The Holiday Kitchen: special Easter cooking

 For Easter I want to try some special things. I had never made a ham on my own before so I wanted to try that. Now being a single person I did not need a big ham but I found a 3LB boneless spiral ham at Aldi for under $15. The trick I did not want to use soda or juice in making the ham. This was harder than I thought to find a recipe. I ended finding a recipe for an herb crusted ham but I did end up adding a bit of honey to sweeten it up a bit. 

So the seasonings used were:

1 TBSP dried oregano

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp of cayenne powder

a pinch of black pepper

2 tsp of onion powder or flakes

1 TBSP brown sugar

I mixed all these together and coated the ham in the mixture. Now this is for a 6lb ham, so I cut the amounts in half. I also drizzled some honey over the ham to add a bit more sweetness. I cooked this in the slow cooker for about 4 hours, basting every hour or so. I did add 1 C of broth to the slow cooker to help keep it from drying out. 

I feel like it turned out pretty well for my first attempt. Plus, I have a lot of left over ham. 

The other thing I wanted to make was not a traditional Easter treat its more of a fall thing, but I love it. Pumpkin bread was made for dessert.  This is supposed to be even better than Starbucks pumpkin bread which I love. 

The ingredients:

1 3/4 all purpose flour

1 TBSP pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 can pumpkin puree not pie filling

1 C sugar granualated

1/2 C brown sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 C oil

1 TBSP vanilla extract

The recipe:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease 9x5 loaf pan and line with parchment paper for easy removal. Set aside.

In medium bowl whisk the flour, pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. 

In large bowl, whisk the pumpkin and sugars. Beat in eggs, oil, and vanilla. Slowly whisk in the flour until there are no more clumps. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 50-55 minutes until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. At the 30-minute mark lightly cover with foil to make sure the top does not get too brown. 

Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Then slice and serve warm or allow to cool. 

This bread was very good the taste was a bit lighter with just the cinnamon versus the pumpkin pie spice. So, if you like a stronger pumpkin taste I would stick with the pumpkin pie spice. Also, I cooked for 50 minutes and had to cook a bit longer it was not quite done in the middle. 

Some things you can add are things like chocolate (my favorite), nuts like pecans, pumpkin seeds, cream cheese. You can also make these into muffins instead of a load. I topped mine with butter. I mean what is not made better with butter right?

This was a super simple recipe to make, and it was really good. Next time you are looking for a treat idea or a fall treat this would be a great option.