There is a Hair on My Ham

Working full time has left me missing being in the kitchen. So, during breaks, I enjoy cooking. However, everything seems to take so much longer…from shopping and preparing to the actual cooking. However, we still managed to round up a yummy meal for a memorable Easter dinner.

The morning of Easter I began to prepare the ham. Upon opening the bag it had been in, I found the ham to be covered with hair...as in the hair from the pig! I cut off the entire hide (hair and all) and left enough fat on the outside to keep it moist while cooking. I had a brief thought of making pork rinds, but it didn’t last long at all. (I think the hair helped change my mind very quickly!) Once the ‘yucky’ was cut off, we realized there wasn’t much meat left so we quickly roasted a chicken to add to the meat platter.

Lauren loves deviled eggs, so we bought a bunch of eggs from our neighbors and prepared a special treat. One of Lauren’s friends was spending the weekend with us, so we put her to work filling the whites. (Aren’t all Easter dinners required to have some type of egg dish to use up all the colored ones?)

My grandmother used to make the BEST squash casserole. I found a vegetable in the market that was light green and eggplant shaped and assumed it might be zucchini, so I took a chance. The final dish tasted quite similar to my grandmother's and it was a joy to have Nanny’s cooking on our table.

Mashed potatoes (and gravy) are a must for any big meal at the Parkers. Our potatoes here are so small and we often spend too long trying to peel them. . I used a new trick I had recently learned. I do think I am the ONLY person alive that didn’t know this. Did you know that if you boil the potatoes first, the skins just slide right off? Well, I didn’t. This trick saved us many minutes peeling…and only a few fingers were burned.

When my mom visited in December, she brought us something VERY special: Stove Top Stuffing! Oh my…we had been saving this for three months and it was well worth the wait!

The dessert was chocolate, of course! We made a chocolate trifle-homemade brownies, homemade cool whip and chocolate pudding we’ve been saving….RICH but worth every calorie. ☺

And the ham? It turned out delicious…not a hair was to be found by the time it hit our plates!