NST December Challenge - Festive and Frugal

thriftylass

Good morning.

Foodbank donation made this morning at DD's nursery. The next days will be spendy days. Still need some stocking fillers and general and christmas groceries. Not much else to report. Last day at work so my check ins might become more sporadic. I'm off till the 7th so not sure if I might miss the sign up for the January challenge. We'll see...

liltdiddylilt

Boom - Anyone want YNAB at 25% off?!?!?!? No referalls, just create a 'Steam' account and download Steam, then pay for it through STeam. You don't have to open it via Steam everytime, but at £22.49 buy yourself the best Christmas present you could wish for at a knocked down price. I got 20% off and still paid £28 and I have saved that much at least 20x over in the last 6 months!!

If you need any help just mail me as I am at work and will only get emails about private messages til I finish!!! Go now, the sale is always quick!!


NannyG - Instructions on boiling then roasting a ham to come later when I know the size of your joint so I can give you precise times. A lot of people say to boil it in coke in a slow cooker but I intensely dislike the sweet flavour afterwards and boil mine with black pepper, lemon juice, 2 bay leaves and about 10 cloves in the water, then baste in honey & mustard for a quick 10 minute roast afterwards. Let me know the weight of it. Supermarkets usually do 1.4kg or 2kg joints.#

Hugs guys xx

thriftylass

nannygladys wrote: »

Lilt I know this may seem to be a daft question but as a non meat eater who is feeding meat eaters at Xmas I have bought a small ham joint that I want to cook and now I'm just getting confused, some say boil it and some say roast it, then others say you first boil and then roast, so how have you cooked yours please? I really need advice from someone who has done it, and then I read your post and my prayers seem to have been answered so to speak.

Thanks
Nannyg

Hi NannyG, I'm new to this ham business too as we don't do them in Germany for christmas. Here is what I do, an adaption of a Delia Smith recipe. Our size is usually about 6x5x5 inches (don't know the weight) I boil the ham in water (covered) with 10 peppercorns, 2-3 bay leaves and about half a dozen gloves and a quartered onion for about an hour (or longer if I think it's quite salty to reduce that). After that I take the rind of and score the fat in a criss cross pattern and stick some cloves in, spread some honey and/or mustard on top and roast it for half an hour or till the top is crispy at 200C. I roast mine longer as I do the boiling the day before (when I also pre-roast the goose) and it needs to reheat all the way through again.

traveller

Hi everyone Mothernerd, I wonder if a lot of sites are struggling to cope with demand. Asdatold me to ring my bank and Tesc0 hasd no issue. I tried again later and all was well but I have to finish my order tonight to get it tomorrow. Sazzle, please don't blame yourself, your a brilliant mum :T SOA-Glad you had a good night Well I have news, I've kept my job :j:j:j Thanks for all your support guys. I can't quite believe it! Although I'm still on the look out for something else, I'm very grateful :T Take care everyone and have a brilliant friday

maria3104

Traveller, great news, congratulations

Fmess

Great news traveller, congratulations :j

Thrifty I couldn't help but smile at your ham with "half a dozen gloves"

CoffeeandStitches

Congrats Traveller!!! :beer:

apple_muncher

traveller - woohoo!!!

Good luck to all cooking ham joints. All sounds scary to me!


Another NSD here, so 11 now. I reckon the 15 will be do-able. :j. Today has been a quiet day, sewing up dd's finally-finished jumper (took me aaaages, but maybe I was distracted by the 1966 comic heist caper on the goglebox...) and wrapping it, and the other bits for dd. The vast majority of her presents are from ch shops, gathered since about August, with a few new things. All wrapped in a roll of pink princess paper from aldee for £1. Dd seems happy with her pile under the tree and has had a good prod and shake already! And I have a few more bits for her stocking. All in all, a fairly simple affair.

Told dd that I hadn't got any crackers yet and she told me it was okay, as Christmas is about more than crackers and presents. I have an adorable child!

traveller

Thanks guys Does anyone have a tradition they do while doing the christmas dinner Mine is watching the Gavin & Stacey christmas special

nannygladys

Thanks for that Lilt, it says on the wrapping that it weighs 1.3 kgs, someone at work says just put it in slow cooker for about 3 hrs without any liquid and then finish it off in oven with honey and mustard for glaze, I find it so confusing everybody seems to have different ideas.

Nannyg