A Merry Crockpot Christmas!

Are you in need of cookware or kitchen equipment? If so, I have the perfect 2-step plan for you.

1.) About 3 months before a major holiday (i.e. Christmas or your birthday) start a blog about cooking.
2.) Sit back and wait for the cooking-related gifts to come pouring in.

This year I had a culinary Christmas. Not surprising though, considering all of my conversations with my family and friends these past 3 months have been about my crockpot, the meals I've cooked in my crockpot, or the meals I plan to cook in my crockpot. They probably thought that either they can ignore my incessant food-related ramblings in the hopes that I will grow out of my foodie phase or foster my behavior in an attempt to get a free meal out of me some day. Fortunately for me, most of my loved ones opted for the latter.

On Christmas morning I received 3 cookbooks, a set of ramekins, a new set of pots and pans, an immersion blender, an array of dips and sauces, a gift certificate to Whole Foods, a t-shirt that reads "Smell What the Crock is Cookin" and 3 aprons. My adorable nieces willingly modeled the aprons...




My wonderful sister-in-law made the monogrammed apron on the left. The t-shirt on the right says, "Smell What the Crock is Cookin". I plan to wear it to work underneath my suit in a Superman/Clark Kent turned Superwoman/Julia Child fashion.





The apron on the left comes with a string of pearls around the neck - talk about class and sophistication in the kitchen. My sister gave me the apron on the right. It says "I Want to Go to There". She's fully supportive of my Liz Lemon obsession.

Gratuitous cute nephew pic!

In the midst of celebrating the birth of Jesus, I still managed to cook a crockpot meal. I made a Crockpot ham. Well, I bought a fully cooked 5-pound ham and cooked it in a cider mustard sauce. No, it was not a cop-out, it was a delicious enhancement of an otherwise boring ham. And, it was super easy.

Here's the recipe adapted from the Best Cookbook Ever...

Glazed Ham

Add the following ingredients to the insert of a 5-7 quart slow cooker:
1 1/2 c apple cider
4-6 oz whole grain mustard
1/2 c light brown sugar
2-3 cinnamon sticks
3-4 whole cloves
4 whole allspice berries
(the recipe calls for 1/2 c Ruby Port but I didn't have this)
2 14-oz cans whole berry cranberry sauce
Grated zest of 2 oranges
Juice of 2 oranges (or 1/2 cup orange juice)

Stir to combine ingredients. Then add One 5-pound smoked ham.

Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 3.5-4 hours (this is what I did). Once done, remove ham from slow cooker insert and slice after allowing to rest for 15 minutes. After skimming the fat, if any, of the top of the sauce, strain sauce through a seive (save for later use as a chutney) into a saucepan and boil, stirring frequently, until reduced and thickened. Pour this thickened sauce over sliced ham.

I served the ham with croissants and a fresh salad with pecans and mandarin oranges. Perfecto!