Brown Sugar & Mustard Glazed Ham with Mac and Cheese

$39 for a Home Cooked Meal for 4 People, Including Groceries from MJ Creations Sweets and Treats ($80 Value) http://www.dealfind.com/richmond/mjcreationssweetsandtreats

History of the Macaroni and Cheese
Homemade macaroni and cheese can be a simple layering of cooked macaroni, shredded (or sliced) cheese and salt and pepper, or it can be made with a white sauce-cheese base, topped with more cheese and buttered crumbs before baking. This ever-so-humble dish is delicious and satisfying as is, but you can jazz it up (homemade or package version) with the addition of chopped vegetables, meat, fish or poultry, or your favorite herbs or spices adding your own special touch!
Some believe the dish was created by founding father Thomas Jefferson, known for his great interest in food, and in a 1996 "Restaurants & Institutions" article, Barbara Bell Matuszewski wrote that Jefferson served the dish in the White House in 1802. However, noted food historian Karen Hess claims Jefferson did not invent the dish, though he did return from a trip to Paris with a macaroni mold. In the recipes below, you'll find a recipe for a  old fashioned macaroni and cheese adapted from Mary Randolph's (Jefferson's cousin) "The Virginia Housewife," first published in 1824.

According to John Mariani, author of "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," macaroni and cheese was first made in the nineteenth century, but it took on a even greater popularity when Kraft Foods introduced the Kraft Dinner (macaroni and cheese) in 1937. According to a company spokesperson, Kraft now sells more than one million boxes of the dinners every day! The Kraft dinners are so popular, in fact, that children and some adults have been known to turn up their noses when offered a rich and delicious homemade version.

Not My Mother's Mac and Cheese

Ingredients

• 2 - 16oz box uncooked Elbow Macaroni
• 6 cups shredded Sharp, Mild, Cheddar and Fiesta Blend Cheeses
• 1 cup Sour Cream
• 1 cup Milk
• 1 cup Evaporated Milk
• 2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1/2 cup Butter or Margarine
• 4 Eggs, beat
• Kosher Salt for pasta water
• Black Pepper to taste
• 1 pinch Nutmeg

Directions

1. Cook macaroni according to the package directions- but no more then 5 minutes. Drain.
2. In a large bowl beat eggs, sour cream, whipping cream, evaporated milk, and milk together well. Sir in soft butter or margarine. Add  cook macaroni, black peper, nutmeg stirring constantly. Stir in cheeses, pour macaroni in large casserole dish topped with cheese and butter. 
3. Melt butter or margarine 2 tablespoons in a skillet over medium heat. Add  Italian breadcrumbs 1 cup and brown. Let cool add parmesan cheese Spread over the macaroni and cheese to cover. This step is optional 
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 35 - 45 minutes. Serve.

Brown Sugar and Mustard Glazed Ham

Ingredients

• 1 (6 pound) bone-in Ham
• 2 cups Brown Sugar, packed  
• pinch, ground Cloves
• 1 Tablespoon Coarse Ground Mustard
• 1/3 cup Yellow Mustard
• 1/3 cup Honey

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (165 degrees C). Place the ham, cut side down, into a roasting pan.
2. In a lage mixing bowl add brown sugar, honey,clover, and mustards the mixture will be slightly thick. 
3. Pour about 1/3 cups of glaze evenly over the ham bake about 15 mintues, repeat bake 30 minutes and repeat again for 20 minutes before the end of baking; pour the rest over the ham about 10 minutes before the end of baking.

History of the Sweet Potato Pie:
Sweet potatoes were introduced to West Africa soon thereafter. They were similar to yams ("Old World" foods) and quickly incorporated into the local cuisine. Sweet potato pie seems to have converged in the American South from very early colonial days. It quickly became a staple of the region. Today this fine pie is considered by some to be a cornerstone of soul food 
"Africans in the South knew the yam...from their homeland and the two tubers have become virtually interchangeable in Southern cooking. Most Southern sweet potato recipes have been developed by black from their traditional cuisine..."
Why are sweet potatoes pies sometimes served with marshmallows?
During the late 19th/early 20th century marshmallows were very trendy. Mass-manufactured, plentiful and inexpensive, they were agressively promoted by food companies. Campfire Brand is one of the oldest. Marshmallows were incorporated into cakes, pies, gelatin desserts, hot chocolate, candies, and the like. Marshmallows were promoted as a moden whipped cream substitute.  The earliest recipes we find combining sweet potatoes (& to a lesser extent, yams) with marshmallows date to the 1920s. According to these recipes, marshmallows were layered casserole-style or placed on top of the finished dish for decoration. Candied yams were sometimes served with marshmallows. Coincidentally, many signature dishes of the 1920s were exceptionally sweet. Some food historians hypothesize this was a tasteful reaction to Prohibition.
1753]
"A Potato Pye.Having made your Crust, lay a Layer of Butter in the Bottom, and having boiled your Potatoes tender, lay them in, and upon them may Marrow, Yoks of hard Eggs, whole Spice, blanched Almonds, Dates, Pistachoes, Orange, lemon, and Citron -peel candy'd; then lay in a Layer of Butter over all, close up your Pye, bake it; and when it comes out of the Oven, cut up the Lid, and pour in melted Butter, Sutagr, Wine, and the Yolks of Eggs."
---The Lady's Companion, Sixth Edition, Volume II [J. Hodges:London] 1753 (p. 161)

Ingredients

• 2  pound Sweet Potato
• 2 stick Butter, softened
• 1 cup White Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar, packed
• 1 cup Evaporated Milk
• 6 Eggs
• 1/2 Taspoon ground Nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground Cloves
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• punch, Kosher Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 2 Tablespoon Flour  
• 2 (9 inch) unbaked Pie Crust

• Directions

  1. Oven roast sweet potato with skin on for 40 to 50 minutes, or until tender. Let cool to touch and remove the skin.
  2. Mashed the sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in white, brown sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, flour and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.
• We here at Mj. Creations Sweets and Treats wish all of our reader an Happy Thanksgiving! don't forget to visit our web site www.richmondvacaterer.com , call us 804-422-6313 or email us sweetsbymj@aol.com   We are BBB Member