The Remler Menu, Season 1

This blog has been woefully neglected in the past several months, but now Remlerville is back with a new project! For the next few months, instead of featuring family photos and milestones, this blog will feature food.

On January 1, 2010, my first new year's resolution was to learn how to make a ham. You see, my mother in-law, JoJo, makes a killer ham, and over the past 20+ years, I've asked her repeatedly how to make it, but the task has always intimidated me. This year, I faced my fears. My first task New Year's Day was to cook that ham.

Doesn't it look good? It tasted good too.

While the ham was cooking, I starting wondering how many days I can go cooking a different meal each time, no repeats. I made a list of the meals I commonly make, and I figured that if I cook every day, I could get through more than a month without repeating every dish.

However, cooking daily is impossible in my life. With a full-time job and two kids who play basketball and lacrosse, I'm bound to be away from home from time to time, not to mention the nights I want to have "Do It Yourself Night." So with nights off, I might be able to get through a couple of months without repeating any dishes.

And so 2010 is the year of The Remler Menu. Here are the rules:

1. Each time I cook dinner, I must cook a different meal.

2. I am not imposing my plan on my husband. Hence, on nights he cooks meals, he can cook whatever he wants.

3. Wednesday nights are off because JoJo always cooks dinner that night.

4. Nights that I teach or am out of town or am at writing group meetings are also exceptions, as are nights that my sons have basketball games, which call me away from the kitchen.

5. The goal is to cook a different main dish recipe each time. So I may cook chicken multiple times, but the recipe will be different.

6. Not all family members must be present for me to cook a meal. However, I do have to show up.

7. When I cook a different main dish, I'll include a photo and share the recipe on this site. I'll also reveal the family commentary on each main dish.

6. Side dishes are not included in this plan, but as I discuss the meal, I'll include recipes of my favorite side dishes. I'll also discuss desserts, as applicable, as well.

Although I cooked the ham on January 1st, we didn't eat it until January 2nd. That's because I invited JoJo and my father in-law, Bruce, over for dinner to partake of said ham, but they couldn't come over until last night. So the Remler Menu officially began on January 2nd with a meal of ham, butter peas, sweet potatoes, brocolli and cauliflower and corn muffins.

Here's how I made the ham:




Ingredients:
1 ham (I bought a 7.5 lb ham)
pepper
mustard (whatever you have in the fridge)
brown sugar

Instructions
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Put the ham in a brown paper bag. Then put that bag in a disposable aluminum roasting pan. Put the ham in the oven and roast it for about 20 minutes per pound (which in my case turned out to be 2 hours and 40 minutes). About three quarters of the way through (in my case, about 2 hours) remove the ham from the oven and take it out of the paper bag (I used scissors and cut the bag away from the ham). Remove as much fat as you can. Then score the ham. Pepper it. Then smear mustard all over it. Pat brown sugar over the mustard. Return the ham back to the oven and roast it for the remaining time. Watch it carefully to ensure it doesn't crust over too much.

I'm not sure what constitutes crusting over too much. Perhaps JoJo would like to elaborate. I found that after 2 hours and 40 minutes, my 7.5 pound ham was cooked perfectly, with a nice honey-mustard glaze pooled at the bottom of the ham. Yum!