Christmas Dinner

Merry Christmas!  I debated about posting tonight.  We had a wonderful Christmas. Great famiy time, a really nice day at Church, good conversations with loved ones from across the country, and a delicious meal. So why shouldn't I post.....well.....It was a delicious meal, but somewhat traditional. And I almost didn't post when I noticed one of my friends had posted a picture on Face Book of her Christmas Dinner.  It was a huge bowl of small red potatoes, corn on the cob and Crab Legs. Laura, that looked wonderful.  So what if we had the tradtional Ham, Potatoes, Salad and dinner roll.

It was delicious. Obviously I decided to post about it. I really have nothing to say about the salad, it came from a bag this time.  And against what I usually do the rolls were store bought also, so I have no secret recipe to share there. I will promise you there will be bread recipes in the future however I really did take it easy this year. But let's discuss the ham.

I usually buy a nothing special ham and make it great.  If you remember at the start of this blog I mentioned that I am into inexpensive cooking, so that menas no fancy spiral sliced ham for us. But I did slice it nice and serve it pretty...see...

I scored the top of the ham so all the good stuff could get down into it.  Now here's where it gets tricky.  You probablly want measurements. Well for this dinner I did not measure one singel thing...sorry. But don't panic, you can do this on your own!  I sprinkled dry mustard all over the top.  Honelstly if I were to measure it I think it would have been 2-3 Tablespoons.  I rubbed that into the ham and then put about 1/2 C. Brown Sugar over that. I gave it a good rub again and then sprinkled about 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg and 1/2 tsp. Cloves over the top.  I covered the Ham with foil and baked it at 350* for about an hour....with these potatoes....

These are Whipping Cream Potatoes. We eat them A LOT here in my home. I really cannot take credit for these potatoes.  Several years ago I received a Church cook book from my sister-in-law LoriAnne. This potato recipe was actually her Aunt Nancy's recipe.  I don't think I make them today exactly like her Aunt Nancy does, but her recipe is the base and inspriation for mine.  I use frozen hash brown potatoes. Remember I said I didn't measure anything, so if you are making these like I do then just pour a bunch of these frozen potatoes into a 9X13 pan until the pan looks about 3/4 full.  Grate 2 C. Mozarella Cheese into the potatoes. Sprinkle about 1/4 C. Dehydrated Onions on top....yep you heard me... Dehydrated Onions.  I don't like to chop onions and I don't like the crunch of a raw onion but I do like the onion flavor, so dehydrated works great for me.  If you don't use dehydrated onions then just chop up about 1/2 C. of fresh onion.  Then put in about 2 T. Minced Garlic. (we like garlic) and salt and pepper the potatoes.  Mix these up really good and then pour 1 pint of HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM all over the top of the potatoes.  (this is not the time to question those holiday calories) Cover the potatoes and put them in the fridge the night before.  If you do not have that much time then you should at least let them sit for several hours so the potatoes can soak up all that whipping cream. Bake uncovered 350* for 1 hour.  This potato recipe is delicious.  Sometimes I put diced ham into it for a ham and potato casserole.  My family ate the whole pan today!

Let me know if you tried this recipe and if you liked it!