I think we will have a ham again this year. Still not sure about the sides, though. But I still have time to decide.
Ham has the advantage of being easy, especially if you buy one of those spiral-sliced hams. They come fully-cooked, all you have to do is re-heat and them glaze them. Some hams come with a package of a powdered glaze mix, at my house, that goes right into the trash. I opened one up to check it out once, it smelled nasty. So I prefer to make my own glaze.
Here is one of my favorite recipes:
Ham with Apple-Mustard Glaze
1/2 cup (6 ounces) apple jelly
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
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1 (7-9 pounds) shank portion spiral-sliced ham
For garnish, if desired: pineapple slicesTo make the glaze: Melt the jelly in a saucepan or in the microwave. Remove from heat, and whisk in mustard, bourbon (if using), lemon juice, and cloves. Set aside, let cool to room temp.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the ham in a roasting pan, cut side down (to keep the slices from fanning apart in the oven). Baking time is 8 minutes per pound of ham, about an hour, more or less.
Remove the ham from the oven, and raise the oven temp to 450 degrees F. Brush the ham with the glaze, and return to the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until nice and glazed. Remove, let stand for 10 minutes. To serve, place the ham on its side on a serving platter, fan out the slices, and garnish with pineapple slices if desired. Serves 12 with leftovers.
In other news, I have tried unsuccessfully to burn all of my “23 Days of Christmas” songs to CD…but my CD burner has not been cooperating. I’d love to be able to play them during our holiday dinner. So I will create a new playlist on my iPod and put them all there. I have one of those speaker things that you can hook up to MP3 players, so everyone can listen.
I still wish I could get the stoopid CD burner on this computer to work, though. Wanted to make one for Mike to enjoy in the car!
