Dinner Guests: Early Easter

On Saturday evening we had Christopher's parents over for an early Easter dinner, as we will not be around over Easter. 

We started with some cheeses, and homemade shrimp fresh rolls:

Next up was a creamy batch of clam chowder soup:

The main course included fresh dinner rolls:

Roasted broccoli (with parmesan, olive oil, orange zest, and fresh basil):

Spinach salad:

Ham (bone-in):

And cheesy potatoes:

We served the ham with two homemade sauces, an apple sauce, and a mustard sauce:

Dessert included a red wine chocolate cake (with whipped cream):

And double chocolate merlot cookies:

What are your plans for Easter?

If you are cooking an Easter dinner, what will you be making?

How was your weekend?  What did you do?

Ham Dinner & Cracker Brittle

Last night I cooked a ham dinner because I couldn't wait to try the roaster that my dad got me for my birthday.  It was a plug in roaster from Costco, that sits on the counter.  I was super impressed with it; it was like having a second oven.  I always find that when I roast something large like a ham or turkey, I run out of space in my oven.  This was so much more convenient, and it was also easy to clean.

I tossed some apple juice and cloves into the bottom of the roaster, then rubbed the ham with brown sugar and roasted for 2 hours at 300 F. 

I served it with homemade apple sauce and mustard sauce, as well as scalloped potatoes and carrots.

 

 

 

 

I didn't realize how large the ham was, but there will definitely be ham meals all week!

I didn't make dessert, but we did snack on the cracker brittle that I made on Saturday.  This stuff is so easy, I am embarrassed to even post the recipe - but here you go ...

Cracker Brittle

1 sleeve of soda crackers
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
350 grams chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Lay crackers in a foil lined and sprayed baking pan.  Bring margarine and sugar to a boil, and then boil for 3 minutes.  Spoon the butter/sugar mixture over the crackers and bake for 6 minutes.  Turn oven to broil.  Sprinkle chocolate chips over the brown sugar crackers and then melt - watch closely!  Use the back of a spoon to spread the chocolate.  Cool in fridge or freezer then peel off the foil and break apart.  Store in the fridge.

 

 

This stuff is really good and tastes better than you'd ever expect!

Do you like brittle?  Have you ever made it?