a gotta-have HAM recipe

I've tried to serve ham on several occasions in our seven years of marriage, but today we had THE winner of all baked ham recipes. Here's the link. By the rave reviews, I knew I couldn't go wrong and we weren't disappointed. It was so simple. I used a 9lb. smoked shank portion ham (not the fancy spiral cut expensive one) in my 5/6 qt. crockpot. A cup and a half of brown sugar packed on the bottom with a little more sprinkled on top (and no, it didn't burn). I set my alarm for 5am so I could retrieve my prepared pot from the frig and plug in the crockpot (while half-asleep), so that it would be ready at 1pm.

Let me tell you, it was amazing! The meat was the most tender ham I've ever tasted. It literally fell off the bone and the juice created almost filled the pot so it made a nice gravy for my homemade mashed potatoes. Tonight when we had Doug's dad and wife over for the evening, we had ham salad sandwiches with some of the leftovers and it was delicious, too. Later this week, we'll have a hearty ham casserole.

I'm serious ... if a big ol' ham is on sale at your grocery store this week, buy it and use this recipe -- you won't be disappointed. The only glitch was that I had to trim my ham several times to make sure it fit in my crockpot -- a little dilemma but it was workable. If I did it again, I'd get a little smaller one anyway.

Pictures of our easter hunt later.