Solutions for Left-over Ham! Two REALLY Easy, REALLY Delicious Recipes!

One more meal of sliced ham but then what?

Here are three things to help you stretch the ham dollar and give you more tasty meals:

1. First, freeze the large slices in usable portion size. 

2. Chunk up the rest for yummy ham salad. (Recipe follows.) Leave some meat on the bone.

3. Make a delicious and nutritious bean soup with the ham bone and those luscious pieces of ham that cling to it. (Recipe follows.)

These recipes are incredibly easy and delicious!

HAM SALAD

Start with a ham that is tasty and not dried out. A little ham fat adds flavor, but be skimpy with it. Trim carefully so as not to get gristle or chunks of fat.

I prefer to use an inexpensive grinder but I've had ham salad that is minced or chopped and it's just fine. A food processor would also give a great result. The important thing is that you use real ham, real eggs, a good quality of mayonnaise, and some pickle relish. That's it! This is SO EASY!!!

1 1/2 to 2 cups of ham, chopped fine or ground

3 to 4 eggs, boiled, shelled, chopped fine or ground

2 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise (Hellman's is so good for this!)

1 heaping tablespoon of sweet pickle relish

Really, that's it! Just process the meat and eggs to the consistency you like. Add the mayonnaise and the sweet pickle relish. Stir it up, adding more mayonnaise or pickle relish to taste,  incorporating the flavors throughout and WOW!!! 100% Pure YUM and I guarantee you can't buy a ham salad that tastes that good and fresh! Makes a great sandwich with potato soup. Oh, yeah! Or serve with crackers.

Feel free to add onions, but your ham salad won't stay fresh-tasting as long.

BEAN SOUP

1 ham bone

1 pound of navy beans

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1/2 onion, diced

sweet pepper or hot pepper, diced, to taste

2 teaspoons salt

generous pinch of freshly ground pepper

2 quarts of water to start, or enough to cover the ham bone

You can parboil the beans ahead of time, if you like. I always rinse the beans and check for little rocks but it's really pretty rare to find one! Just an old-timey habit!

Simply place all ingredients into a stock pot. Place on high heat to bring to boil. Turn down the heat to simmer, cover, and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Add water as needed. Check seasonings and adjust. 

Serve with cornbread. What a treat!!!

Question: What are some of your favorite ways to use your left-over ham or ham bone?

The Three Sisters and Friends

People ask me what they should try to grow if they have a small garden. My first thought: tomatoes! They're so adaptable to meal plans. My second thought: potatoes! No longer relegated to the garden, they are emerging as horticultural plantings for landscapes, make a very pretty ground cover and provide delicious spuds that can be prepared for the table in a multitude of ways. My third thought: "The Three Sisters", quite possibly responsible for the success of both the early native Americans and the immigrants who came later to live and thrive here in America.

In early times, before recorded history in America, the people who inhabited the land would plant beans, corn and squash together. The three vegetables came to be called "The Three Sisters" and became standard. This planting combination had been a brilliant agricultural plan, ingenious in the way the plants complemented each other. The way it worked, stalks of corn provided a structure for climbing beans. In turn, beans brought nitrogen from the air down into their roots and into the soil where the corn, which has to have nitrogen, could use it. Beans and corn together would provide a great protein source, especially important when meat could not be found. Squash provided the perfect vining ground cover to fight weeds and hold in moisture, proving to be even better because it was edible. Our early Americans valued both its flowers and its fruit.

If you have the room, I would suggest all these vegetables but, especially, garden with the three sisters. They worked in olden days in the garden and will continue working today!