Honey Glazed Holiday Ham

We usually eat ham for dinner once a year during the holidays, so we have to make it good! This is a great recipe I found online. It's delicious, and even my picky kids love it! I usually double the glaze so we have extra for dipping (in other words, we like bathe our ham in it!). 

Ingredients:

1 (5 lb) fully cooked sliced ham 

1/4 cup whole cloves

1 cup pineapple juice

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 oranges, juiced (or use prepared OJ)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the ham in a roasting pan and insert cloves. In a saucepan, combine all other ingredients; stir and simmer until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Pour the glaze over the ham, and bake uncovered for about 1 hour. Pour extra sauce on ham just before serving.

Easy Corn Casserole

Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner always includes this dish! It's really good, and really easy to make.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

1 (8.5 oz) package Jiffy dry corn bread mix 

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

1 (14/75 oz) can creamed corn

1 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease a 9x9 baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Spoon mixture into prepared dish. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Chris's Homemade Pancakes

If Chris is home in the mornings, chances are the kids will convince him to make pancakes. He loves making breakfast, and loves cooking them on the ginormous electric griddle! Here is the recipe he uses. 

2 cups flour

2 cups milk (or buttermilk)

2 eggs

1/3 cup melted butter

1 tbps sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Beat the eggs in a small bowl, set aside. In a large bowl, blend the dry ingredients thoroughly.

Add the butter, milk and eggs to the dry ingredients and stir until the batter is just blended with no large lumps.  Spray a griddle or non-stick frying pan with spray or lightly oil. Heat until drops of water sizzle.  Pour spoonfuls of the batter onto the surface. When bubbles rise in each pancake, it is usually time to flip it. Cook until golden brown.

Roasted Chicken

There are a million ways to roast a chicken. One of my favorites is the Pampered Chef recipe using the fluted stoneware. My other favorite is this one! Not much is measured, so it's really easy. This makes for a very tasty, moist chicken!

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken

1/4 cup mayo

1-2 cloves crushed garlic

Rosemary, dried or fresh

olive oil (or softened butter)

salt

seasoned salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the mayo, a little olive oil, salt, garlic and rosemary. Take the chicken and run your fingers between the skin and the meat so that you lift the skin up a bit. Take the mayo mixture and using your fingers, push the mixture up under the skin, covering as much of the chicken as you can. Brush some olive oil and sprinkle some seasoned salt over the chicken. Bake for about 1 hour, or until done.

Bill's Awesome Spaghetti

Bill (aka "Boo" to our kids) is a dear friend of our family, and is also a pretty awesome cook. He makes this every time he goes camping, and it's soooo good!  I'm posting it to my blog not only to share it with others, but to keep it stored somewhere safe so I don't have to call him for the bazillionth time asking him for the recipe!

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 package of McCormicks dry spaghetti sauce mix

1 package of Italian sausage (spicy is the best!)

1 large can of tomato sauce

2 cans diced tomatoes (roasted garlic, balsamic, or mexican blend are best)

1 small can tomato paste

1 package angel hair pasta

Cook pasta; brown ground beef and sausage together, then add all ingredients. Add to pasta. Not much more to it than that!

Family Pasta Salad

This is another great salad for bbq's and potlucks. Super easy, and always a hit at get-togethers! You light mayo and non-fat yogurt if you want to lighten it up a bit.

Ingredients:

1 package (16 oz) uncooked cavatappi pasta (I use bowtie or spiral pasta too)

1 package (8 oz) mild cheddar cheese, cut into 1/2" cubes

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

1/2 cup sliced celery

1/4 cup finely chopped onion

1 small carrot, grated

1 cup mayonnaise

1 container (8 oz) plain yogurt

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground black pepper

Cook pasta, drain. Place pasta in bowl; add cheese, peas, celery, onion and carrot, mix gently. Mix mayonnaise, yogurt, salt and pepper in a bowl, then stir into pasta. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Spanish Rice

My dad, the true Mexican that he was, made spanish rice at least a couple of times a week. He never measured anything, but it always came out so perfect. I still haven't perfected my dad's rice, but this recipe is as close as it gets. He used tomato sauce, I use boullian cubes, with the end result being almost the same. If you have tacos, enchiladas, or any kind of Mexican dish, you gotta have the rice (and beans) to go with it. And no, Spanish Rice a Roni and canned refried beans don't cut it!

Ingredients:

2 cups white enriched long-grain rice (no Uncle Ben's or Minute Rice)
1-2 tomato boullian cubes, depending on how tomato'ey you like your rice
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cups water

In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and add the rice. Fry the rice until it turns a whiter color, or very slightly brown. Add the onion and garlic. Add the water and tomato boullian cube. Stir, breaking up the tomato and making sure it's dissolved. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer until rice is done, about 15-20 minutes. Don't take the lid off to check it too many times, this ruins the rice. Keep covered until ready to serve, fluff with fork.