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Friday, December 26, 2008

My cute little family!

here are some more pictures Zoie took of my family. I love them!!! Especially the one of the kids running around Jake and I... seriously a day in the life of the Stephens family!

Thursday, December 25, 2008

A twilight Christmas!

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Monday, December 22, 2008

Ham glaze recipe

Well I made this yummy ham yesterday for the Ronald McDonal house and I had some requests for the recipe.
I just bought the hams at costco. But you can literally use any spiral cut ham. Get one that has a "glaze packet" included.

1 quart of Orange Juice
1 container REAL maple syrup
2 cloves garlic pressed
zest from 1 orange
couple dashes of ground ginger
2 TB mustard
Glaze packet from ham (it has all the spices you need)
3 TB honey
1 stick of butter
Mix well in a sauce pan. Add all ingredients and reduce liquid by 1/3. Once the ham is warmed, pour glaze all over the ham and make sure to get it in all the slices too! Bake for an additional 20 mins until the ham "candies" on top. your roasting pan will be full of juices and more glaze... keep basting the ham with the juices until ready to serve. I save the juices in the fridge so the next day if the ham dries out in the fridge, I can re-moisten it! YUMMY! Let me know if you try it and like it!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Can anyone relate?

I for one would actually love a new kick butt DUAL bag vacuum! hahaha!

Friday, December 12, 2008

Kids holiday pictures!




These were taken last week and I love them! Jackson is such a goof ball and would ONLY smile if Zoie gave him that ginormous sucker! POrter doesnt know what to do about a camera in his face...and Lily.. well she is a poser!

Another reason why I love Zoie...


Zoie did our Christmas pictures this weekend, and it was an adventure to say the least! But all in all... she did a FANTASTIC JOB and I just love love love her!! And I am very happy that so many of my friends now have a new photographer!! ZOIE ROCKS!! Go to her web page.... its on my blog under "farmer family"
Oh and she also designed the Christmas card for me too! She is amazing! Not only does she deserve a HUGE pat on the back for her work, I think "farm boy" and the little farmers deserve some fun! haha!

Monday, December 8, 2008

Honeybaked Ham recipe...YUM-O!!

Raise your hands if you love the crunchy bits of heaven coating that yummy ham on your christmas table?ME ME ME ME ME ME! Raise your hands if you hate that a store can charge almost $80 for a ham!! YIKES!! Well here is a recipe that will flip your lid its so good! And you do need a blow torch for it to work!



Recipe makes 8 servings
Honey Baked Hams are basted in fruit juices and then glazed with a mixture of brown sugar and honey. Here is a copy cat recipe from Family Circle Magazine. Have to say, I love Honey Baked Hams. Makes 1 7 lb. ham.
SERVES 8


Ingredients
1/2 (7 lb) spiral cut smoked ham (@ 7 lbs. fully cooked)
1/2 cup pear juice
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1-2 tablespoons dijon mustard
few dashes of ground cloves
few dashes of cinnamon
Directions
1 Preheat oven to 375 ° F.
2 Place ham, cut end down, in a large baking pan.
3 Mix pear nectar and orange juice in a bowl.
4 Bake ham for 15 minutes basting frequently with juices.
5 Mix brown sugar and honey together in a small bowl.
6 Brush mixture over ham and bake for another hour or until internal temperature reads 140 °F.
7 Honey Baked Ham corporation uses a butane torch to carmelize the glaze to a crust.
8 The ham is placed on top of a huge metal drum covered with foil and carmelized

This can be done with a pre cooked spiral cut ham..... warm in over with all the sauce repeat basting, then torch it until the ham blisters and crunchy bits of heaven appear!! If you arent a Ham lover.... Honeybaked ham also has a honey baked turkey breast. And this recipe can be used on that too! Just go to the store and get a turkey breast and cook it as directed on the package..... and then continue with the carmelizing recipe! YUM-O! We usually do both, turkey and ham. We are a sandwich loving family and there is nothing better then leftover ham and turkey on a sandwich, or in a breakfast quiche, casserole, etc etc YUM-OOOOOOOOOOO!

Holiday diet

This made me laugh when I read it, so I had to steal it!

HOLIDAY EATING TIPS
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact,if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving chocolate balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can - And quickly. It's rare. You cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it! Have one for me … Have two! It's later than you think. It's Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again.

8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards!

10. One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips: Start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner.

Remember this motto to live by: "Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO!! What a ride!"

Sunday, December 7, 2008

I am alive!

Sorry I havent posted in a while. Its been a crazy couple of weeks! We went to California for Thanksgiving. Took the kids to Disneyland, beach did other cali only adventures. Made me miss my old "hood" but not enough to move back, thats for sure! The kids LOVED the beach. Lily said she wants to move to the beach and play in the water ALL day! Disneyland was fun. It was a gloomy day outside at first, but cleared up, gloomed up again, cleared up and then at the late wee hours of the night started to rain, so we left! Jackson wandered off while JAKE was watching him in Toon town while I was with Lily trying to meet the princesses. I get a phone call from jake, "uh jackson is missing" thinking he was just probably 10 feet away goofing off I didnt take much belief in that he was REALLY missing! I then called Jake back asking if jackson was OK, he said "no he is still missing". Then the panic arose! I grabbed Lily, even though we were about 5 people away from meeting Lily's idols..... and we booked it for Toon town! 20 mins pass and still no Jackson. As a mother, I panicked! I was freaking out YELLING for Jackson. Other parents were starting to panic asking if they could help....people all over toon town were searching for MY SON! I ran to a "body guard" Minnie's guard! And asked ever so calmly....."uhh my son is missing.... he was here, and now he is gone...what do I do!!?" He literally SKIPPED and pranced grabbed my hand and said "oh this happens everyday, not to worry, we will find your boy!" I wanted to smack him for being so happy so he could see how scared I was.... but I THEN realized...oh he does know how scared I am, and thats why he was trying to make the moment not so scary! Thank you body guard guy! After an additional 10 minutes of trying to find him.....we saw a heard of people surrounding a area....I raced for it, thinking "oh my goodness....we found him,but is he hurt!?" He was such a stinker, and he was SAFE! He had a few cops with him, a cop dog..... 2 moms who were amusing him. A vendor man who gave him tons of grub (mickey mouse pretzel, frozen lemonade, chips, cookies, and a sucker!) dude,the kids made out with like $40 free food! WAHOOOOO! He then saw me and goes "oh hi momma". I talked with the police officer, showed him my ID, signed a paper stating that we found him, and literally hugged the women who found him and stayed with him until I found him! They told me "oh we have kids,and we knew there was some mom out there hysterical! BINGO!! jackson wandered off a few more times after that, but we werent too far behind him! He is officially back on the leash!
We then headed home the saturday after thanksgiving...and stopped in Vegas to see our friends who just moved back there from Utah.We went to a fun 50's diner, chatted, walked around the packed chaotic strip met the pussy cat dolls, oh I mean the pirates from the treasure island street show! hahaha Oh rachel..... that was FUN! haha! walked and walked more walking....and finally made it back to the car and back to the hotel! I was so tired after that trip! I think my doctor was right when he told me not to go....and to take it easy. Well we all know I am stubborn and i do what I want, right. I am now STILL swollen, still have leg cramps, and pounding head aches. I see my doc in a few days, and I am scared hahaha! I will post some pictures tomorrow..I need to make dinner,and deliver it to my friend who just had a baby this weekend!