Ham Dinner Ideas

[Lorax]

I just finished a very grueling semester at school and I am not in the mood for cooking at all. DH's only request for Christmas dinner is that I make a spiral ham and we sort of munch all day long. I can do that. I'm feeling very uninspired about the rest of the menu. Anyone have any ideas for side dishes that do not require a lot of cooking? As a frame of reference, right now I consider making potato salad to be a lot of cooking.

(I used to be a great cook and enjoyed puttering around in the kitchen. But school kicked my butt and I'm feeling like being very lazy.)

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Listen...........

Rest up for a couple of days. Indulge yourself, pamper yourself, sleep, sleep, sleep.

Then, consider the meal. It might not look so daunting then.

On the other hand, there are some decent deli salads you can pick up at the market, jazz them up a bit with your own turns, and make sure you've got the breads of choice, and maybe a pie?

But, for now, you know how tired you are, and everything's harder to deal with when we're tired ............

[Warpy]

2. Great suggestions.

This is also the time I'd pull out the prefab biscuits and bagged salad and just use the deli salads to round out the meal. He wants to pick all day, so a big formal dinner plan is already out. Better to have things he can just load up on a plate when he starts feeling peckish at half time.

[mike_c]

3. good bread, crackers, a variety of cheeses, dates, olives...

...and so on. Couple of pots of really good mustard, a dish of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Munch all day long.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

4. twice baked potatoes go really well with

ham (I think) & are uber easy. Just bake, pull out the potatoes, add cheese, sour cream, salt & pepper, re-stuff, & reheat & serve.

[catnhatnh]

5. Ok....kick this one...

..buy a 5 lb canned ham and get someone to slice and retie it.Hereabouts it is I since I have a commercial slicer-For you, anybody with a cheap-ass Krupp's home unit can do it...or see if the store you buy it at will do so...Take that retied sucker (with no bone or waste) and stud it with cloves and glaze that bad boy and heat it.Then serve it with a side of potato salad, and good sandwich rolls and an assortment of mustards,mayonnaises and barbecue sauces...If a salad (potato) and sandwich don't get it,find someone else to add another course,you will have done enough....

[RaRa]

6. Similar dinner here

I'm preparing a nice potatoe au gratin from my Williams Sonoma breakfast cookbook the day before (easy). I'm hoping I can still get a couple of pre made Parisian salads from Cosco (their wonderful; feta, dried cranberries and sugar almonds with a champagne dressing). Buying some rolls to bake. I've gotten some great suggestions for a side here. I think I'll do asparagus with the last minute parmasean cheese/butter spread that's briefly broiled. So, as you can see; I'm not slaving in the kitchen either!

[NMDemDist2]

7. pickles, olives, celery, carrots, bell peppers, lots of rolls, mustard

green onions, nuts, M&M's and if you're feeling ambitious deviled eggs

buy a good deli fruit salad and potato salad and call it DINNER

yummmmm

[SW FL Dem]

8. I always do Scalloped or Au Gratin potatoes with ham

You can even use a box mix if you want, they aren't as good as homemade but they do in a pinch. Add some easy appetizers, veggies and a dessert and you have your meal.

[eleny]

9. cole slaw

open the bag of shredded cabbage and toss in a bowl. sprinkle it with some white vinegar. add some dollops of mayo. s&p to taste. it's heavenly with ham. i like the more coarsely shredded cabbage than the angel fine cut.

boxed scalloped potatoes are easy and like ham, too. i'm sure they have them frozen, too, ready to heat n' serve. also, these days there are ready mashed potatoes in tubs that get heated in the microwave.

i'd pick up a good rye bread for sandwiches, too!

[lakemonster11]

10. How about baked sweet potatoes

with butter and a bag of pre-washed salad mix with some dried cranberries on top. And maybe buy a pumpkin or pecan pie for dessert? If you were feeling adventurous you could cook some asparagus in olive oil on a skillet.

It seems like that would be really easy without sacrificing the seasonal feel of the dinner.

[supernova]

11. Sweet potatoes! Beat me to it!

I was just going to suggest them because they go so well with ham and are so easy to cook. Just bake them whole in the oven. Wash and leave in the oven for about 90 mins, depending on the size.

Leave out whatever toppings you like, just like a potato bar. My favs for SPs include: allspice, nutmeg, butter, maple syrup, cloves.

[grasswire]

12. try orange marmalade

I like a spoon of marmalade on a well-buttered, baked sweet potato.

[grasswire]

13. a pot of baked beans is easy

If you have some kind of crockpot, put in canned good baked beans, jazzed up whatever way you want.

A really good easy recipe calls for browning a bit of bacon in a pan, adding diced onion and bell pepper until transparent, then throwing in three kinds of canned beans (kidney, butter, garbanzo, white, whatever), some catsup-brown sugar-vinegar and simmering away. You can add some cream cheese at the end to make it creamy. It goes well with ham.