Easter Brunch

Easter was 5 days ago and I am just getting to this post about brunch! Ironically, this post ended up being a lot more complicated than my first ever brunch actually turned out to be. It was nerve racking (as it always is when I prepare food for other people even when in this case its very dear friends,I still was super on edge!) but it came together beautiful and I have some recipes to add to my collection.

To start, I thought it would be fun to have a couple over that my husband and I are very good friends with who have a son only a few months older than mine and an adorable 1-year old little girl AND most importantly a love for food. For me and my girlfriend’s husband, ham is a Easter given so that was the main dish around which all other things were planned.  Ham decided upon, I went looking for side dishes.

I flipped through a few books, checked a few websites and then remembered seeing last month’s Cooking Light and a recipe for brown butter asparagus. Asparagus is in season (and was on sale for $1.99 a pound at Harris Teeter) so a vegetable was decided on. AND in a future post I will share how I finally learned and started blanching vegetables like asparagus!

What I love about brunch is the ability to do as the name implies, combine breakfast and lunch, so for me an egg dish was mandatory. One of my favorite recipe sites Better Recipes, add very easy and delicious sounding egg casserole that DID NOT HAVE BREAD, which was key since I knew my girlfriend was bringing over the baked goods! The only change I made to the recipe was instead of bacon bits (which I might add I have never owned…REAL bacon “bits” packaged, yes but the stuff in the jar, umm no way!) I used crumbled pork sausage since I was already making some plain sausage patties for the boys.

Potatoes, although not eaten often in my house, were also a must but I needed quick and tasty. Enter Simply Potatoes and their recipe for a  cheesy hash brown casserole. I omitted the cornflake topping…my personal preference definitely and reflects my lack of love for crushed cereal as crumb topping!


The last item that I thought would pair great with the meal (and our mimosas)and would also delight my little fruit bat, was fresh fruit. And because I apparently switch into crazy entertainer mode when I have people over, I decided to get all fancy with the fruit. What resulted was the below attempt at a pineapple boat!

Now back to the ham. I must have stood in the grocery for 20 minutes looking at hams. I didn’t want a honey ham, or one that came with a brown sugar sauce. I didn’t need a very big ham since we were talking about 4 adults and 2 and a half kids. I didn’t have time for a fresh ham with an 8:15 church service and a 12PM serve time for brunch. So I ended up with a 7.5 pound fully cooked smoked ham….and then realized other than just cooking it I had no idea what to do with it!

I thought about what I had on hand and remembered reading somewhere about a bourbon sauce for pork.No bourbon in my house but a tiny confession is there is always whiskey (i.e. Jack Daniels) in the house. To the trusty internet I went and my Google search was: smoked ham with Jack Daniels glaze. THIS is what I got…and I didn’t change a thing. Easy to make, yummy to smell and very tasty! 
The finished ham:

And the finished spread:

I look forward to making my next brunch..and to making this Easter one an annual tradition!