Ham 3 ways (For Erin)

We had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend.

Dinner Sunday night was at Dave and Linda's house - Erin, you missed an awesome dinner!  Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, roasted veggies, TWO kinds of stuffing and a deep fried chicken.  The chicken was a test chicken to see if Dave liked the deep frying method; I am not sure if it will become the tradition or not.  Dessert was made by my mom and was equally delicious - her German apple cake was one of the best desserts I have tasted.

Dinner Monday night was here for my folks and Don, Peg and the 3 boys.  We had another great night!  I made a roast ham and a huge plate of roasted root veggies (two colours of carrots, potatoes, red onion, parsnip, beets) and roasted brussels sprouts.  All the veggies came from our CSA box.  We also had two types of roasted squash (just brushed with a bit of butter and brown sugar) and a tomato salad.  YUM.  My mom made an awesome spider cake - I will add the photos soon - and it was TASTY - apple, toffee deliciousness.

So, we had leftover ham to use and I decided to make two dishes: split pea soup and scalloped potatoes with ham and onions.

The soup was delicious, I have made it before and got the recipe from Chatelaine.  Erin - this is an EASY soup to make and if you don't have a ham bone left over to use, buy a ham hock.

In a pot in one tablespoon of oil sautee:  two diced carrots, two diced stalks of celery, one diced onion, two cloves of garlic (diced), two bay leaves, salt and pepper.
Cook for about 5 min then add in your ham hock (or left over ham bone) and 4 cups of chicken stock (I used homemade but any reduced sodium stock will work) plus three cups of water.  Add in two cups of dried split peas and you are good to go!
Simmer on low for a few hours until the peas break down.  Then, take out the ham hock and remove any meat and remove the bay leaves.  Then blend half the soup in a blender or use an immersion blender to make the soup slightly creamy with some veggie pieces left.  Add back into the soup any pieces of ham you have left and heat through then serve.
I served it with homemade garlic bread and a green salad.  So delicious.

Tonight I made scalloped potatoes with ham and I just invented the recipe.  Also super easy but it did take a long time to cook.

You need:

5 large russet potatoes (Erin - baking potatoes)
One onion
left over ham, diced (optional)
2 cups of milk
4 Tablespoons of butter
4 Tablespoons of flour
Pepper
1 teaspoon of dried mustard powder
Cheddar cheese (I didn't measure, a lot)
Cheese whiz (gasp!  I stole the ingredient from my Mom's scalloped potatoes) a few Tablespoons

Peel and slice potatoes quite thinly, a quarter of an inch maybe?
Slice the onion the same thickness.

In a pot melt the butter then add in the flour.  Stir until bubbly and heated through.  Add in the milk and stir until thickened (a few minutes).  Then add in the pepper, cheddar cheese, cheese whiz, and mustard powder.  Once the cheese has all melted, taste it.  If it tastes cheesy and delicious you are good to go!  If not, add in more cheese until it is just right.

Then - make your scalloped potatoes.

In a large lasagna sized pan put some of your cheese sauce then a layer or two of potatoes, a layer of onion slices and some ham.  Add more sauce then repeat - sauce, potatoes, onion, ham, sauce etc.

Bake at 375 forever.  No, until the potatoes are done :)  It took at least 2 hours but it is quick to assemble and then you just throw it in the oven and forget it.

So there you have it!  Ham 3 ways :)
Erin, I would like you to report back what you make!

- E