Easy Recipe for Delicious Ham- My Own Version of Copycat Honeybaked Ham

My husband's family LOVES Honeybaked Ham. For years, his family would purchase a Honeybaked Ham at the mention of any holiday meal, but when all of their kids got married and started having kids like crazy, the grandparents wanted to spend their money on gifts for the kids instead of a hunk of ham. I knew it was a sacrifice for them, so I committed (to myself) to find a recipe that was delightful.

Pinterest helped me very much in my endeavors, and the copycat version that I found was very good. With a few tweaks, I think I have it spot-on now! Check out this step-by-step version, followed by the recipe!

Ham

First, I was given this bone-in ham in a frozen state; I thawed it in my fridge. It was already fully cooked and smoked, but not yet sliced, so I did my best to cut it into pieces without demolishing it. I sure could use some lessons on slicing up meats! I lined my roasting pan with two layers of Heavy Duty aluminum foil in a crossed pattern to be sure to cover all of the pan... I hate doing dishes! You can get a pre-sliced ham if you'd like, and you don't have to use the foil if you like to scrub pots and pans.

Glaze

Next up, we are going to make a beautiful syrup to pour over the ham. We're basically cooking sugar into almost a candy state along with a bunch of yummy spices and then letting it set on the ham.
First into the pot is sugar. Plain old granulated white sugar.

Onion powder goes in next. It adds quite a savory element to the mixture.Then cloves, paprika, and ginger. Ginger is not my favorite flavor, so I go easy on the ginger in this version. You can add a bit more if your family likes the flavor more.

                                                   

                                                   

                                                   

Alton Brown is one of my favorite TV Chefs, and he always touts the superiority of freshly ground nutmeg, versus its pre-ground counterpart. I always grate my own as a result of AB's teachings! (My hubby got me this nice little Microplaner a few years ago, and I use it often to zest citrus, shred up Parmesan cheese, and grate some nutmeg into my favorite dishes!)

                                          

Next, add some water to turn this mixture into a paste.

                                                 

Stir this very well and then put on the stove. You're going to need to turn on the heat to this and cook it for several minutes. Also, turn your oven broiler on. Mine only has a "HI" setting and a "Lo" setting. I put mine on low and took out the top oven rack to give me plenty of space.

Cook it over medium high heat for several minutes; the mixture will start to bubble around the edges. Keep on cooking until it comes to a nice boil.  The color will even change just a bit because of all the bubbles.

Take off of the heat, and begin pouring it over the ham. You can spoon it, ladle it, or just go for it and pour from the pan! I chose to ladle it today.

Keep spooning, ladling or pouring until you get the ham covered nicely.

Once your ham is covered, you're going to put your ham in the oven under the broiler, and you're going to WATCH IT. Almost immediately, you're going to hear sizzling. Do not walk away. You can even leave the oven door open to watch it. 

I like to turn my ham a few times to be sure that all of the sugary coating turns into a sort of bark.

You want the sugar to caramelize but not burn. Keep turning it as needed.

Your house will begin to smell fabulous at this point when the heat warms up all those beautiful spices.

Look at all that beautifully caramelized sugar bark on this lovely piece of ham! There should be a bit of a crunch. 

You can serve this as it is, you can warm it up so that the meat is warm all the way through, or you can put this whole thing in your fridge and let all the spicy goodness in the coating really sink into the meat.

Let this ham be the star of your family gathering this year! Your guests will "ooh" and "ahhh" over the wonderful flavor of this ham!

Recipe for Copycat Honeybaked Ham

Ingredients

Pre-cooked, pre-sliced, bone-in ham

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp paprika

a couple tablespoons of water

Instructions

Line a roasting pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil with excess on each end. Use an additional layer to form a cross with 3-4" excess all around the pan. Place the meatier side of the ham face up in the pan. If desired, score the meat. Pre-heat broiler.

In a saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients. add enough water to form a thick syrup. Heat over medium- high heat stirring until the syrup reaches a full boil. Boil one minute until almost a candy state. Remove from heat and ladle over the ham. Cover all of the visible areas of the ham.

Place in the pre-heated oven. Watch the ham carefully. Turn the pan as different areas of the ham glaze become caramelized. Keep turning as needed. This process takes five to ten minutes. When the glaze is caramelized onto the ham, remove from the oven.

To Serve Cold: 

Cover the ham with the excess foil, put the lid on roasting pan, and place in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until ready to use; several days in the refrigerator will allow the flavors to penetrate the meat.

To Serve Hot:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees, and cover ham with excess foil. Bake for 30 minutes until ham is hot through.

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My Kids Keep Hitting Me with (Mile)Stones

Most everything about being a mom hurts. From the process of becoming a mom, to the headaches from sleepless nights, to the weird pain transferred to moms when their kids get injured. Motherhood is painful. I think the worst pain of all isn't physical; it comes when you can't seem to pause long enough to take it all in.

I knew when our youngest was born that he would be our last. One of my favorite parts of all three of our children has been the very tops of their heads when they were first born. All three of my kids were born with thick, beautiful hair (thanks for all the heartburn, kids!), and I absolutely loved it. In the wee hours of the morning, I would nurse them, rock them to sleep, and then gently brush my face across the extra soft newborn baby hair. I would linger an extra moment soaking in that baby smell and that smooth, fine, pristine feeling against the skin of my cheek and then brushing gently against my lips as I would kiss the head of the little one as I laid him or her back in their bassinet, so I could feebly attempt to sleep for a few moments.  One by one, my children somehow learned to sleep through the nights, and they lost that gentle softness on the tops of their heads, and they lost their tolerance for allowing me to mess with their hair at all. 

Recently, our youngest hit me smack in the lips with a (mile)stone. I went to kiss the top of his precious not-so-little-anymore head as I laid him down for a nap, and his hair is COARSE. Not gentle. Not soft in any manner of speaking. His baby hair is GONE, and it has been replaced with the bristles of a brush instead.Our last baby has lost all of his precious super-soft baby hair and traded it in on little boy hair. This stuff is not suitable for snuggle time with mommy.

Speaking of snuggle time with mommy, our oldest was in desperate need of a nap today. Want to know why? I sneaked into her room last night and gave her a flashlight, so she could keep reading her book after it was time for lights to be out. She's only six, but she's a girl after my own heart. She just couldn't put the book down. I stood last night in the hallway with her door closed and listened in pain as my six-year-old read page after page after beautiful page of a chapter book about the curious narrator Nancy Clancy. That stone hit me square between the eyes, and it brought tears to my eyes. 

My four-year-old is registered for Kindergarten. Ouch! But she's so little and fragile. I wonder if I will weep all day long on her first day of school like I did when her sister went to her first day of Kindergarten. I might. It hurts just thinking about it now.

I often wonder if the pain of motherhood eases as time progresses, but I can already see as I look at moms who are in different stages of life that the answer is a solid "NO".  But the words to this hymn seem to be a clear message from above.

Day by day and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here.

Trusting in the Father's wise bestowment,

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is wise beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best.

Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Mingling toil with peace and rest is part of pain and pleasure? Hmmm. That's an interesting thought to ponder. These words are beautifully true. Even though it is painful to watch my children grow and not need me as much anymore, there is an element that is a bit freeing. That loss of sweet baby gentle hair also means that I am not dealing with the burdens of burping a baby and changing a diaper at 2 a.m. That little girl sitting in her bed reading by the light of a flashlight means that though she's not my itty bitty infant anymore, she is growing more independent and strong everyday. Kindergarten registration means that I will have a bit more time to take care of our home next year instead of rushing to and from preschool twice each day.

The stones just keep coming. Some days they're bigger than others, and some days they make me laugh instead of cry. I guess all these milestones aren't meant so much to hurt moms as they are to encourage children to grow along their way. Those first smiles. Taking first steps. Holding a bottle. Crying when mommy leaves. NOT crying when mommy leaves. First words. Moving beyond pacifiers.  Roasting a marshmallow in a campfire. Sleeping in a big boy bed. Potty training. Dressing independently. Learning the alphabet.  Losing that tooth. Those little fingers figuring out for the first time how to pull those shoe strings into a solid bow on that shoe. Singing a solo in front of the church.  My prayer is that we are rejoicing outwardly for each of these stones that hit us and hurt us moms and dads as we look on these young intricate little people growing into beautiful, generous, kind, loving, grounded, responsible, intelligent individuals.




View my post about Five Tips for Saving Money on Easter Baskets When You Have Children.

Five Tips for Saving Money on Easter Baskets When You Have Children

This year, I have earnestly tried to get a handle on what my husband and I consider unnecessary spending at holiday times. After holidays, our home is littered with stickers here and candy there and kids arguing over whose plastic egg is whose. We decided we are not spending half of a paycheck toward items that aren't important or lasting.

That said, I do want to create a sense of excitement and celebration in our household when celebration time is upon us. Here are some ways that I save money on Easter this year or start early for next year! (Please forgive my dreary photos for this post. I was snapping photos of the kids' already prepared baskets in the basement while my unsuspecting kids played nearby. They almost caught me! I would hate to ruin their Easter surprises!)

1. Reuse Baskets

Some families have traditions surrounding Easter Baskets, while others buy new ones based on yearly trends. Our kids have received baskets from us, their grandparents, aunts and even some friends from church. I save them from year to year, as long as they are in good condition. This year, I was really tempted to buy a super cute Paw Patrol bin for my daughter, but it was $15! No way. The plush was cute, but there's no way that it would hold up for years to come in storage in my basement, and I realize that just a couple of years from now, she will be too cool for Paw Patrol. This year, I am spending $0 on baskets for my kids. We only have three children... see our collection of baskets with experience?

2. Reuse Easter Grass

I remember as a kid, Easter grass was nothing more than an annoyance when I was trying to get the jelly beans out of the bottom of my basket. I would go to the living room with my basket, take out all the goodies, then I would promptly scatter the Easter grass all over the interior of the trash can. 

As a mom though, I see how pretty Easter grass makes my kids' baskets looks. It's festive and exciting. Last year, I had the forethought to scoop the kids' grass from their baskets and place it in zipper bags and store it with all of my Easter things. This year, I am spending $0 on Easter grass for my kids.

See how pretty the grass makes these baskets look, even in the darkness of my basement?

3. Skip the Giant Chocolate Items

Giant pieces of chocolate might create a sense of wonder in kids, but they do not support my efforts to teach my children that Easter is all about Jesus, not a creepy giant rabbit. I am not spending money on chocolate bunnies. In addition to not wanting my kids to fixate on a rabbit, I do not want them to have control over two pounds of chocolate. Instead, I purchased several bags of mixed yummy chocolates that look pretty and festive in their colorful packages. I gave each kid a handful of candies festively displayed in a large container in their Easter Basket, then I stuffed the rest into plastic eggs to hide later at large group family Easter gatherings. There were somewhere between 100 and 200 eggs, and I spent around $10 on candy for baskets and eggs.

Here's another basket.

And another basket...

4. Make Your Own Specialty Items

Pretty packaging sucks me in all the time. I like to buy items for gifts when they look nice, so colorful, bright packages are an excellent marketing tool. Since I am wanting to save money, I want to be smarter than good marketing, and use some of the pretty ideas to spur some of my own projects. The bright colored marshmallow birdies, the patterned colorful chocolates, and especially the orange colored foods that are packaged to look like carrots reel me in. I decided this year, I would try to make my own "Carrots" for Easter baskets. I gathered some clear sandwich bags, green ribbons and string, and orange cheese puffs; then I filled the bags with the cheese puffs, and tied the top at an angle with the green string or ribbon.

Ta DAAA! Carrots! Aren't they cute?

In addition to these beauties, I have attempted making some specialty chocolate covered Easter Egg treats. This recipe for Butterfinger Copycat Eggs is easier than you can imagine, and they are SO delicious! I also tried a very easy version of Mounds and Almond Joy Copycat Eggs with great success. Be creative on making your own items!

5. Skip the Expensive Egg Coloring Kits

Our family delights in coloring eggs. It is a tradition that we look forward to yearly, but those egg kits really pique the interest of my kids... and if I'm completely honest, I'd probably rather use the kit that has the pretty stickers inside too. Those kits are just so tempting! And the box is pretty! And they're not very expensive; they're only a couple bucks!

Seriously though, you probably have everything you need to color eggs in your house already. If you have cups, eggs, a box of the primary colors of food coloring and some kind of vinegar, you're set. The food coloring box probably even has a nice recipe for dying egg shells! If you've already bought yours for this year, don't despair. Use it, and save that cool little metal egg scooper, so your kids can use it again next year. I have kept these cool little cups from when I got sucked into buying this kit a few years ago. We have used them several years in a row now. We draw on the eggs with crayons to add pretty designs before dipping them in color, get our eggs colored nicely, find some stickers that we have lying around, and dress them up. Once we add them to the kids' baskets, the baskets look extra special!

Holidays are a time for celebration, but not for forgetting your budget. We should always be celebrating well within our means and never using holidays as an excuse to pull out a credit card and lose our self-control. What are you doing to save money this Easter?

A Reality Check

We needed help. Serious help. We were sitting at our dining room table trying to figure out where all of our money was going. We had thousands of dollars of income, and somehow we weren't able to make the payments on all of our bills, and we weren't even tithing. When my husband suggested we figure up how much money we were spending each month on food, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Line item by line item, we totaled our restaurant spending that month, and we learned that we had spent more than $800 in the previous 30 days. I was horrified. To add insult to injury, we totaled our grocery store spending, and we had spent more than $600 at the grocery store too! $1400 in one month on food items! And we needed groceries! At that time I reminded myself of this girl!

(No credit for photo from Facebook- I have no idea who made this beauty)

I feel like I should accept the blame for my husband and me because I was the one who was standing in the grocery store every time a whim struck me. I was the one who was trying to fill a hole (caused from missing my family in another state) with grocery shopping and dining out.There were many times that we justified eating out on credit cards or purchasing groceries courtesy of Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Ridiculous, I know.

Thankfully, we made a commitment that day that we would get things under control for the sake of our future, and for the sake of our kids. At that time, we only had one child, and I was pregnant with number two. Our family of three was spending $1400 per month on groceries and dining out. For shame!

I am pleased to say that isn't the case for us anymore. Over the course of the last five years, we have learned all about self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit. We now have a busy family of five, and in the past 30 days, we have spent about $500 on groceries and $200 on dining out! That is a savings of $700 per month for us coupled with a serious lifestyle change! How did we do it?

Let me tell you, the change was especially hard for me.
-First, I tried using coupons, and that works well with groceries and restaurants, but it is a hassle to keep up with expiration dates. For a while, I even had a binder. I was serious.
-I also became aware of sales. I stock up on items when they are on sale. I currently have a nice stash of butter quarters in my freezer because I found them at a great price!
-Then I had to commit to making meals at home and actually eating them instead of eating out.
-Next, I started gardening to get some fresh produce for very little money.
-Then I started canning. I can a lot of the items I grow in our garden, and sometimes people give me their abundance of produce. I can that too. Sometimes, I freeze produce too.
-Most recently, and probably the best for our family has been making a meal plan and using freezer meals. This one is pretty great because it helps with my stress level with finances, cooking, meal clean-up, and health all in one! Check out my Stuffed Shells-Freezer Meal Edition post.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

Stuffed Shells- Freezer Meal Edition

Stuffed Shells

I am so excited about making freezer meals. A few of my friends are attempting a new freezer meal group later this week where each of us chooses a recipe, makes enough for each family that attends, and then we will swap meals at the end. Because I am hosting it this time, I wanted to get mine done early, so I can help others work on theirs while they are in my home. Freezer meals create a sense of peace in me. Weird, I know, but when I know that I have a head start on dinner for the next several days (or even WEEKS!), I can face the difficulties of the day with more confidence. Other freezer meal bloggers talk about how they like to fill their freezers with their meals and then go peek at them from time to time. I may or may not do that. Don't judge. Here's a detailed depiction of why freezer meals are important for our budget.

Stuffed Shells have a lot of steps in the process, but none of the steps are difficult. I made this recipe knowing that I needed to make enough for six young families. The families have as few as three members and as many as five in the largest, so I wanted to be sure to include enough shells for a family of five (two adults and three children) to have a dinner entree.

The first step in my process was to make a big batch of meat sauce. I used  Ree Drummond's recipe for meat sauce as my basis for my concoction. 

I did stray a bit from her recipe because I don't keep wine in the house, and I used a mixture of local raised beef and local raised pork sausage instead of all beef. I am not a fan of onions, so I finely chopped some fresh zucchini, fresh yellow squash, and some red peppers that I found in the freezer. I forgot the bay leaves too. The sauce still turned out great. This makes A LOT of sauce. Seriously, it starts with FIVE POUNDS of meat! 

On with the shells. I cooked three boxes of shells in a large pot of boiling water, to which I added salt and a bit of olive oil to prevent stickage. (Is stickage a word?) Once the shells reached a perfect level of done-ness, I took my whole pot of shells, poured off most of the water, then I turned the cold water on and let the shells cool completely.

While the noodles cooked, I made a lovely filling for my shells. I grated a whole bunch of Parmesan cheese and mixed it together with eggs, ricotta, cottage cheese, shredded mozzarella, and several lovely dried herbs- parsley, basil and lots of oregano.

 Here's how the pretty herbs look poured on top of the ricotta.

 And the mozzarella...

 Here it is all mixed up together. It smells lovely at this stage, but resist eating it unless you fear no salmonella from raw eggs.

Next, we stuff them. I scoop about a tablespoon of the mixture and spoon it into the cooked shells. Then I close them and lay them seam side down.

Three boxes makes A LOT of shells. My kids seemed concerned about my sanity when I counted them... there were 120 to be exact. All the other shells broke apart and I couldn't stuff them.

Next, I added a layer of wax paper to an 8"x 8" foil pan because I have heard that tomato sauce can react with different types of metal. I'm not sure if it would happen with these, but I knew how many of these pans of shells I was planning to make, and I don't have time for an experiment to go awry! I added a couple of spoons full of sauce to the bottom of the lined pan.

Next, I took the pretty filled shells and lined them all up in rows. I fit 18 shells in each pan. Aren't they pretty?

Here's when the meat sauce really gets showcased! Scoop enough on top of the shells to cover them generously. These are going to be baked at a later date, and noodles that get crispy in the oven are not my favorite. 

Smooth out the sauce like so.

Here they all are in their beauty!

This step is exceptionally important. Truly. Labeling bags saves so much time later on! I like to include what is in each bag, instructions for cooking, the date it was made, and the cook's name too. These 8" x 8" foil pans fit nicely in a gallon size freezer bag.

Before the ladies arrive later this week, I will prep sandwich-sized bags with shredded mozzarella to top these yummy pans full of pseudo-Italian goodness and send them home to stock their freezers. I am looking forward to staring into my freezer knowing that we are working together to get a head start on the responsibilities of dinner for the coming weeks.

Sauce:

3 lbs ground beef

2 lbs sausage

2 T minced garlic

2 c minced veggies- zucchini, yellow squash, red bell pepper about 2/3 c each to total 2 cups

6-8oz cans of plain tomato sauce

2 jars of good spaghetti sauce

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 T oregano

1 T parsley

1 t ground thyme

1 t basil

1 T salt

Brown meats in a large pot. Drain and set aside. In the same pot, add veggies and garlic and cook on medium for about 3 minutes. Pour in tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce and tomatoes. Add seasonings and bring to a low simmer. Add browned meat back to pot and simmer on medium low for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

Stuffed Shells:

3 boxes of jumbo pasta shells

5 containers of ricotta

1 large container of cottage cheese

1 lb shredded mozzarella

3 c shredded Parmesan

4 eggs

1 T parsley

1 T oregano

1 t basil

Cook shells according to package directions. Cool. Mix all other ingredients together in a large bowl. Spoon 1 T mixture into each shell. Ladle meat sauce into a baking dish. Place each shell mixture-side down into baking dish. Once your dish is filled with one layer of shells, top with a generous amount of meat sauce.

From this point, you can bake them at 350 for 35 minutes and top with extra mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 minutes. If you want to freeze them, pack for freezer and label. Freeze for up to two months. When you're ready to use, thaw and bake at 350 for 35 minutes and top with extra mozzarella cheese and bake another 5 minutes.

Yield: seven 8" x 8" baking dishes of shells and sauce with a little extra sauce left over. 

I got 120 shells from this recipe for an approximate cost of $50 (including pans and bags); that's about $7.15 per baking dish.

The Grill is On

Grilled chicken and grilled veggies has been on my mind since my husband asked me to go get the grill tank filled. He's craving hot dogs. I'm not going to judge him for that.

Since our youngest can't seem to handle the preservatives in hot dogs, dinner can't just consist of hot dogs, so I decided this morning that we would have a grilled variety for dinner. A mixed grill, if you will.

I started off this morning by getting frozen chicken breasts from my freezer, putting them in my marinade container, and squeezing lemons over the top. Then I sliced up the lemons and tossed them in the container too. Next, I used a packaged vinaigrette dressing mix, followed the directions, and poured the mixture over my chicken breast. Italian dressing would work too, but I didn't have any on hand. Before I let it sit, I added about 2 tablespoons of prepared pesto because I love the flavor of basil on about anything grilled.

Since I was planning to fire up the grill anyway, I decided to soak some bamboo skewers in water while I prepped some veggies. I sliced up some fresh mushrooms, yellow squash, zucchini, and carrots, then I skewered them in patterns. Once they were all on, I put them in a pan and drizzled some vinaigrette over the top

I popped these lovelies in the fridge and headed off to work. When I got home, I hooked up the new tank on the grill, cleaned off the yuk from the winter, and turned all the burners to "High" to burn off the grossness. I used the wire brush on it a few times and let the fire heat up very hot.  Once the grill was ready for food,  I put all the marinated chicken on the bottom portion of my grill. You can see I loaded it up. My philosophy is to use every bit of space efficiently on the grill when I use it. Anything that we don't use today goes in the freezer for another day. I don't typically heat up the grill for just one or two items; I make the whole meal on the grill!

(See the hot dogs in the top left corner? Those are for my dear husband. And my picky daughter.)

Next up, I added the veggie skewers and the few hot dogs to the top rack, so they would not get burned by the high heat on the bottom rack.

Because I have read research about the health benefits of lemons preventing carcinogens in grilled foods, I like to toss the lemons right on the grill with the chicken. And it smells great. I bet the whole neighborhood is ready to get their grills out too after the aromas produced when that yummy vinaigrette marinade hit the heat with those lemons! Yum!

After several minutes, I gave the chicken breast a quick flip. There were some lemon casualties down between the grates of the grill.

The veggie kebabs needed a quick turn too.

Once I pulled it all off of the grill, I paired the grilled goodies with some baked beans and fruit for a fantastic meal!

The kids asked if we could please eat our meal outside on the porch, but alas, the weather is still a bit cold. Eating outside with a parka on takes away the enjoyment of grilled foods.

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Ecclesiastes 3:1

Freezer meal note: For my freezer meal friends, I had four chicken breasts left over from this grilling time, so I chopped up one for tomorrow and put it in the fridge to top my salad for lunch, and then I took the other three and popped them in the freezer for another time when I want to have a low-calorie dinner without a lot of fuss!