filling diagonally near one corner of each wrapper, leaving a 1 1/2 inch space at both ends. Fold the side along the length of the filling over the filling, tuck in both ends, and roll neatly. Keep the roll tight as you assemble. Moisten the other side of the wrapper with water to seal the edge. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap to retain moisture.
Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat, add oil to 1/2 inch depth, and heat for 5 minutes. Slide 3 or 4 lumpia into the oil. Fry the rolls for 1 to 2 minutes, until all sides are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately.

Makes 40 lumpia rolls


Pork Fried Rice

2 cups jasmine rice
1 cup cubed ham pieces (you can find these in the lunchmeat section usually)
1 16oz bag frozen peas & carrots
1/4 c. chopped yellow onion
1/2 c. chopped green onions
2 eggs beaten
4 tablespoons soy sauce (you can adjust this to taste)
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons vegetable oil

Cook Jasmine rice according to package directions. Let cool slightly. Heat oil in wok or large skillet and stir fry rice until slightly golden brown. Add ham, peas, carrots & yellow onion stirring until just heated through. Make a well in the center of your rice and add eggs cooking until set. Stir eggs into rice mixture. (if you're unsure of this you can scramble your eggs in a seperate pan then add to rice mixture) Add soy sauce, salt & pepper, onion powder and garlic powder and continue cooking until again heated. Remove from heat and sprinkle green onions on top.

Serves 4-6