Think of how you would feel if this plate of food was set in front of you in a restaurant! Table for two please.

Cooking half a ham is sort of silly for one or two or even three or four people. What if you could make just the right amount? In years past my Mother would spend all day in the kitchen for a holiday meal preparing 10 or 12 separate dishes.

I love to have a special meal but don't have the luxury of that much time and I do not buy precooked store food that's so popular. I've been to family holiday dinners (on my husbands side) where there was not a single homemade dish on the entire table, and the kitchen was piled high with plastic clamshells from Costco. Disgusting. Embarrassing.

With all due respect, being too lazy to cook is why people need obesity surgery. We are raising an entire generation who cannot feed themselves.

This is a perfect Holiday or Sunday Dinner - it is delicious and there is plenty. Make our Pink Pickled Eggs ahead of time to devil, or you can make regular deviled eggs.

Plus its just such a gorgeous plate of food!

Ingredients

  • One slice of ham, called a 'ham steak' - cut in half - I buy Jones or Hormel 'Cure 81' and divide for 2
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Two slices of fresh pineapple with some reserved juice
  • 4 tablespoons Smucker's Sugar Free Apricot Preserves
  • Splash of chicken broth
  • Pinch of clove
  • Maraschino cherries
  • 8 asparagus spears - bottom half peeled - cooked in 1/2 inch boiling water in a skillet for 3 minutes, remove & set aside until time to serve
  • Deviled Pink Pickled Egg halves and a few baby greens
  • 1 large sweet potato, roasted in a 400 degree oven until soft when pressed with fingers - cook early then whip with butter and set aside

Instructions

  • Lightly brown the ham on both sides in butter in a non stick skillet over medium high heat; remove to a plate and set aside. Using the same unwashed skillet, brown the pineapple rings, add the preserves, a pinch of sea salt, a few grinds of black pepper and small pinch of clove. Add a little of the pineapple juice to help the preserves melt and create a sauce or glaze. Add the ham back to the pan along with any juices. Keep warm until ready to plate in a few minutes.
  • Heat sweet potato puree and add a dollop to plate.
  • In another small skillet, sauté a few peeled asparagus spears in a drop of olive oil, salt, pepper - add to your serving plates.
  • Arrange a small pile of baby greens as a bed for the deviled egg half.
  • Add the ham, the pineapple slice with the cherry, and top with a spoon full of the pan sauce.
  • Serve your lovely plated meal.

June 28, 2023
Bariatric Recipes Advice, Rants & Support Podcast: Real Talk