Best Baked Ham

This is my favorites sides for my ham potato salad & corn!

Glaze:
3/4 cup orange soda                             1-1/2 cup Brown Sugar

heat in a microwavable bowl or cup for about a minute, stir if too thick add a little more soda until it is like a syrup consistency. 

8 - 12 lb. smoked picnic Ham                                15 to 20 Whole Cloves
Preheat oven to 350f or 175c
Score the top of your ham, Skin side up. Stick all of the cloves into the diamond cuts on top of the ham. Place into a baking pan or glass dish and pour or baste with a pastry brush, half of the glaze all over ham.
bake uncovered for 45 minutes take out and baste with the rest of the glaze, bake for another half hour uncovered. Take out and let rest half hour before slicing.
(if you have a larger Ham you can add 15 per pound I used an 8lber.)


Notes*
you can use any flavor soda or liquid you like for your glaze experiment I actually used some raspberry syrup & the juice from a  bottle of Maraschino cherries.

you can also decorate your ham with slices of pineapple & cherries by placing them all over the top and holding them up with toothpicks.

If I don't have cloves on hand I have a bottle of ground cloves that I just add into the glaze only a pinch or 1/8 to a 1/4 of a teaspoon the flavor goes a long way, taste it first before adding more just in case.


How to score a Ham**
 Place the ham on the cutting board.
With your knife, make shallow cuts about 1/3" deep that extend all the way from top to bottom on each side of the ham. Leave about 1" between cuts.
Make cuts going in the opposite directions with your knife. The pattern formed should be diamonds along the ham.

Keke Pua'a

I like the mix of Turkey tails & Pork the flavors blend really well but you can make what ever you like  for your filling..I found the best dough for this recipe on the Samoa Food.com web-site, her instructions are easy to follow and the dough recipe is perfect!
http://www.samoafood.com/2010/09/keke-puaa-samoan-style-bao.html

Ingredients:
 1-1/2 lb. Turkey Tails
1-1/2 lb Pork (any cut will do)

Marinade:
1 whole clove garlic or 8 segments (diced)
3 tablespoon ginger (diced)
1 whole onion
4 tablespoon Mushroom Soy Sauce or a Dark Concentrate Soy Sauce
1 cup  Kikkoman or any Teriyaki Sauce


Mix marinade in a medium size bowl,cut up all meat in small pieces and place in marinade (overnight is best
but an hour or so if in a hurry ) you can pepper and a little salt if you like but keep in mind the Soy Sauce is very salty.

Cut Pork into small pieces, for the turkey tails I took the bone & plastic little things left from the feathers out.
easier to cut the tails into small pieces also. There is a lot of fat on the tail so cut away as much as you can so the meat mixture will not be too oily, add to the marinade.

When meat is marinaded, cook on a medium high heat for about half an hour, then turn down to a light simmer until meat is tender about an hour or so. Set aside and let cool.

Meanwhile make your dough from the recipe on the web-site below process can take a few hours but it is all worth it..Enjoy!

http://www.samoafood.com/2010/09/keke-puaa-samoan-style-bao.html
Follow the recipe on this page for filling & steaming the buns

Easy Panipopo

I found an easy great way for all  to make Panipopo it takes about the same time but half of the work! It starts off with frozen bread dough... hopefully you can find it in your area as cheap as we have it here under five dollars for 5 disk/logs.

Ingredients: 
1 frozen bread log
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
1 1/2 can coconut cream OR 2 packets frozen coconut cream if available in your area
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons sugar for sprinkling over dough
Flour for rolling out dough


Spray pan and log with cooking spray, cover with plastic wrap let defrost for
4 to 5 hours. (I usually set in the oven while it's off) it should double in size like this.

  Roll out dough about 15 x 6  inches dimensions don't have to be exact just pretty much as far as you can roll without being to thin 1/8 inch thick it should look about this long,

brush softened butter over the dough and sprinkle with sugar.
Roll out dough long ways and cut into 9 pieces like in the pictures below

in a bowl pour coconut milk and mix with sugar until sugar dissolves. Place cut pieces in a pan not touching and pour coconut milk over the pieces.

cover with plastic wrap again and let sit another half hour.

Preheat oven to 360 f bake for 20 min or until golden brown check if the when you press down in the middle and it springs back buns should be ready...Enjoy!

Jello Cake

This is definitely one of the family's favorite I love it cause it's not too sweet and most of the time I can just top it while it's still in the pan unless it's for a birthday or a special occasion. This is a great summer dessert or anytime.


1 yellow cake mix, or Strawberry whatever you feel like,bake as directed in an square oblong pan.

1 small packet strawberry jello
1 x 12 oz. tub cool whip or *3 cups sweetened whipping cream

When cake is done, cool for half hour on counter then place in freezer for I hour until it is firm.
while cake is baking prepare jello as directed chill refrigerator for 1 hour.

after the cake is cooled in freezer take a wooden spoon with a  round handle and poke holes all
over cake about 1 inch apart across.
Take jello from fridge (it should be half set thick but easy to pour)
fill the holes in the cake with the half of the jello mixture,when all holes are filled

return cake to freezer for another hour. Return Jello to fridge until fully set and firm.

Topping:
When Jello is set, whip with cool whip (or whipping cream) until blended well, topping should be firm, don't worry if there are bits of jello in it all the better...Enjoy


*Sweetened whipping cream, 1 carton heavy whipping cream, 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar beat until thick.

Lemon Dream Cupcakes

These are the lemon cupcakes I made for one of auntie Shirley's co-workers birthday, and he said they were Over the Top!..I didn't even get to try one so looks like I'll have to make some more.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 cups canned peaches with juice (or 1 large can)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Pour melted butter into a 9-inch square baking dish.
In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt. Stir in milk ; mix only until combined, by hand.
Pour the batter over the melted butter in the baking dish.
Ladle fruit with juice over the top of the batter.
Bake in preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, or until batter rises to the top.
Serve as is, while still warm, or top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Refried Beans (my way)

1 can refried beans
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup milk or cream
1/2 cup of shredded cheese (not too sharp cheddar, Monterey Jack)
garlic salt seasoned to your taste.

put all ingredients in a small sauce pan, mix until blended well and heated through.



perfect with any Mexican dish.