Easy Holiday Recipes

Delicious Holiday Food

GLAZED BAKED HAM

You can use a whole or half smoked ham, picnic, whatever you desire for this recipe. I use a fully-cooked, water-added type ham in this recipe. Ready-to-cook hams, which I use most often, require a little different roasting method. Keep in mind that leftovers are great for sandwiches, ham salad, or breakfast and, if you use a large enough roast, thick slices can be cut and grilled.

Feature Box

Roasting Time

15 minutes per pound at 325° F. (internal temp: 140°)
GLAZE

½ cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon yellow mustard
3/4 cup orange juice
Whole cloves
Pineapple slices and/or maraschino cherries (optional)
Score top of ham using diagonal cuts about 1 inch apart and about 1 inch into meat. Insert 1 clove into each square (or less if desired). Place in roasting pan and set in preheated oven. Stir together the brown sugar, mustard and orange juice. Brush all over top of ham. Roast according to above time, basting with pan juices and additional glaze every 20 minutes. If desired, place pineapple slices with cherries in center, secured with toothpicks, on top for final hour or so of roasting. Remove from oven; let rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

SEVEN-LAYER SALAD

INGREDIENTS

1 medium head romaine lettuce, shredded
1 cup coarsely chopped celery
½ cup coarsely chopped green pepper
½ cup coarsely chopped red pepper
1 cup coarsely chopped onion
1 10-ounce package frozen peas, thawed
4 hard-cooked eggs, sliced
1 cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1-½ tablespoons sugar
1-3/4 cups medium sharp cheese, grated
8 strips bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
Place lettuce in bottom of large bowl or 13x9x2 pan, preferrably clear. In layers, add celery, peppers, onion, peas and eggs. Mix together mayonnaise, sour cream and sugar. Spread on top. Top with cheese and bacon. Refrigerate overnight.

Festive Green Beans with Almonds

1 ½ lb Green beans, stemmed
½ c Onion, sliced & quartered
1 tb Olive oil
1/4 c Water chestnuts, slivered
1/4 c Almonds, slivered & toasted

Cut green beans into 3" long pieces. Steam until tender, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat & set aside. Heat oil in a large pot & saute the onions until soft, 5 minutes. Stir in the reserved beans along with the water chestnuts.
Transfer immediately to a serving dish, sprinkle with almonds & serve.

Christmas Candy

1 pound (468 gms) white chocolate
1 cup small pretzels, broken into small pieces
1 cup pecans, chopped

Melt the chocolate. Stir the pretzels and pecans into chocolate and drop by teaspoon onto waxed paper. Handy edible gift suggestion.