Leftover Ham

Bite the bullet and purchase a Smithfield Ham. Butt Portion. Then make a million meals out of it. You will never look at ham the same.

Everyone loves to take the ham bone and make beans. But you can also freeze hunks of it to dice up later and throw in recipes. Most usually call for 2 cups diced ham.

One of my favorites involves buying 2 loaves of frozen bread dough. Once it is thawed, roll it out and sprinkle it with diced ham, cooked broccoli and cheddar cheese. The most important thing is to make certain the broccoli is well drained before placing it on the bread. If not, it will make everything soggy. Roll out the other loaf and place it on top. Seal it up, brush it with butter and sprinkle the top with poppy seeds. Bake it at 350 until the bread is nice and golden brown. Cut them into cute little squares and hope the children like it. The possibilities though are endless with this frozen bread idea.....anything goes.

The other favorite involves many of the same ingredients. Broccoli and Ham Soup. Pretty basic. Make it as big as you want or as small........

Minced garlic, chopped onion, chicken broth, a little water, diced ham, canned tomatoes (undrained), macaroni, broccoli, a little nutmeg (secret ingredient). It's best served with grated parmesan cheese and crunchy breadsticks.

If all else fails, chop up the ham, throw it in some macaroni and cheese with some peas.......

Many people will love these dishes and many people will not. You'll have this.

Cook a Buttload

The other night while visiting with Carrie and kids, I took over in the kitchen. This happens with me. The kitchen is my home thanks to my wonderful German mom. Carrie enjoyed the easy breezy food so much she suggested I blog about it. She's handy like that.

So, she had a couple of pounds of hamburger meat thawed so I browned it (salt, pepper to taste). She hit the pantry and pulled out some canned tomatoes (several cans for her family of 5) and olive oil. After sauteing some garlic and onions in the oil I added the diced tomatoes (drained). If using whole canned tomatoes hand crushing before throwing them in is recommended. This doesn't take long to cook thru and make a nice consistency. We ended up combining the sauce and meat, spooning it over some pasta, parmesan on top. Kids loved it.

We had a nice amount of meat mixture left. The next day as Carrie and I were talking, I mentioned making mini pizzas. French bread or hamburger/hotdog buns.....slather it with the meat, smother it with cheese, drizzle with olive oil.....brown it up in the oven. Salad with black olives, spinach and mushrooms. Nice little dinner with little or no effort. As with any pizza, your imagination can run wild with the toppings.

One of her children (he's 15) was a bit skeptical about the idea, the youngest (1st grade boy) felt it horrid while Madalyn was on her 4th piece. Yea Madalyn!

Back when my kids were little, I simply bought pepperonis, small hamburger buns, a jar of Paul Newman's marinara and went from there. They loved Mini Pizzi Night! And so did I!