Easter menu

I feel like such a slacker. I have been meaning to post this for a week now... so please forgive me for not getting it up in time. I realize Easter was LAST weekend and it may be pointless to even post this now... but it was so delicious, it deserves to be up.
I had never cooked a ham before, but it didn't seem that hard (and it's not). You don't even need a recipe, the little card attached to it will tell you exactly how to cook it. But I wanted mine to be EXTRA special. Start off by finding a decent 10lb-ish spiral sliced ham. Mine was from the Springfield brand. Highly recommended, and not overly-priced like some of those "Honey" brands. I will also list the recipe for "funeral potatoes take 2" and a super yummy dessert salad.

For the ham:

1 (10lb) fully-cooked spiral cut ham
2/3C brown sugar
1/3C apricot jam
1 tsp dry mustard powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300.
2. Place ham cut side down on sheet of foil that has been placed on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix together the sugar, jam and mustard in a small bowl (here I added half the bag of glaze from the ham). Brush onto ham using a pastry brush. Reserve any leftover glaze. Enclose the foil around the ham.
3. Roast for 2 hours, or 14 minutes per pound if your ham is a different size. Apply the remaining glaze 20 minutes before the ham is done.

Note: if making funeral pots, start them when you add the final glaze and they will be ready for the oven when you pull the ham out.

Funeral Potatoes - take 2

Ingredients:

1 large bag frozen hash browns
1/2C butter, plus extra for buttering dish
1 can cream soup
1 pint sour cream
1/2C chopped onion
2 C shredded cheese (I like to add about an extra cup)
1C smashed corn flakes
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the soup, sour cream, and cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Add onions.
Butter a 13x9 baking dish and add the potatoes. Pour cheese mixture over and combine well. Cover with corn flakes. Bake for 45 minutes.


Apple Dessert Salad

Ingredients:

1C shredded coconut
1C mini marshmallows
1C pineapple tidbits
1C mandarin oranges
1C cored, diced apples
1C sour cream

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients well and allow to chill at least an hour.

Taco Soup

I KNEW Winter wasn't over... last week was just a teaser! Everyone was saying, "Yay, Winter's over... welcome Spring!" Not me. I knew it wasn't over...
BUT... making up my 2 week menu plan a week ago, I was a little nervous putting "Taco Soup" down for tonight's dinner. What if it were a beautiful 70 degree sunny day and we craved outside BBQ? Oh well... I put it on the calendar... and lo and behold... it was cold and windy today, making for the PERFECT stay-inside-and-cook-soup day! And what an easy, delicious soup it is! I got the recipe from my Relief Society's blog, and tweaked it a bit to make it my own. I didn't really measure the spices, but I did start out with 1 pkg Taco seasoning. By the time I added the other ingredients, it just wasn't "taco-ey" enough for me. By the time I deemed it "perfect" I probably had used a whole 2nd package. Start with one package and taste as you go.... until you find your "perfect" pot of soup!
I gotta say one thing... this is the one meal my husband actually gobbled down without talking or gawking at the TV. He finished before I did! It was amazing!!


Taco Soup

Ingredients:

1lb ground hamburger
1 onion, diced
1tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1pkg. Taco seasoning
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
1 can corn, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 can great northern beans, drained
3 C water
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Brown hamburger with onions. Drain oil. Add a little salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Add taco seasoning. Transfer to a large stock pot. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Allow to simmer for 20-40 minutes. Enjoy with sour cream, shredded cheese and Fritos chips.

*Could also throw everything into a crock pot and cook on Low for 6-8hrs.

Funeral Potatoes w/ Ham

Is it raining where you are? What's better than a nice plate of comfort food on a day like today? Today's recipe is the epitome of comfort food. It's got potatoes, cream, cheese, cereal, and ham. Yum. My mom gave me the recipe over the phone, so really... nothing's measured. But in her genius words, "Throw it in, and hope for the best!" Love her.

Funeral Potatoes with Ham

Ingredients:

8-12 md. peeled and sliced potatoes
2 sm. onions (or 1 lg) diced
Diced Ham (whatever you may have left over from a previous meal)
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom soup
about 1 C Sour Cream
about 1 C milk
about 2TBS dill *optional
about 2TBS dried chives *optional
about 2 C grated cheese
about 2 C corn flakes

Instructions:

Basically, throw in first 7 (9 if you're using the herbs) ingredients in a casserole dish, top with cheese and corn flakes and bake for about 45-65min at 350, until potatoes are soft.


Super easy, and a great pot luck item! If you're LDS, like me, you've had these very potatoes at many funerals/missionary homecomings/farewells! Perfect.