Here Comes Peter Cottontail…Ham!

We always have ham for Easter and I always wonder if it’s the baked ham we love or the ham salad sandwiches the day after (that recipe is included), LOL!

Here a few that I’ve made and loved.

The Barefoot Contessa’s Baked Ham and My Mom’s Ham Salad

Glazed Ham

Bourbon Ham

Glazed Spiral Ham

I don’t know what recipe I’m going to be using but I think I’ll be trying a new one!  What about you?

Happy Cooking!

Barefoot Contessa’s Baked Ham and My Mom’s Ham Salad

I told you I was on a Barefoot Contessa jag!  This ham was fabulous!  I can get a quarter of a spiral ham at my store so that’s what I used.  The glaze is delicious and although I am NOT a fan of chutney, this just worked with the ham. I mixed the glaze ingredients differently than Ina ~ she calls for mixing it in a food processor but I was too lazy to drag it out so I just mixed it all by hand and it worked great.

Since it’s just DH and I here at home, we had our baked ham dinner and then I froze the rest.  Last night I stuck the frozen ham in the fridge to defrost and this morning I made my Mom’s ham salad.  There really is no recipe for this so here is how she (and the rest of the family) make it:    I slice some ham into small pieces and throw it in my mini chopper (you could use a food processor or a meat grinder) with a small piece of onion and grind it up, put it in a bowl, add a spoonful of pickle relish and some mayo and mix it up.  That’s all there is to it.  Just add the mayo a little at a time until you get the consistency you want.  Easy peasy!  Use as much ham as you want and just increase the onion and relish accordingly.  Just eyeball it and it’ll be great!

Baked Ham
Barefoot Contessa

1 (14 to 16-pound) fully cooked, spiral-cut smoked ham, on the bone
6 garlic cloves
8 1/2 ozs mango chutney
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1 cup brown sugar, packed
Zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350º. Put the ham in your roasting pan.

Mince the garlic and add the chutney, mustard, brown sugar, orange zest, and orange juice in a bowl and stir until well mixed.

Pour the glaze over the ham and bake for 1 hour, until the ham is fully heated and the glaze is well browned.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Makes 25-35 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

Before I forget, you can now subscribe to my blog ~ you’ll get an email when a new post goes up.  At least that’s the way it’s supposed to work.  I don’t do technical ~ I just follow the directions, LOL!  Anyway, the box is over there on the right.

I know you’re thinking what can be so great about ham and cheese sandwiches.  It’s the topping on the rolls that makes these into something special.  I love this recipe.  It’s great for lunch or parties and, of course, it’s easy to make.  You could also change up the meat and cheese any way you  want.

I got this particular version from a Gooseberry Patch Christmas cookbook, but I’ve seen the recipe in many cookbooks.

Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

3.4 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp poppy seed
2 tsps dried minced onion
2 (12 count) pkgs Hawaiian dinner rolls
1 lb thin sliced deli ham
1/2 lb thin sliced Swiss cheese

Combine butter, Worcestershire, mustard, poppy seed and onion in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat; remove from heat.

Slice individual rolls in half and make sandwiches using the ham and cheese. Place sandwiches on an ungreased 15×10 jelly-roll pan and spoon butter mixture over the top of the sandwiches.

Bake, uncovered at 350º for about 15 minutes. I baked mine a minute or two less.

Makes 12 servings of 2 sandwiches each.

Happy Cooking!

Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups

This recipe is so simple to make and can be used for an appetizer or it would make a great roll-up for lunch.  It’s super easy to make and can be made a day ahead and left in the fridge until you are ready to eat them.  I found the recipe in one of my community cookbooks.

Ham and Cheese Roll-Ups

1 (8 ounce) cream cheese, room temperature (I used light)
16 ounces sour cream (I used light)
1 (1 ounce) packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip dry mix
1 pound deli ham sliced thin (I used Lite Virginia baked ham)
1 pkg flour tortillas (burrito size ~ you need 8 or so)

Mix the cream cheese, sour cream and dry ranch together in a bowl and mix until there are no big lumps of cream cheese.

Put a thin layer of cream cheese mixture on a tortilla, leaving about a 1/2 inch space around the entire tortilla. Fit some of the sliced ham on top (you can cut it to fit).

Roll up tightly and then place in a piece of saran wrap and roll up the saran wrap tightly around the rolled up tortilla.

Repeat until all ingredients are used.

To serve as an appetizer, take off the saran wrap, cut the unsightly ends off and throw away and then cup up the tortilla into about 1 inch pieces. For sandwiches, cut the ends off and then cut in half.

Makes 10-12 servings as an appetizer or 8 as sandwiches.

VIEW PRINTABLE RECIPE HERE!

Happy Cooking!

Glazed Ham

Nope, I haven’t had my gall bladder out ~ some days are better than others.  May 11 can’t get here soon enough!

Anyway, I made this ham recipe on Easter.  It really flavored up the ham really well and it was fairly easy.  The hardest thing was toothpicking the pineapple and cherries on. I adapted the recipe from Taste of Home.

Glazed Ham

1 (8-10 pound) ham
1 (20 ounce) can pineapple slices
maraschino cherries
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Put the ham on a rack in a baking pan. Place pineapple and cherries on ham with toothpicks.

Pat the brown sugar over the entire ham. Gently pour the pineapple juice (leftover from slices) over the top of the ham. Some of the brown sugar will fall off ~ that’s OK.

Bake uncovered, according to the directions that come with your ham. Mine baked for about 3 hours. While the ham is baking, baste frequently with the brown sugar/pineapple juice in the bottom of the pan.

Makes 18-20 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Tea Sandwiches

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I’ll post my St. Patrick’s Day recipes tomorrow so I can take pictures ~ we are having Guinness and Beef Pot Pie, Irish Soda bread and Mint Cheesecake

I made three different kinds for the bridal shower ~ ham salad, dill chicken salad, and cucumber chicken salad.  All three worked well.  Yes, I should have cut the crusts off the bread but I was pressed for time.

I have already posted the dill chicken salad recipe here. I cut up the chicken a little smaller but otherwise made it the same way.

The cucmber-chicken salad recipe is from Recipezaar and can be found here. I made up half the mixture the day before the shower.

The ham salad is not really a recipe but a way to use up leftover baked ham.  My Mom made it for years and I have been known just to bake a ham so that we can have  the leftovers for ham salad sandwiches.  Here is what I do:  I slice some ham into small pieces and throw it in my mini chopper (you could use a food processor or a meat grinder) with a small piece of onion and grind it up, put it in a bowl, add a spoonful of pickle relish and some mayo and mix it up.  That’s all there is to it.  Just add the mayo a little at a time until you get the consistency you want.  Easy peasy!

Happy Cooking!

Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

What is so special about hot ham and cheese sandwiches you are asking yourself.  When they have this special spread on them, they are special.

Seriously, these things are GOOD!  I used the recipe as a guide to make three sandwiches.  I think you could make up these sandwiches and put them in your freezer and them bake them for 30 minutes or until they are hot and the cheese has melted.

Hot Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

Spread:
1/4 cup butter, softened
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish mustard
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1 teaspoon dill seed or dill weed

Sandwiches:
8 slices Swiss cheese
8 slices cooked ham (you can use as much ham as you like on your sandwiches)
8 sandwich or hamburger buns

Preheat oven to 300º.

Combine butter, mustard, onions, poppy seeds and dill seed or dill weed. Spread insides of buns with this mixture. Place a slice of cheese and a slice of ham inside each bun.

Wrap buns in foil and place in preheated oven. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until cheese has melted.

Makes 8 sandwiches.

Happy Cooking!

Bourbon Ham

As if there was ever any doubt ~ I LOVE bourbon.  I can’t stand to drink it but I do love to cook with it.  I have recipes for bourbon everything, LOL!

I have made this ham several times and I made it again for Christmas Eve.  It gives the ham a really nice flavor.  The recipe makes a ton so you can easily cut it in half and still have plenty to baste with.

Bourbon Ham

1 cup honey
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/4 cups bourbon
1 1/2 cups orange juice
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
6-8 lbs ham, fully cooked

In a microwave safe bowl, microwave honey and molasses at HIGH for 1 minute. Whisk in bourbon, orange juice, and mustard.

Remove any skin and excess fat from the ham and place in a roasting pan. Pour glaze over the ham.

Bake at 325º for 1 1/2 hours or until a meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the ham registers 140º. Baste with glaze in pan every 15 minutes.

Makes 12-14 servings

Happy Cooking!

Glazed Spiral Ham

I’m not that big a fan of spiral hams ~ I think they have a tendency to be dry but this recipe worked out really well.  It also has one of my very favorite ingredients ~ horseradish.  I could eat horseradish right out of the jar ~ YUM!

Glazed Spiral Ham

1 fully cooked sprial-sliced ham (8 to 10 pounds)
1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained
1/2 cup apricot jam
1 tbsp. spicy brown mustard
2 tsps. prepared horseradish

Place ham on a rack in a large roasting pan. Cover and bake at 325º for 1 1/2 hours.

Combine the pineapple, jam, mustard, and horseradish and spread over ham. Bake, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 140º.

Makes 16-29 servings.

Happy Cooking!

Breakfast Casserole and Four Fruit Compote

This is my go-to breakfast when we have company and on holidays. Both are easy and can be made the day before. The casserole recipe came from The Pines Plantation Inn and I have been making it for about 10 years now and the fruit recipe came from an old issue of Taste of Home. The casserole can easily be halved which I do often and you can change up the ingredients to suit your fancy.

Breakfast Casserole Supreme

1/2 stick butter
1 small onion — chopped
1 small green pepper — chopped
2 -3 medium tomatoes — chopped
12 eggs — beaten
1 24 oz bag frozen hash brown potatoes
1/2 to 1 pound cubed ham, thin sliced ham, cooked crumbled bacon, or sausage
3 cups cheddar cheese — shredded

Melt butter and place in bottom of 13 x 9 baking pan (glass). Spread potatoes (still frozen is ok) in bottom of pan. Sprinkle chopped veggies over potatoes Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle meat over potatoes and veggies At this point, you may continue or casserole may be refrigerated overnight.

Pour beaten eggs over potatoes. Bake at 350º for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle cheese evenly over top. Bake another 5-10 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.

Remove from oven and let set for approx. 5 minutes. Cut into squares and serve with spatula.

Servings: 6-8

Four Fruit Compote

1 can (20 ozs.) pineapple chunks
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbs cornstarch
1/3 cup orange juice
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 can (11 ozs.) mandarin oranges — drained
3 to 4 unpeeled apples (use green and red) — chopped
2 to 3 bananas — sliced

Drain pineapple, reserving 3/4 cup juice. In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Add pineapple juice, orange juice and lemon juice. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly; cook and stir 1 minute longer. Remove from the heat; set aside. In a bowl, combine pineapple chunks, oranges, apples and bananas. Pour warm sauce over the fruit; stir gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate.

Servings: 12