Thursday, December 25, 2014

A Birthday Present For A King.

Hey, everybody, I have an idea for a Birthday present worthy of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Let us love one another.  Regardless of race; religion or lack of one; whether a police officer or rabble rouser; whether straight, gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, or transgendered; regardless of political affiliation or job title (lawyer, politician); young or old; rich or poor. . . Or anything else.  Let's put that all aside and go forward from today, trying to love each other, like Christ loves us all. 

He loved us with such an intensity that He left His throne.  He came to Earth as a helpless baby.  Lived a life free of sin.  Healed the sick, resurrected the dead, fed the hungry and taught us about love.  Then He loved each and every one of us so much He suffered our punishment, took our shame and died to pay our penalty on the Cross.  Then He defeated Death, Hell and the Grave by rising again on the Third Day.  Now He prepares to come for His Church, His Bride.

Show love to one another, while driving, in public, while watching the news.  For that is what He commanded we do.  That will be a gift to bring a smile to His face.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Great Ham with gravy recipes

I just typed up this ham and gravy recipe, followed by a ham leftovers shepherds pie.  Both the original recipe and the shepherds pie were amazingly good.  Hope you like it if you try it.
Take a ham, not spiral cut or bone in.  Score the top and bottom in a criss cross pattern.
Preheat oven according to the package the ham came in.  Plan on 20-30 minutes per pound bake time.
Sorry, I don't measure anything.
Made a glaze of Smuckers Apricot spreadable fruit or apricot jam all of a small mason jar size.  Brown sugar to taste.  Dijon mustard about six circles of it in a small bowl.  Juice of one orange freshly squeezed.  A little orange zest just peeled off with a vegetable peeler.One to two teaspoons of ground clove. Remember with clove, less is more!  (Or you could put the cloves in the ham if you have whole cloves.  I couldn't find mine.). Whisk until ingredients are blended.
Put some glaze down on the bottom of the pan where the ham will sit, just enough to cover the bottom.  Put the ham on top of it scored on both the bottom and the top just a bit.  Put the glaze on top.  Cover with an aluminum tent or lid of your baking dish.  Bake for half the time.
Take the ham out baste with juices and put more glaze on bottom before sitting ham back down.  Turn ham over so the top is now the bottom.  Re-glaze the new top again and put back in oven, uncovered to cook for the rest of the time.
When ham is done, remove from oven and let set while you make the Red-Eye (ham) gravy.  In my opinion Red-Eye gravy is not only the tastiest, but the easiest to make.
Pour off the pan juices with glaze remnants included into a medium sized pan.  Put on the stove at about 3.  Mix together corn starch and cold water.  Depending on how much drippings you have.  I'd say a medium sized glass and four to six to tablespoons of cornstarch was what I used for a 2.5 lb ham. Used a gravy shaker it you have one, or just a glass and blend the water and corn starch with a fork until smooth.
Pour in a bit of the water mixture stirring constantly.  When you no longer see the white from the mixture pour in more and repeat.  Continue until the last of your water mixture is gone.  Then give it a few more minutes to cook the last of the mixture.  It should be getting thick by this point.  It doesn't get as thick as hamburger gravy.  But it should have a nice consistency.
Make mashed potatoes to pour gravy over.
Serve your ham, mashed potatoes and Red-Eye gravy.
Leftovers Ham Shepherds Pie.
When I made this last week, I still had gravy, ham and mashed potato leftovers.  By that point we had eaten on it a couple times and was ready for something else.  I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.  So I cubed the rest of the ham.  Heated up the gravy in the microwave.  Sprayed a casserole dish with Pam.  Put the gravy on the bottom, then layered in the ham.  I put in on top of the gravy.  Then put it in the hot oven to heat up the ham.  When the gravy started popping, I took it out and put mashed potatoes that I had reheated in the microwave so they were spreadable.  I then covered the mashed potatoes with shredded sharp cheddar and baked again until the cheese melted and got lightly brown on the edges.
Let stand about 10 - 15 minutes.  Then serve.  Be very careful as when we ate it, the ham burnt our mouths it was so hot.  I don't think I let mine stand, so I added that as a precaution.
This was a really yummy way to finish off the ham and leftovers.