On Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:31:07 -0600, Kathleen >
wrote:

wrote:
>
>> I want to do a ham dinner fo Christmas, I usually do a rib roast or lasagna so
>> this will be a new thing for me. I was going to buy one of those boneless spiral
>> cut hams. What I need is suggestions for side dishes with a ham dinner, and
>> also, if I have mashed potatoes, what kind of gravy do I make, or how do I make
>> it from ham drippings, if there are any? Thanks.
>
>My husband's family has very definite expectations when it comes to ham
>dinners.
>
>It's got to be a BIG ham, bone-in, baked with a sweet glaze, unsliced,
>so you can hack off chunks of varying thicknesses. You've got to have
>sweet potatoes. And potato salad. And a green salad with two or three
>types of dressings to put on it, a relish tray with various types of
>olives and pickles (and woe be unto you if you forget the little sweet
>pickles) and some sliced raw veggies. Maybe three kinds of bread and/or
>rolls to make sandwiches, and a variety of cheeses. Condiments: mayo
>(yeah, I know, "on ham!"), yellow mustard, sweet hot mustard, maybe
>dijon and count on somebody asking where's the ketchup. And bowls of
>nuts. I made homemade trail mix one year, with roasted nuts, dried
>cranberries and dark and white chocolate morsels but they ate around the
>fruit and chocolates and I caught one of the youngsters feeding craisins
>to the dogs. Decidedly not cool.
>
>I also make homemade chunky cinnamon applesauce, but this is not
>strictly cannonical. Cherry pie with vanilla ice cream for dessert, and
>also something chocolate.
>
>Embarrassingly low tech but everybody goes home smiling, with bags of
>left-over ham.

Wow! Can I abandon my plans and come to your house for dinner? :-)
Great menu!