Maple Brown Sugar Ham

I found this recipe on "My Kitchen Cafe". Aside from the fact that I obviously have no idea how to carve a ham, I thought that for my very first attempt at cooking one, it turned out pretty good. I was a little grossed out at the thought of cooking a ham in the crock pot for some reason but, it was super easy and now, I will probably never try it any other way.

Maple Brown Sugar Ham in the Slow Cooker
adapted slightly from Year of Crockpotting

7-8 pound bone-in spiral-cut ham
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup all natural maple syrup (yes, please use pure maple syrup and not pancake syrup)
2 cups pineapple juice

Use a 6-7 quart slow cooker. Unwrap the ham and discard flavor packet. Place the ham into the slow cooker stoneware, flat-side down. Rub brown sugar on all sides. Pour on maple syrup and pineapple juice. Cover and cook on low for 4-5 hours. An hour before serving, baste ham with the collected juices from the bottom of the slow cooker. When cooking is done, remove carefully and let it rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes before carving.

Milanesa

My neighbor, Cynthia made this one time for me and we love it and it is usually one of those quick, easy fall back meals for me. Cynthia is from Monteray, Mexico. Her dad owned several different restaurants and she now owns her own taco grill. Not a shabby reference when recommending recipes. My family loves this. I don't think Brock claimed to be allergic once tonight. Ford is not a fan of the salsa on top so, substitues it for barbeque sauce. I have no idea if that is good or not but, considering he adds barbeque sauce to everything he eats, I wouldn't recommend it.

Milanesa is actually a cut of meat. You can ask for the cut at your local grocery store's meat department. If you are lucky, which I have been on occasion, they will know what you are talking about and be able to do it. If you live near an H.E.B., they actually have them pre-breaded and ready to cook (at least mine does). They are pretty inexpensive. I can buy a package of 3 for approximately $7. 3 is plenty for my whole family. We usually cut them in half.

If you don't have an H.E.B. you need a really thin cut (milanesa cut) piece of steak. Bread the steak however you like. Cynthia used crackers. Fry the meat in a little oil. It will cook pretty fast becuase it is so thin. Now, the yummy part, which seems weird and I was so unsure of at first...Salsa, mine of course! Spread a little salsa on top and squirt some lemon juice on top of the salsa. Delicious!