Your Thanksgiving Feast will provide your friends with alternative options to enjoy football and great food on Thursday. It is, after all, Thanksgiving, and there are three NFL football games to watch. Your guests may only be able to attend one game due to commitments with their own traditional Thanksgiving feast with the family. Other friends may be in for two games depending on the timing with their family’s event. Then you may have a few troopers that are all in for the entire day of football and food!
No matter who you have come over and when, we have you covered with our Breakfast Ham Skillet for game one, and our Grilled Ham dinner with Easy Mashed Potatoes and Cheesy Broccoli. Your delicious ham will also take you through the late game too.
Easy as Pie – Thanksgiving Feast
Thanksgiving Breakfast Ham Skillet – Game 1
You wake up Thanksgiving morning with visions of football and incredible food dancing in your sleepy head. If you are hosting a tailgate party for the early game, this skillet dish will start the day off right. It is easy to make and will provide you and your guests a fantastic base for the impending adult beverages ahead. Do not kid yourself, you know your guests will expect Bloody Marys or mimosas upon arrival. Be a smart host and assign one of your more “festive” friends the job of bartending today!
The main ingredient for the skillet is grilled ham, and those directions are below these. We recommend you grill the ham Wednesday after work to make Thanksgiving day go smoother. Carving the ham the night before will not affect its delicious flavor. You will also want to freeze the ham bone in a Zip-Loc bag for the impending holidays in December. It will come in handy for making a delicious pot of beans!
Ingredients:
- Grilled ham chopped up
- 3-4 large potatoes chopped into cubes
- Your favorite add-ins chopped into cubes: onions, red/green peppers, mushrooms
- 6-8 jumbo eggs
- Your favorite shredded cheese
- Olive oil
- 1/4 stick of butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Salsa or hot sauce to taste – optional
Get a large skillet and drizzle it with olive oil. Place the potatoes and any of your “add-ins” into the skillet on medium heat. Add in half of the butter and your seasonings. Sauté the mixture until the potatoes are almost done. Add in the chopped ham and sauté until the meat is warmed through. Add in the salsa or hot sauce at this point if you want the extra zip.
While the meat is warming in the skillet take the 6-8 jumbo eggs and scramble them up in a bowl. Take another skillet and warm it on medium heat with the remaining butter. Once the butter is melted, add in the eggs and seasonings. Cook the eggs through until they are done, breaking them up as they cook.
Once the scrambled eggs are ready spread them onto the ham skillet then add the shredded cheese on top. Turn off your burner and allow the skillet to rest and the cheese to melt. Serve up your skillet with toast or English muffins.
Thanksgiving Football Feast – Game 2
Your tailgate guests attending the early game have been fed your delicious Ham Breakfast Skillet to kick off the day. Now it is time for the main dinner of the day that should coincide with game two. This part of the day will be the more traditional Thanksgiving dinner for your guests. It will provide your guests with a delicious meal while they celebrate Thanksgiving with their “football family.”
Grilled Ham
Ingredients & Equipment
- 1 ham (butt or shank portion)
- 1 can of pineapple slices (reserve the juice)
- Cloves (optional)
- Mustard (optional)
- Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
- Black pepper
- Brown sugar
- Honey
- 6 ounces of 7-Up or Sprite lemon-lime soda
- Wood Toothpicks
Take your ham out of the wrapper. Using a sharp knife, cut ½-inch deep crisscrossing slices across the top of the ham. As optional steps after scoring the meat, squirt some of the mustard and rub it all over the ham. Also optional depending on your taste, take the cloves and place one in each crossing intersection of the slits on top of the ham.
Season the ham with the Lawry’s and pepper. Sprinkle the brown sugar across the top of the ham. Take the pineapple slices and secure them to the top of the ham with the toothpicks. Drizzle honey across the ham, and sprinkle on some more brown sugar. Pour the reserved pineapple juice into a large cup; add in two tablespoons of honey and brown sugar. Mix well, then add in the lemon-lime soda. This will make a delicious drizzle for the ham as it cooks.
Grill Time
Grill the ham indirectly using around 20-25 coals on one side of your grill. After your charcoal is that perfect grey, place the ham on the opposite side of your grill and cover with the lid vent directly above the ham. The ham should take around 2-2.5 hours to be warmed thoroughly. Every 20-25 minutes, take your reserved liquid and drizzle it over the top and front of the ham. This will help keep the exterior moist. At the one hour mark, take the ham and rotate it 180 degrees. This will allow more even heating for the ham.
After it is done, remove the ham from the grill and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes. Carve up the ham into slices and place it into a sturdy foil pan and cover with foil. Take any extra drizzle and pour that in with the ham. (You will need 5-6 slices of the grilled ham to make the Ham Breakfast Skillet recipe above)
On Thanksgiving Day take the foil pan and place it in your oven an hour before dinner time. Set the oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit to warm the grilled ham for serving. It will retain the incredible grilled flavor and the extra drizzle will steam the ham a bit keeping it moist. Remove the pan from the oven and place the ham on a serving platter when the dinner bell rings.
Easy Mashed Potatoes
- 3-5 lbs of golden potatoes cleaned & pealed
- 1/2-1 cup of milk
- 1 stick of butter cut into eighths
- salt & pepper to taste
- your favorite gravy (optional)
Chop up the golden potatoes into small cubes. If you would like to make “Smashed Potatoes” instead, leave the potato skins on. Place the potato cubes into a large pot of water with 1-2 tablespoons of salt. Boil the potatoes until they are done, then drain. Return to the pot or a large sturdy bowl and add in the butter and allow to melt.
Use a potato masher or electric beater to mash the potatoes, adding a 1/2 cup of milk as you go. If the potatoes are too thick, add in another 1/4 to 1/2 cup of milk and continue to mash/stir. Season the potatoes to taste with the salt and pepper during the mashing process. Serve these delicious potatoes alongside your Grilled Ham and Cheesy Broccoli. These tasty potatoes do not need gravy, but you can use store-bought gravy if you want it. Heinz makes numerous pre-made gravies in jars readily available at your local grocery store.
Cheesy Broccoli
- 4-5 large stalks of broccoli
- Salt and black pepper
- 1-2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons of butter
Rinse the broccoli stalks under cold water and cut off the end of each stalk which can be tough. Cut them into smaller bite-size stalks and place them into a large pot. Add in an inch of water and a teaspoon of salt. Cover the pot and simmer the broccoli on medium heat until tender. Drain the broccoli and add in the butter then season to taste with salt and pepper. Take the shredded cheese and sprinkle it across the broccoli and close the lid. Serve the broccoli in a bowl next to your Grilled Ham and Mashed Potatoes.
Thanksgiving Football Feast – Game 3
It is advisable to get a total of the guests and their expected arrivals ahead of time for this marathon day. If you have a lot of people for the late game, you may need to make a second Grilled Ham. It is always wise to plan ahead!
The evening game requires a light meal since the game is later on in the day and it’s been a non-stop feeding frenzy since the morning. Guess what is on the menu for the later game? You guessed it, Grilled Ham. This time you will be providing your delicious ham to be used for sandwiches. They are an easy option for the Grill Master who has been grilling and creating since Wednesday. Chances are any guests arriving for the late game will not be that hungry after enjoying their own Thanksgiving Feast earlier that day.
Layout the grilled ham on a platter and let the guests help themselves. You will of course also need sandwich rolls, mustard, sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and several varieties of sliced cheeses. Potato chips are also a great addition to the sandwiches and an easy option for you. Do yourself another favor and use paper plates and disposable utensils on this day. You will thank yourself later on that choice!
Game Day Wrap Up
Creating your Thanksgiving feast has involved a long day for you. Hopefully, you are off work on Friday so that you can get a day of rest after providing this incredible feast to your friends and family. There may be some who complain about the non-stop grilled ham on the menu today. Promise them that your Christmas-themed celebration will not include any ham, just grilled turkey. That should make them excited as they head home full of ham! Now get some rest because NFL Sunday is only three days away!