Turn a baked ham into a festive meal with this colorful and easy to make cherry-pineapple sauce.

Holiday Ham and Cherry Sauce

5 pounds fully cooked boneless ham
Whole cloves
Cherry sauce (recipe follows)
Parsley sprigs

1. Place ham in roasting pan; stud with cloves. Roast ham at 325°F (160°C) until thermometer inserted in center of ham register 160°F (70°C), about 1 1/2 hours.
2. Slice ham and arrange on platter with bowl of Cherry Sauce in the center. Garnish with parsley.

Makes 16 servings.

Cherry Sauce

2 (16-ounce each) cans red tart pitted cherries in juice, undrained*
2/3 to 3/4 can unsweetened pineapple juice
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1/4 cup cornstarch
7 1/4 to 10 3/4 teaspoons Equal® for Recipes or 24 to 36 packets Equal® sweetener or 1 to 1 1/2 cups Equal® Spoonful™
Red food coloring (optional)

1. Drain cherries, reserving juice in 2 cup glass measure; add enough pineapple juice to make 2 cups. Pour juice mixture and lemon juice into medium saucepan; whisk in cornstarch until smooth. Heat to boiling, whisking constantly; boil until thickened, whisking constantly, about 1 minute.
2. Add cherries to saucepan; cook over medium heat until hot throughout, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in Equal® and food coloring.

Makes about 4 2/3 cups.

Tip: 2 (16-ounce each) packages frozen no-sugar-added pitted cherries, thawed, can be substituted for the canned cherries; drain cherries thoroughly and add enough pineapple juice to make 2 cups. Proceed with recipe as above.

Nutrition Information Per Serving: 246 cal., 30g pro., 12g carbo., 8 g fat, 75 mg chol., 1710 mg sodium.

Food Exchanges: 4 lean meat, 1 fruit.

Recipe provided courtesy of Merisant Corporation ® and the NutraSweet Company, makers of Equal®. Originally submitted by E. Havens of Oklahoma.

Click for more information on the artificial sweetner Aspartame.