Merry Little Christmas Ham

SP drove in snow and on icy roads for two hours to see me on Saturday after Christmas shopping all day. I picked up a spiral ham for us. Truth be told, I have never made a ham in my life, but I was going to give it a try. I called my mom and asked what to do to make it like hers, which is always very good.

Unpackage your spiral ham and place it face down, directly into a roasting pan. Pour a can or small bottle of your soda pop of choice on top. I used Coke, because I had that on hand. I wanted to use Dr. Pepper but, next time. You can use 7 Up, whatever you want. Put into the oven on 250 degrees covered very tightly with foil, or a lid (if you can get one to fit) and cook for 15 minutes per pound. The last half hour, remove the foil and kick the oven up to 350 ish and baste the ham with the soda to brown the outside nicely. That's it. I swear. The ham was moist, delicious, and SP said, "It's not super salty and it has the perfect flavor." Then I told him it was my first ham. We were both impressed. This is a meal you can make for a crowd easily...no sweat. I had a 6 pounder, and I still have a ton left.

I made mashed potatoes and fresh green bean casserole to go with the ham. SP loves my mashed potatoes, which I have learned he thought were pretty ordinary until he had mine. The only difference, I think, is that I drain my fork tender potatoes, immediately add butter to coat, put the lid back on to melt it slightly, then mash with just butter to completely coat the mashed potatoes in it, and then I add a little bit of cream...heavy cream, sour cream, half and half, whatever you have on hand, but not milk. Milk makes mashed potatoes pasty, like wallpaper paste, imho. Cream makes them creamy even when you want to reheat leftovers.

For the casserole (it's on the can of French's onions), combine a can of cream of mushroom soup with 3/4 can of milk, whisk together. Then add hericot verts (fresh skinny green beans of the French variety) and toss to coat. Grind some salt and pepper and mix once more, then top with a few french fried onions and bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so. For the last ten minutes, add more onions and let them brown with the lid off. It's done when it's really bubbly.

Oh, and I popped some Grand's butter biscuits in because what's ham without biscuits?

Tip: The next morning I made potato pancakes with some mashed potatoes, an egg, breadcrumbs and some dill, salt and pepper. Just a little butter flavor Crisco and a bit of butter in the pan made them nice and brown. And, of course, we had a nice slice of ham with our over hard eggs...SP and I both like our eggs over hard. Who knew? That was a discovery we made on one of our first overnights when we went to the Coffee Pot diner in Kenosha. Jinx, you owe me a Coke! We're still that disgusting to watch in public, which is nice for us but not so nice for you.

Enjoy your romantic ham dinner, or have a party and make it an easy night.