Easy And Elegant Ham Food

EASY AND ELEGANT HAM

Steps:

• Drain pineapple, reserving juice; set juice aside. Place half of the pineapple in an ungreased 6-qt. slow cooker. Top with the ham pieces. Add cherries, remaining pineapple and reserved pineapple juice. Spoon marmalade over ham. Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours or until heated through. , Remove to a warm serving platter. Serve pineapple and cherries with sliced ham.

CHICKEN AND HAM CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir in the flour and heat until bubbly. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and smooth.
• Remove from heat and stir in the chicken, ham, noodles, celery, salt and ground black pepper. Transfer this mixture to a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.
• Bake at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with the cheese and top with paprika, as desired. Return to oven and bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly.

SHEET PAN HOLIDAY HAM DINNER

Steps:

• Arrange 2 oven racks in the middle part of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
• For the green beans: Add the green beans, olive oil, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper to a sheet pan. Toss to coat and spread out evenly. Bake on the upper rack until starting to get tender, about 15 minutes.
• For the stuffed mushrooms: Meanwhile, pop the stems from the mushrooms and use a measuring spoon to scoop out any remaining stem. Reserve the stems and bits for another use.
• Combine the breadcrumbs, Parmesan, cream cheese and parsley in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the filling evenly among the caps.
• For the ham: Line another sheet pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.
• Microwave the marmalade in a microwave-safe bowl until melted, about 45 seconds. Add the orange juice, cornstarch, rosemary, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 2 tablespoons water and whisk to combine.
• Arrange the ham on the prepared sheet pan and brush the glaze on both sides of each ham steak.
• After the green beans have cooked for 15 minutes, remove them from the oven and push them over to the right side of the sheet pan. Add the mushrooms to the left side and drizzle the filling evenly with the olive oil.
• Place the ham on the upper rack and the green beans and mushrooms on the lower rack. Bake, frequently brushing the ham with the glaze, until the glaze starts to thicken up, about 25 minutes.
• For the rolls: Remove the green beans and mushrooms from the oven. Push the green beans to the middle of the sheet pan and arrange the dinner rolls on the right side. Brush the rolls with the melted butter.
• Bake until the dinner rolls are softened, the ham glaze is thickened and glossy, the green beans are tender and the mushroom filling is golden, about another 10 minutes.

SUPER EASY BAKED HAM

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350F and make sure the racks are all the way on the bottom so there is plenty of room for the ham.
• Bring ham in packaging to sink and have a pan big enough to hold it nearby. I find a 9"x13" baking pan works great. Make sure your pan is at least an inch deep.
• Take ham out of wrapper and rinse it with cool water if you think it feels icky. Then find the plastic doohickey on the large cut end and remove it. At this point you can trim off some of the fat if you would like. I usually don't, as most of it renders out into the pan or is very easy to cut around.
• Place ham in pan with large cut side down.
• Stab with the business end of a probe style thermometer. This is the kind which has a long metal skewer on one end (the business end), a long cable, and a box which has all the controls and readouts. Make sure the probe goes through a large area of meat, not fat, and doesn't hit one of the bones down the center of the ham. Set your thermometer to alert you when the ham reaches 140°F.
• When your oven has reached 350F, put the ham in (be careful, it's heavy).
• Wait until the thermometer alerts you. Then remove the ham from the oven (remember, it's heavy and now it's really hot, too). Remove the probe, and either start slicing or put on a pretty platter and let your family/guests ooh and ahh. :).
• NOTE: The skin gets very black and crispy. Do not panic, the meat is juicy, I promise. Simply cut the skin off where it is really crispy and get to the meat underneath.
• ALSO: If you do not have a probe style meat thermometer, or need an idea of timing for preparing the rest of your meal, an already cooked (city) ham will reheat to 140F in approximately 15 minutes per pound. So a 12 pound ham will take 3 hours. Ish.
• And FINALLY: I like to carve off the leftovers and separate into 1 pound amounts. I then put these into labeled quart sized freezer bags and freeze for casseroles, pasta, or beans another night. The bone can be put into a labeled gallon sized freezer bag, and then thawed for yummy beans another night.