Welcome to My Kitchen

April showers bring May flowers. Easter celebrations bring spring menus to mind. Some menus include traditional ham, others a roast leg of lamb. Every family has a variety of traditions for this springtime holiday.

Honey Apricot Glazed Baked Ham, a sweet and savory method of preparation, produces tender juicy slices from a spiral sliced ham. Reducing the oven temperature makes this the perfect recipe to put in the oven before Easter services or other events.

Honey Apricot Glazed Baked Ham

1 spiral-sliced ham (10-14 pounds)

1 cup honey

6 ounces frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed

1/3 cup soy sauce (low sodium okay)

1/3 cup apricot jam

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place ham on rack in a shallow roasting pan.

Mix remaining ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.

Bake ham uncovered for 30 minutes. Spoon glaze over ham, cover loosely with foil and continue to bake until ham is heated through, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

If baking while attending Easter services, reduce heat to 300 degrees after adding the glaze. Yield:10-12 servings.

Some area cooks, working on the holiday, may want to try this recipe for Ham and Potatoes, designed for preparing in a slow-cooker. The recipe comes from “Fix-it and Forget-it Cookbook”, compiled by Dawn J. Ranck and Phyllis Pellman Good. The recipe is attributed to Ruth Shank of Gridley, Ill.

Slow-Cooker Ham and Potatoes

6-8 medium red potatoes

2-3 pounds boneless ham

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

Prick potatoes with a fork and place in the bottom of a slow-cooker.

Place ham on top of the potatoes. Combine the brown sugar and mustard and sprinkle over the ham.

Cover and cook on low 10 or more hours until potatoes are tender. Pour juices over ham and potatoes to serve. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Note: if your potatoes are large, cut them in half and place cut side up under the ham. Also, I use enough potatoes to cover the bottom of the slow-cooker.

Lamb is easy to prepare, and if you remember to use low and slow cooking methods, you will produce a lovely roast leg of lamb for your holiday meal. Australian grown lamb is fairly common at area meat counters and usually cooks up well. But as a long ago sheep farmer, I lobby for U.S. grown lamb. You may have to visit an exclusive meat market or purchase from a local farmer to find it, but it’s worth the effort.

Honey-Mustard Glazed Lamb is a basic roast recipe with a sweet and savory finish. Using a meat thermometer is very helpful when cooking lamb to ensure the meat is done without over cooking. Bone-in roasts cook a little faster than boneless. With low roasting temperatures, lamb takes 30 to 35 minutes per pound to cook.

Honey-Mustard Glazed Lamb

1 leg of lamb, bone in

1/2 cup prepared mustard

1/2 cup honey

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place lamb, fat side up on a rack in a shallow roasting pan. Roast for 30 to 35 minutes a pound or until a meat thermometer registers 175 degrees for medium or 180 degrees for well done.

Combine the remaining ingredients until well blended. About one hour before the end of the roasting time, spoon honey mustard mixture over the lamb roast.

Standing time is very important for a lamb roast. Tent with foil and let stand 20 to 30 minutes before slicing. Yield:10-12 servings, depending on size of the roast.

Some folks prefer a garlic roast leg of lamb rather than a sweet/savory flavor. Easiest is to eliminate the glaze and season with garlic salt and ground black pepper. For a superb garlic roast, slice 4-6 garlic cloves very thin, lengthwise.

Using a very sharp knife, make ½-inch slits in the fell (the thin paper-like covering over the fat on lamb roasts). Insert a slice of garlic into each slit, season with salt and pepper. Roast at 325 degrees, 30 to 35 minutes per pound or until a meat thermometer registers 170 to 180 degrees. Tent and let rest 20 minutes before slicing.

Empty tomb rolls and cookies are a fun Easter treat. Kids love to help make them. The following recipe calls for frozen dinner rolls, but you may use homemade dough, refrigerator biscuits or crescent roll dough.

Empty Tomb Rolls

12 frozen dinner rolls, thawed

12 regular-sized marshmallows

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet or line with parchment paper and set aside.

Mix together sugar and cinnamon in a shallow bowl.

Press or roll each biscuit dough ball into a circle. Roll a marshmallow in the butter and then the sugar mixture. Place on the dough circle and pinch the circle closed around the marshmallow. Roll the dough in the butter and the sugar mixture and place on prepared pan.

Repeat until all the dough is used. Let rest 15 minutes, then bake 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately, but be careful. The sugar in the empty center is hot. Yield: 12 rolls.

– Our next column will feature spring salad and vegetable recipes. Share your favorite spring menu recipes with your fellow readers by sending them to: Welcome to My Kitchen, c/o The LC Record-Times, P.O. Box 458, Odessa WA 99159, email therecord@odessaoffice.com or drop them in the Welcome to My Kitchen mail tin in the newspaper office (1 W. First Ave.). Time to get your vegetable garden space tilled. This may be a good year to plant potatoes on Good Friday.