ham — A Southern Fairytale

Scalloped Potatoes, Coffee Malts, Berry Lemonade, Macaroni and Cheese and Ham.

All featured, devoured and LOVED at our Spring Brunch last weekend.

(full disclosure: I hosted the Spring Brunch House Party as a part of my Kitchenista fabulousness)

I’m going to show y’all the video and then share the insanely delicious and easy recipes.

Now that you’re rockin’ to the tunes and drooling over the recipes.. I’m going to share a few recipes with you.

As part of my Kitchenista “ista-ness” I got to host a Spring Brunch House Party and had friends over to eat, play, laugh and welcome Spring.

The biggest hit of our Spring Brunch had to be the Scalloped Potatoes. They were kind of ridiculously easy to make and I must admit, that while I’ve always been a bit intimidated by scalloped potatoes… these potatoes were crazy easy to make and only could have been easier if I’d had a mandolin. Still, slicing each potato by hand.. not really that big a deal.

With Easter this weekend and many other spring parties and summer bbq’s coming up.. this is a recipe that you need to bookmark, it’s delicious, simple and crowd pleasing.

Scalloped Potatoes

Recipe: New Look Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Ingredients

4 1/2 lb red potaotes (9 ish, cut into 1/4 inch thick slices)
16 oz Fat free Sour Cream
3/4 lb (12 oz) Velveeta, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 lb Oscar Mayer Smoked Ham, chopped
4 green onions
1/4 C Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Heat oven to 350
Cook potatoes in boiling water in large covered saucepan 10 to 12 minutes or until potatoes are JUST tender.
Remove 3/4 of the potatoes; place in a large bowl. Add sour cream and mash until smooth. Stir in Velveeta, ham and onions. Gently mix in remaining potato slices.
Spoon into a 9X13 baking dish that has been coated with baking spray; top with parmesan.
Bake 30 minutes

Quick Notes

* I used 6 green onions stalks * I used the Kraft 3 Cheese Blend because it’s my favorite

Variations

* I added 2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Microformatting by hRecipe.

I wish that I’d gotten a good picture of this macaroni and cheese. It was silly easy to make and everyone devoured it. I actually caught Nathan eating it cold out of the serving bowl at the end of the day.

I used wheel shaped pasta because when I went shopping I had the 3 yo Monkey with me and that’s what he requested.

Recipe: Easy Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

2 cups (8 oz.) elbow macaroni, uncooked
3/4 lb. (12 oz.) Velveeta cheese product, cut up
1/3 cup milk
1/8 tsp. pepper

Instructions

Cook macaroni as directed on package; drain well. Return to pan.
Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Cook on low heat until Velveeta is melted, stirring frequently.

Quick Notes

I added: * 1/4 C Cream Cheese * 1 extra Tbsp pepper * used the whole 16 oz of Velveeta Quite seriously y’all.. this was the EASIEST and most delicious Mac and Cheese I’ve ever made

Variations

* I used the wheel pasta because that’s what the 3 yo wanted when we were at the store.

Microformatting by hRecipe.

The Easter Ham Recipes can be found Here

The Berry Lemonade Recipe can be found Here

This party was hosted as a part of my Kitchenista “istaness” and while my time is compensated, the opinions are entirely my own.

Here’s what’s actually kind of funny about this post and these recipes; I do not like the traditional brown sugar maple sugar glazed hams that overpopulate the grocery stores around the holidays.

That being said; I wanted to try to do two easy recipes that incorporate glazes that would be rich and satisfying but not too cloyingly sticky sweet and overpower the natural flavor of the ham.

Bourbon Brown Sugar Ham

3/4 to 1 1/2 C Bourbon Whiskey
2 C Brown Sugar (I think Dark would be best, I only had light)
1 Tbsp ground mustard

What temperature you heat your oven to will depend on your ham, boneless, bone-in etc.. follow the directions on your ham package.
Place your ham fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Lightly score the fat about 1 inch apart.. pour 3/4 C bourbon whiskey over ham and pour 1 C water in the bottom of the roasting pan.
Cover tightly with foil or a roasting pan lid.
Bake your ham as directed.
Mix brown sugar, mustard and remaining bourbon whiskey in a bowl to create a paste. When you have 40 minutes left for your ham, pull the ham out of the oven and remove the foil/lid. Slather the paste onto the ham, use a spoon or basting tool and drizzle the juices from the roasting pan over the ham. Re-cover the ham and place it back into the oven for the remaining amount of time.
Pull the ham out of the oven, allow it to cool and then slice.

The brown sugar combined with the bourbon gives this ham a savory, rich, moist amazing flavor. This was a hit with the kids and the adults alike and let me tell y’all.. cold served on a toasted roll with a bit of mayonnaise, a crisp lettuce leaf and a juicy tomato slice.. oh yes That’s leftovers that are anything but boring!

Rachel Note: I would love to show y’all gorgeous sliced ham pictures but, I don’t have them. I butchered the ham while attempting to carve it and then.. we were all so hungry from SMELLING the hams all day.. we tore into it like y’all wouldn’t believe.

This next recipe is a teensy bit more involved but oh mah holy hell, y’all. It’s all kinds of amazingly delicious.

Sweet pineapples, smoky spicy chipotles, the sweet hint of fresh ginger and the naturally sweet honey… wow. This recipe really takes Ham to the next level.

Pineapple Chipotle Honey Glazed Ham

1 (20 oz) Can crushed pineapple or sliced pineapple with 1/2 the juice drained out
1 to 3 chipotle peppers ( I used two and didn’t seed them) This adds a delicious smoky heat to this sweet and savory glaze
1 C honey, if you can, use local, wildflower honey.
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
salt and pepper, to taste.. (I added 1 Tbsp of RSS)

Put all ingredients into a food processor and puree.

Follow the directions on your ham package as to oven temp and times.
Place your ham, fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Put 1 C water in the bottom of the pan and then drizzle 1/2 C of the glaze over the ham.
Cover tightly with foil or roasting pan lid and bake according to your package directions (This was a 10 lb ham.. 325 degrees F.. 25 minutes per pound)
When the ham has 1 hour left, put the rest of the glaze in a medium saucepan and bring to a slow simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Remove ham from oven; uncover and Pour this over the ham; Put back in the oven and bake for the remaining 45 minutes.
Remove ham from oven, let cool and slice.

Rachel’s Note: AGAIN with no sliced ham picture.. this was served at a party at my house, Saturday and there was soo much going on, I forgot to get a *good* picture. It was however.. devoured and EVERYONE kids included loved it and every person there asked for the recipe!

Another glaze that I think would be AMAZING on Ham: The Orange Chipotle Marinade from This Recipe
Two great Easter Side Dish recipes can be found on last week’s Easter Menu Planning Post

I would love to hear what you’re planning on serving for Easter, or what your favorite way to serve Ham is!

If you’re linking up, Thank You! I love visiting your blogs and reading what y’all are cooking up! Please make sure to link up your recipe URL, visit others and share the love and link back here in your post so that others can find the recipe sharing love, too! Thanks y’all! Happy Cooking!