Labor Day Weekend: Ham Dinner

A bit late on posting this, but we had some wonderful dinner company during Labor Day weekend.  I served a ham, biscuits, tomato aspic and sliced tomatoes, and crockpot apples and squash. Meaghan was kind enough to bring a yummy salad to round out the meal.

The spread:


A couple of the dishes I wanted to talk about --  the tomato aspic and crockpot apples and squash.  Firstly, the tomato aspic.  I love to try new things and this was a moment of genius.  The night before our company came, I was cooking tomatoes for canning and had tons of leftover fresh juice.  I thought, "What can I do with all this leftover juice?"  and the inspiration struck.  Tomato aspic is tomato juice plus unsweetened gelatin and molded.  Mine stuck the mold. "Kids like Jell-O, this should be a hit!"  Well, Meaghan humored me and John and all the kids hated it but I really liked it.  Here is a picture.  It's o.k. to fail.  How do you know unless you try?  It was fun to try and had some entertainment value.  Kinda like lutefisk.

Crockpot apples and squash was a huge success.  The original recipe was provided in our CSA newsletter and I made it more healthful.  I seriously could eat this every day in the fall and winter and never get tired of it.  All of the Clementis were fighting over the leftovers the next day.  This is the the kind of dessert that I feel good about the kids eating.

Crockpot apples and squash


1 large butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, and cut into 1/4" slices
8 cooking apples, peeled, deseeded, and cut into 1/4" slices
1 stick of butter, melted
1.5 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/2 c. honey, sugar, or real maple syrup.  Next time I would cut it by half or omit all together if using sweet apples
2 t. sea salt

Combine spices, salt, and sweetener in with the melted butter.  Place squash and apples in a large crockpot and pour butter mixture over the top.  Stir thoroughly to coat the pieces.  Cook on high for 1 hour. Stir again and cook on low for another 3-5 hours until the squash is as tender as you like.

Eat plain or garnish with pecans and/or whipped cream and/or ice cream.

Not pretty but oh so good.