10 Recipes to Ham Up the Holidays

Many of you will be serving up a holiday ham this Christmas season but how many ways can you cook a ham? Let's find out...

Image from Taste of Home website

1. Traditional Holiday Ham-- Here is a traditional recipe from Taste of Home that is sure to bring back memories of Grandma's kitchen. It is meant for a crowd and uses an 8-10 pound bone-in ham with pineapples and cherries, it looks delicious!

2. Country Ham-- This is another Taste of Home recipe that is sure to please. This ham is meant for a smaller crowd and uses a 3 pound boneless ham. Yum!

3. Glazed Ham-- Check your local grocery store for presliced hams with glaze packets. I have used these and they always turn out fantastic but just in case, here is a list of glaze recipes that are sure to be yum yum yum.

4. Christmas Ham-- This is another traditional recipe but this one comes from Paula Deen, it also involves orange marmalade, which is my favorite marmalade.
 

Photo from Food Network
website

5. Deep Fried Ham-- Here's another one from Paula Deen. If you're not worried about your waistline or cholesterol count  then this recipe is for you (if it's made with love and for Christmas then the fat, calories, and cholesterol are canceled out--unless you are under doctor's orders, do what the doc says).

6. Grilled Ham Steak-- Just feeding one or two? Here is a great way to grill up a larruping good ham steak with an apricot glaze.

7. Holiday Ham Kabobs-- I don't know about your family Christmas but we never have kabobs and to me that is a real same, I just love those little sticks full of yummy goodness. So, why not shake things up and offer these with the meal or as an esthetically pleasing appetizer.

Image by Georgeanne Brennan
from Everyday with Rachel Ray Mag

8. Green Eggs and Ham (yes they're real)-- Does your family have a Christmas breakfast or brunch? This is a fun and whimsical way to spice up your menu and you know it will be easy to make because it comes from Rachel Ray.

9. Ham Salad-- Great with those big veggie crackers or petite sammies to snack on before the big holiday meal and if you run out of time your local deli will have some (it's okay to cheat a little).

10. Hammy Cheese Ball--  To die for! This is an office favorite at my work place. It is great with any cracker you put it with and to make it look fancy you can take some of that confetti ham with some chives and roll the whole cheese ball to coat the outside. It looks great and tastes even better.

Turkey for Few



Photo by Taste of Home



Not everyone is going to have 30 plus family members gathered in their home this Thanksgiving day awaiting a feast-o-plenty. For those lucky few, instead of fixing a huge bird with all the stuffing, casseroles a plenty, pies galore, and all the other do-dads that are synonymous with T-day, why not have a scaled down version of the feast-o-plenty. Here are a few ideas from Taste of Home:



1) Instead of a whole turkey, try just the breast. While your roasting up that chunk of juicy white meat, why not throw in some red potatoes and carrots. Here is a great dish from Taste of Home.



Photo by Taste of Home



2) Not a turkey fan? How about a Sweet N Moist Ham or a Savory Pork Loin Roast instead.

3) For a yummy side bake some butternut squash with raisins in a delish syrup sauce.



Photo by Taste of Home



4) Want a light, sweet side dish? Try fixing a simple fruit salad with apples and grapes, you could even through in some dried cranberries to turkey-day it up.



5) Can't decide which pie to fix? Try combining some of your favorite pies to get the best of both worlds. Here are a few pies to ponder:



Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Caramel-Pecan Cheesecake Pie

Four-Fruit Pie

Peach-Pear Pie



Photo by Taste of Home



What sort of yummy things do you have on your holiday table?