Au Gratin potatoes (with bacon, onions and exta cheese) are always served with baked ham. And something green, green beans, asparagus, brocolli

We're having our traditional roast ham for Christmas and I'm serving the hash brown potato casserole made with cream of chicken soup and cheese and corn flake crumb topping (can't make any other kind or there is mutiny from DS - they've had this every year since they were children and since their Mom is gone, we will always make this casserole just this way - the 'kids' are all grown up now and all still make this when they host Christmas dinner :)
I'm also making Glenda's pineapple casserole (first time for me) and roasted asparagus. We also always have a green salad and I'm making a couple of homemade dressings (that I don't always bother to do) and one of them will be creamy blue cheese, don't know about the others yet. Ken makes his family's Swedish meatballs too and this time I'm going to try this glaze for the ham, it sounds good.

Posted by steelmagnolia2007 (My Page) on
Thu, Dec 20, 07 at 21:25

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
5 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Score top of ham. Cook, uncovered, for about an hour and a half at 325. Then mix glaze ingredients and slather generously all over exposed portions of ham.
Continue cooking for another 30 minutes, or until ham reaches 'safe' temperature, basting every 10 minutes.
Mixing the pan juices with a little bit of glaze makes a fab gravy!

Glenda's Baked Pineapple Casserole

1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks in juice
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup crushed ritz crackers

Drain pineapple, save 3 tablespoon of juice.
Combine sugar and flour; add cheese, pineapple and pineapple juice. Mix well. Put in greased 8 x 8-inch baking dish.
Mix crushed crackers and melted butter together; sprinkle over pineapple mixture.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350*F (175*F)
Serves 6

BLUE CHEESE DRESSING
Posted by: MQmoi (My Page) on Tue, Sep 3, 02 at 19:47
This is delish. I've made it many times. Found it on Epicurious.com, it's from The Blue Room restaurant, Cambridge Mass. It has a creamy base, but you can simply fold in the Roquefort in chunks rather than crumbles. You may also want to increase the amount of cheese.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 large shallot, minced
1 tablespoon Sherry wine vinegar
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/3 cup crumbled Roquefort cheese
3 tablespoons whipping cream

Whisk first 5 ingredients in small bowl to blend. Fold in Roquefort cheese and cream. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

I usually serve a Potato Gratin, Woodies is delicious and easy.

We also always have my cheater Baked Beans, a family favourite and another delicious but easy sid dish.

Additional sides are usually butternut squash and broccoli. Emily's recipe for Butternut Squash is very yummy!

Potato Gratin With Boursin (Woodie)

2 Cup heavy cream
1 - 5 ounce package Boursin cheese with Herbs
3 Lb small red potatoes thinly sliced
Salt and Pepper

Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish.
In saucepan, melt Boursin cheese with the cream. In the baking dish, layer 1/2 the potatoes, salt and pepper, pour half of the cheese mixture over, and repeat the layers.~
Bake 1 hour at 400*.

Baked Beans

1 Can kidney beans drained
1 Can lima beans drained
2 Can Brown Beans (like pork and bean beans)
1 1/2 Cup of chili sauce
2 Tbl brown sugar
1 Tbl Dijon mustard
1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbl molasses
3 Slices bacon cut in half

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. In a medium baking dish, mix kidney beans, lima beans, brown beans, chili sauce, brown sugar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and molasses. Top with bacon. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until thick and bubbly.

Butternut Squash Gratin With Rosemary Breadcrumbs (Fearlessem)

1/4 Cup(1/2 stick) unsalted butter
4 Cup thinly sliced onions (about 1 pound)
2 1/2 Lb butternut squash peeled, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 Tsp sugar
1/2 Tsp salt
1/2 Tsp ground black pepper
3/4 Cup canned low-salt chicken broth
2 Cup fresh breadcrumbs made from soft white bread
2 Cup (packed) grated sharp white cheddar cheese
1 1/2 Tbl chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 Tsp dried thyme

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions; saute until onions are light golden, about 8 minutes. Add squash; saute 4 minutes.

Sprinkle sugar, salt and pepper over vegetables; saute until onions and squash begin to caramelize, about 5 minutes.

Spread vegetable mixture in prepared dish. Pour chicken broth over. Cover tightly with foil and bake 45 minutes. (Squash mixture can be made 1 day ahead. Cool, then cover and refrigerate. Reheat in 350F oven until heated through, about 10 minutes.

Increase oven temperature to 400F. Mix breadcrumbs, cheese, rosemary and thyme in medium bowl. Sprinkle over gratin. Bake uncovered until top is golden brown and crisp, about 30 minutes.

Makes 10 servings

I like to serve Corn Pudding with ham; in addition, a green vegetable and some sort of relish like Mustard Pickle or chutney.

Corn Pudding

2 cups fresh corn cut off the cob - or frozen small nibblet corn
1 cup milk
2 TB butter
2 TB flour
3 eggs, beaten
salt and white pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased casserole. Bake in a 350 oven, placing casserole in a pan of water, for 30-35 minutes or until a knife stuck into the center comes out clean.

My favorites are sweet potato casserole and green beans with mushrooms & scallions. The sp casserole you can make the day before. The green beans you can get everything prepped but the cooking must be done just before you're ready to serve - but they are so delicious. Ann

Sweet Potato Casserole

4 large sweet potatoes
½ cup granulated sugar
½ stick butter
1 Tbsp Half & Half (or more if it needs thinning)
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
Walnut or pecan halves
½ cup Brown sugar
1/3 bag Miniature Marshmallows

Boil, peel & mash sweet potatoes. Add butter, granulated sugar, Half & Half. Then add vanilla. Whip potato mixture in electric mixer until smooth. Pour into casserole dish; swirl in brown sugar and about 1/3 bag of miniature marshmallows. Top with walnut or pecan halves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Recipe can be made ahead and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before baking.

Note: I have also added the miniature marshmallows towards the end of the baking time so that theyÂre partially intact/melted

Green Beans with Mushroom and Scallions

2 lbs green beans, ends trimmed
3 bunches scallions, chopped
2 Tbsps butter
2 Tbsps olive oil
½ lb large mushrooms, sliced
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cook green beans for 6 minutes - do not let them get soggy.

Lightly saute mushrooms and scallions in 2 Tbsps butter and 2 Tbsps olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Sprinkle w/ lemon juice & serve immediately.

Sorry! I messed up the green bean recipe. Here is the correct recipe.

Green Beans with Mushroom and Scallions

2 lbs green beans, ends trimmed
3 bunches scallions, chopped
2 Tbsps butter
2 Tbsps olive oil
½ lb large mushrooms, sliced or quartered
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Cook green beans for 6 minutes - do not let them get soggy.

Lightly saute mushrooms and scallions in 2 Tbsps butter and 2 Tbsps olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

Drain beans. Toss all ingredients together with lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Ann

Thanks for all the great ideas, I tried the gingered pears and apples and the green beans. My guests loved them.

I made Glenda's Baked Pineapple Casserole - it was very delicious!! Thank you glenda & woodie for posting it!

So funny, I googled for side dishes for ham for Thanksgiving dinner and found myself here! And old thread with some great recipes... I think I am going to try Glenda's Baked Pineapple Casserole :)