Orange Glazed Ham

I'm one of the picky people when it comes to ham. When we have chef salad at our school for lunch, I kindly request that the ham be omitted. It's not that I don't like ham, but why waste the calories to my waist of a ham that is lackluster in flavor and depth. I know they are using the ham provided, but it just has no flavor. I really appreciate a good flavored ham. My brother makes a delicious ham. My mom made a great ham too. I visited one of my "sisters" on Christmas morning as I knew she would have her children and grandchildren visiting. I don't see them that often and was excited for the visit. What I also knew was that she always, always made ham and fluffy biscuits too!! Her daughter made an overnight breakfast casserole in the crock pot which rounded out the breakfast perfectly. Fresh fruit was a nice addition too.

My sons are home for Christmas break and it's been a great few weeks. They are at their father's house this week, but last week was my time to cook! I try to make things that take longer to prepare and cook as I have the time. The more I cook for others, and cook with others, makes me realize that I could be a personal chef for someone. Hopefully, they would really enjoy food and not have many "dislikes", but that's an entirely different blog post! (I guess I write in stream of consciousness (my English teachers would be proud). I'll share the filo wrapped lamb in another post. My eldest son, Brad, enjoys cooking, so we have cooked quite a few meals together during the break. I was trying to prepare something that I know they probably wouldn't cook at their apartment at school, and I saw that spiral cut ham at the grocery store. Let's see, the fancy label ham was about $45.00 for a 6 pound ham and the spiral cut no-name was $15.00. Why pay $45.00 for something that someone else glazed? I can make my own glaze and put it in the oven. So, it was ham for dinner. There is the traditional Norman Rockwell ham of long ago with the pineapple slices with maraschino cherry, but I didn't have any pineapple. I did have fresh oranges that my neighbor gave me from his sister's orchard in Florida. How can I go wrong with that? I may have to make a ham for my cafeteria staff at our school. They might like to have someone else cook their lunch for a change!

For a 4 pound ham

4 pound, bone in ham (throw away the glaze packet... you can make an even better one)

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon sharp honey mustard

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

juice of one orange

cloves (6 or 8)

I cut one orange and put the slices on the ham for decoration. I attached the slices with a few cloves. Put the brown sugar, honey mustard, and orange juice in a saucepan and heat until sugar is melted. Put ham in a large piece of aluminum foil, spread glaze on top and cover with the foil. Bake at 350F about 10-12 minutes per pound just to heat through. Don't keep the ham in the oven too long or it will become dry. I always purchase ham on the bone so that I can freeze the bone and use it to make beans, or black eye peas for New Year's Day!