More food porn for you guys and gals out there! Little bit of a SNAFU with this meal, as it seems in my travels a small hole, about the size of half a dime, developed in my roasting pan. Thankfully my neighbour Wanda was nice enough to let us borrow hers, and so the day was saved! There aren't any pickles in this meal, but I'm sure a few of you readers won't mind that.. it's not a pickle-blog after all! (Although.. I like pickles enough I'd read a pickle blog..) On to the food! OMNOMNOM~!

That up there is a nice ham dinner I made one Wednesday evening. The ham itself was smoked and cured, so I could have served it as anything really, it didn't need to be cooked. But I'm a fan of hot ham, roast-style, like you'd have on Christmas or Thanksgiving if your family doesn't like/is intimidated by turkey. The mashed potatoes turn out a little wetter than usual because of the water content of the apples, so you don't need to go heavy on the butter, or add any milk to them to smooth things out. The roasted veggies were nothing really recipe-requiring. Just toss them around anything you're roasting, and cook them until they're soft. Lastly, the red peppers are stuffed with onion quarters, sea salt, and pepper, with a little drizzle of olive oil inside.

Liquid to Put in the Roasting Pan with a Ham

- 1 cup of Cola (Coke, Diet Coke, or Coke Zero all work fine. Or any kind of cola, really.)
- 2 cups of Root Beer (I used A&W, but any kind would be good. A&W, being only inferior to Hires (which I can't get anymore), is a very creamy root beer.)
- 1 cup of Orange Juice
- 2 cups of Water (as with anything involving water, the better the quality of the water, the better the final product! I like using filtered water for this kind of thing!)
 - Salt, Pepper, and Garlic Powder to taste

Set the ham into the pan, then surround it with the vegetables, before pouring the mix of liquids over the ham itself. The sugars and combination of flavours in the sodas and juice will thicken a bit as the roast cooks, and in the end you'll have everything in the pan tasting just this side of sweet, without the thick, cloying sweetness of a glaze. Of course, if you like glaze, you could do that as well!
 
Mashed Potatoes with Granny Smith Apples

- 2lbs of White Potatoes, cut into eighths (I didn't peel 'em, but some people don't like skins in their mash, so it's up to you. Wash 'em though!)
- 2 Granny Smith Apples, cored and diced (Also, you could peel these, but I didn't. I like skins!!)
- 2 tbsp Butter
- Salt and Pepper to taste

Start by washing your potatoes and your apples. You'll want to peel them at this point, if you're going to. If not, cut up the potatoes as well as the apples (after coring the latter), and boil them in a pot of water until they're all good and soft. Drain the results, and put them back in the pot, adding the salt, pepper, and butter. With a hand masher (plastic or wood please if using a non-stick pot), mash the potatoes and apples together until you reach the desired smoothness. Allow to cool for five minutes before serving.