So I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has a problem figuring out the exact ballet around preparing a big holiday meal when you only have one oven. If I have a turkey in there, how do I get the ham in to cook? What about the sweet potato dish? Don't you need to bake your green bean casserole? Well, finally with some research on Pinterest I got one of those dishes off that list of items that require the oven. I found a ham recipe that is awesome and it is made in the crock pot. I tweaked it a bit (cause that's just how I do things) and it came out awesome! Here is what I did:
One ham with little fat and no bone. I found a great 5 pound ham at Walmart for $7. It was the perfect size for the crock pot and was ready for slicing.
A couple TBSP of brown sugar
A little OJ (whatever type you have in the fridge, no need to go out and buy something special)
A can of pineapple (I like to get crushed but if you have chunks or rings you can crush it yourself in a blender or food processor)
I first put the brown sugar in the bottom of the pot. I poured in a little OJ and began to stir. You want it to be a little juicy but it will form a paste that will coat the bottom of the pot. This is a good thing. As it cooks it gets juicy so don't worry if it is more pasty than runny. After I had the bottom covered and stirred I took a knife and sliced slits in the top of the ham. Do this however you choose. I like to make those fun criss cross patterns in mine so I look fancy but you can do whatever. The key is just to make places for the ham to soak up your paste while cooking. Add the ham to the pot then pour the pineapple over the top. Make sure you really coat the ham with the juice as you pour it in. Put the pot on low and allow it to cook for several hours. Every 30 min you should take a basting brush or a spoon and re coat the top of the ham with the juice at the bottom of the pot. About 3 hours in, flip the ham over so the bottom is sticking up and the top is on the bottom. Continue cooking on low for a few more hours while basting every 30 or so min. Once you are sure your ham has heated through, it is ready to eat! Check the packaging for internal temps to be sure your ham is ready.
Missi's twist: I actually cooked my ham the day before Thanksgiving and let it sit over night in the fridge to soak up more flavor. Thanksgiving day I put the heat back on and allowed it to heat up. We had quite a bit leftover so I have a meat slicer that I used to make my own lunch meat. This is MUCH cheaper than buying lunch meat and is much better for you. If you cut the ham into chunks about a half pound in size and freeze them you can remove them from the freezer and when thawed you can slice just what you need instead of having a ton of lunch meat. I plan on stocking my freezer with these ham chunks so I have enough to last me through the year. This will save us a ton of money on lunch food for the hubby.:-) (not to mention, it just tastes better).
Variation: For Christmas we didn't have pineapple but we did have a can of peaches. Guess what??? It turned out very sweet and delish! I would think adding some pecans to the pot would also give it a good flavor. Gonna try adding nuts next time.:-)
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