Celebrating Springtime, and Weekly Specials with Mary Anne

IGA has boneless skinless chicken breasts for $1.69 a pound, leg quarters for 69 cents a pound, and legs (drumsticks) for 99 cents a pound. The chicken breasts are “previously frozen” so technically you shouldn’t refreeze them, but I always do anyway. Fresh green beans and Red Delicious apples are both ten pounds for $10.00, or a dollar a pound. That’s a particularly good price for the apples. Del Monte canned fruit is ten for $10.00, or a dollar a can, which may or may not be a good price. Frozen vegetables are ten one-pound bags for $10.00, or a dollar a bag, which is a very good price. Pollack fillets are $2.69 a pound, which is a good price for fish. Pollack is a mild white fish. Ground turkey is $1.99 for a one pound roll, as is turkey breakfast sausage. You might want to check the nutritional info. Some ground turkey has a lot of fat in it. The more fat, the more it will cook down and the less cooked meat you’ll have. Two pound (32 ounce) bags of shredded cheese are $5.99, which is $3.00 a pound or $1.50 for eight ounces, so that’s a good price. (I don’t know why I sometimes say that something is a good price. I wouldn’t be listing it here if I thought it wasn’t.) Prices are good through Sunday, April 13.

Marsh has sweet corn, ten ears for $3.00, or 30 cents an ear. Sweet potatoes are 79 cents a pound. Libby’s canned vegetables are 50 cents a can, but you have to buy at least ten items from a list of things. Frozen vegetables are 67 cents for a one pound bag, but only Thursday the 10^th through Sunday the 13^th. Lots of ham on sale for Easter. Prices start at 98 cents a pound for the Sugardale Prestige Fully cooked Hardwood Smoked Shank Portion, which is a water added product. Indiana Kitchen Heritage House Spiral Sliced Ham Hams are $1.28 a pound, limit of one and you have to buy at least $25 of other stuff. Marsh Honey Gold Half Spiral Sliced Glazed Hams are $10 or $20 off for a whole ham, but they don’t tell you how much they are per pound before the discount. That always makes me suspicious, though I’ve gotten some really good deals that way. You may need to calculate the per pound price yourself. Prices for hams go up to $2.39 a pound, depending on the brand, size, etc. With the exception of the frozen vegetables, all prices are good through Wednesday, April 16.

Aldi has hams on sale for Easter, too. (I guess IGA doesn’t this week because they’ll have new sale prices on Sunday.) Appleton Farms hams (a water added product) vary from 99 cents a pound to $1.69 a pound, depending on whether they are sliced and whether they are shank or butt portion. Eggs are 79 cents a dozen, which is a great price! The ones I bought a couple of weeks ago were $1.59 a dozen. “New low prices” are butter for $2.19 a pound and 99 cents for eight ounces of cream cheese. This may mean these prices will continue for a while. Pineapples are $1.49 each, four pound bags of oranges are $1.99, baby carrots are 69 cents a pound, asparagus is $1.49 a pound, and a ten pound bag of russet potatoes is $1.69, or 17 cents a pound. Strawberries are $1.49 a pound. Canned green beans and corn are 49 cents a can and cream of mushroom soup is 59 cents a can. Prices are good through Tuesday, April 15.

Easter menus aren’t as fixed as Thanksgiving menus. Ham and lamb are both traditional, and some people have roasted chicken or turkey. Here’s what I would probably have for Easter dinner, based on this week’s sales. If you don’t celebrate Easter, this would make a good dinner to celebrate Spring, instead. I’m assuming eight people for dinner.

Ham

Sweet potatoes

Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce (don’t worry – it’s easy if you have a blender)

OR

Green beans

Maybe a green salad, but probably not

Strawberry Pavlova or individual strawberry meringues (again, very easy)

Serve the dinner in the kitchen and give each person a full plate, rather than putting the food on the table and letting everyone serve him/herself. Each plate gets a slice of ham, a whole (but cut in half) or half sweet potato that’s already been buttered, and a pile of asparagus with Hollandaise sauce poured over it. The reason for plating in the kitchen is that there’s only about two tablespoons of the Hollandaise sauce per person, which is plenty because it’s so rich, but people might take more than that if they served themselves. If there’s any food left after filling the plates, you could put the extra on the table for seconds. Clear the table, and then serve the dessert. If you’re serving Pavlova, serve it at the table because it looks impressive whole. If you’re serving individual meringues they can be plated in the kitchen.

HAM - I’d check the price on the Marsh Honey Gold hams after the $10 or $20 off and see whether it was actually a good price. I’d probably end up with the Sugardale ham for 98 cents a pound, even though it is water added. Figure you get about 12 ounces of meat from each pound of ham (because of the bone). The bones will be about the same size regardless of how big the ham is, so you might as well get a big one and have lots of leftovers. If you get a ten pound ham, you can serve eight ounces of meat (about a cup and a half, if it were cubed) per person and use just barely over half the ham. Let’s assume you’ve got a couple of little kids and say you’ll use half of it. That’s $9.80 for the ham (let’s call it $10.00) and you’ll use half of it, so that’s $5.00 for the ham, plus another 25 cents or so for the cloves, or $5.25 total.

SWEET POTATOES – Six ounces of sweet potato per person would come to three pounds total, or $2.37 (let’s call it $2.40). A tablespoon of butter per person (I like lots of butter on my sweet potatoes!) would run another 55 cents, or a total of $2.95.

ASPARAGUS – Figure three pounds, or $4.50.

HOLLANDAISE SAUCE – Figure 70 cents for the butter and 15 cents for the egg yolks (the other 15 cents are for the whites), or 85 cents total for the sauce. See the recipe below.

GREEN BEANS ALMONDINE – Three pounds of green beans is $3.00, plus 15 cents for the butter and 60 cents for the almonds, or $3.75 altogether.

STRAWBERRY PAVLOVA or INDIVIDUAL STRAWBERRY MERINGUES – The strawberries themselves will cost $1.50. The meringue (whether you make it in one big shell for the Pavlova or in individual shells for the strawberry meringues) will cost about 40 cents (you’re using the whites from the yolks you used for the Hollandaise sauce). The whipped cream filling will cost about $1.60. That’s $3.50 for the Pavlova or $1.90 for the meringues without the whipped cream. See the recipe below.

The total cost of the meal – ham, sweet potatoes, asparagus and Hollandaise sauce, and Strawberry Pavlova – will be about $17.30, or $2.20 per person for eight people. For the ham, sweet potatoes, green beans with almonds, and Strawberry Meringues (no whipped cream), the total cost will be about $14.10, or $1.75. These are generous, adult-size portions. If you’re serving kids, too, it will all go further, and the cost per person will be less.

You Mean There's Still More Ham Left?!

This week’s ads look an awful lot like last week’s. Ham is still king. I’ll give a run down on ham at the various stores first, and then move on to other things. It looks like a lot of the price differences are based on whether you’re getting a “name brand” or a “store brand,” as well as on how much water is added in the processing. I’ll let you know what I find about the type of ham (how much water is added), but be sure to check the packaging, too. I’m just relying on the little bit of information given in the ads.

Kroger has Kroger Spiral Sliced Ham for $1.27 a pound, limit of two with $25 in additional purchases. Cook’s Shank Portion Ham is 97 cents a pound, limit of 2 with $10 in additional purchases. Cumberland Gap Semi-Boneless Whole Ham is $1.99 a pound, and Hickory Hills Boneless Ham is $2.49 a pound. John Morrell Spiral Sliced Ham is $2.69 a pound and Private Selection Spiral Sliced Ham is $2.99. Whew! That’s anywhere from 97 cents to $2.99 per pound!

It’s a similar story at Marsh. Hormel Cure 81 Spiral Hams are $1.37 per pound, limit of one, with $25 of additional purchases. Sugardale Prestige Fully Cooked Shank Portion Hardwood Ham (water added) is 97 cents a pound, limit of one with $25 in additional purchases. Indiana Kitchen Heritage House Spiral Sliced Ham with Glaze Packet is $2.49 a pound. Alexander Hornung boneless hams and semi-boneless hams are $1.99 a pound. Marsh Honey Gold Spiral Sliced Glazed Ham is $10 off a half ham or $20 off a whole ham, but they don’t say how much the ham costs to begin with, so there’s no way to tell how much it ends up costing per pound. You’ll have to do the math when you get there.

Aldi has Appleton Farms hams on sale, $1.49 per pound for a spiral sliced half ham, 99 cents for a shank portion, or $1.19 for a butt portion.

IGA in Ellettsville has Best Choice Spiral Sliced Half Ham for $1.89 per pound, limit of one, with $15 in additional purchases, Field Kentucky Legend Boneless Whole Ham for $2.69 a pound, also with a limit of one and with $15 in additional purchases. Emge E-Z Carve Boneless Half Ham is $3.19 a pound and Boneless Whole Ham is $2.99 a pound. Carolina Pride Super Trim Half Ham is $1.39 per pound. Cumberland Gap Semi-Boneless Half Ham is $2.19 a pound, and Semi-Boneless Whole Ham is $1.89 a pound. Kretschmar Boneless Half Ham is $2.69 a pound, and Whole Boneless Ham is $2.49 a pound. Baking hens, roasters and whole fryers are all 99 cents a pound.

Other sales at Kroger include pints of sour cream or dip, 10 for $10, but it doesn’t look like you have to actually buy 10 items. Tennessee Pride breakfast sausage is 2 for $5, with packages ranging from 8 to 16 ounces. Various cheeses are $1.99 per 6 to 8 ounce package. Private Selection or Kroger turkeys are 99 cents a pound, and fresh Honeysuckle turkeys are $1.69 a pound. Cantaloupe are 2 for $3, or $1.50 each. That’s a great price, even for the summer. Fresh green beans are 99 cents a pound.

Marsh has fresh Florida strawberries, two pounds for $5, or $2.50 per pound. Various canned veggies are 49 cents a can. Thursday through Saturday only, whole pineapples are 99 cents each, limit of two with $30 in additional purchases. Indiana Kitchen bacon is $2.99 a pound. Zucchini is $1.29 a pound. Butterball Fresh All Natural turkeys are $1.99 a pound, and Norbest Fresh All Natural Family Tradition turkeys are $1.69 per pound.

Aldi’s vegetables are about the same as they have been. Potatoes are $1.89 for 10 pounds, sweet potatoes are $1.49 for 3 pounds. Oranges are $2.49 for a 4 pounds (but they were actually only $1.99 when I was there on Tuesday!), and mixed fruit (apples and oranges) are $2.49 for a 3 pound bag. Grapefruit are 49 cents each and pineapples are 99 cents each. Butter is $1.69 a pound and cream cheese is 89 cents for 8 ounces. If you’re interested in things like canned sweet potatoes, stuff to make green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc., you might want to take a look at Aldi. They have most of that stuff on sale, too.

IGA has turkeys for $1.19 a pound, while supplies last. Oranges are $3.99 for an 8 pound bag. Canned veggies are three for $1, limit of nine cans. Various Kraft cheeses are buy one, get one free, but it doesn’t say how much they cost. Sour cream and dips are 99 cents for 16 ounces (one pint). Best Choice Fresh Turkeys are $1.49 per pound. Cooked Perfect Meatballs are 99 cents for 14 ounces. Birds Eye frozen vegetables are 10 bags for $10, or $1 each, for 10 to 16 ounce bags, and so are Steamfresh frozen veggies. Red Delicious apples are $5.99 for 8 pounds.

Since ham is still on sale, I’ll do another column working with that. Again, I’ll be mostly talking about the leftover ham. There can be lots of leftovers and it can get pretty old! However, it does freeze well, and then you can use it later when you’re looking for a break from chicken or whatever. I’m figuring on 60 cents a cup again, like last week, when I cost out the recipes and menus.

This first recipe, HAMAND SPINACH CASSEROLE, does have grain in it, both in the white sauce and in the buttered crumbs on top. (As you may know by now, I don’t eat grains in any form.) I left them in the recipe in case you do eat them, which most people do. If you don’t want the wheat, you can substitute one can’s worth of the Campbell’s Soup Casserole Sauce Mix (I gave the recipe last week) for the white sauce, and add the cheese to it. As for the bread crumbs, you could use some slivered almonds if you wanted to, or more cheese, or just leave the topping off altogether, which is what I would do.

If you make this with half and half cream, the total cost will be about $4.50. With the soup mix or with milk it would be a bit less. Some CARROT SALAD would be good with this and would brighten up the plate. With the Carrot Salad, the meal would cost about $5.50, or a bit less than $1.50 per person. Or you could serve fruit and still keep it under $1.50 per person. Fresh fruit is best, of course, but canned without sugar is good, too. You’ll want something with it, anyway, because the servings are a bit smaller than I usually give.

Here’s a really easy way to use up some of that leftover ham. HAM AND BROCCOLI SAUTE is just ham and broccoli and cheese. You can’t get much simpler or quicker than that! Sometimes, especially in the middle of getting ready for the holidays, you just don’t want to spend much time or energy getting a meal on the table. Here’s the answer. This costs under $4.00, leaving a bit over $2.00 for things to go with it. How about some sweet potatoes, either baked or boiled, than whipped with some butter? You’d still be under $5.00 for four servings, or a bit under $1.25 per person.

And finally, BAKEDYAMS, APPLES AND CANADIAN BACON (OR HAM). As you might guess from the name, I took a recipe that calls for Canadian bacon and made it with leftover ham, instead. If you have sliced ham, go ahead and use it but follow the directions for Canadian bacon. This costs right about $4.00 and makes four generous servings. How about serving some coleslaw to go with it? I’ve given my recipe a few times (shredded or chopped cabbage, chopped onion, mayo, lemon juice, sweetener), but you’ve probably got your own favorite way of fixing it. However you do it, a basic coleslaw shouldn’t run more than $2.00 (mine would come out closer to $1.50), keeping the total cost of the meal for four people at less than $6.00, or  less than $1.50 per person.

Okay, so this next one is really the last one. HAM, POTATOES AND GREEN BEANS is a concoction that Mom used to make. And with ham, potatoes and green beans all on sale this week, I just have to include it! At this week’s prices, this would run about $3.60 and makes four generous servings. What would really go best with it would be corn bread (less than $1.00 for Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix and butter), but since I said I wouldn’t be including bread in my menus, let’s have some devilled eggs (eggs were $1.29 a dozen at Aldi on Tuesday) and carrot sticks, and a pineapple or cantaloupe for dessert.

If you have just a dab of ham left, you can add it to lots of other things as an accent. It goes great in potato soup, or in a salad. You can chop it up small and add it to corn bread before you bake it. Throw it in some eggs and either scramble them or make an omelet out of it. Put it in mashed potatoes or scalloped potatoes. Make fried rice with it. Fry it up with some cabbage or put it in green beans. Or just eat it!

And whatever you do, don’t throw out the ham bone! Use it to make bean soup. Or make HAM BROTH and freeze it to make soup with later.

Hamming It Up

HAMMING IT UP

Marsh has some meat on sale. Fresh picnic roasts are $1.29 per pound. As I’ve said (probably several times!) this is absolutely my favorite cut of meat. Unfortunately, there’s a big bone running through it, which ups the effective price considerably. By “effective price” I mean the price per serving. I’ve never actually weighed it out and everything, but I’d guess that on a per serving basis, or on how many ounces of actual cooked meat you get, pork loin at $2.00 a pound would be cheaper than the picnic at $1.29. But oh, the picnic is so much better! I just now looked up how much meat is left after you take out the bone on a ham, and it said to allow three-quarters of a pound per person for a bone-in ham, and just one-quarter of a pound for a boneless ham. Which leads very nicely into the next things they have on sale, which is ham! Hormel Cure 81 Spiral Ham is $1.37 per pound, limit one, with additional $25 purchase. Sugardale Prestige fully cooked hams (water added) is 97 cents a pound for a shank portion, limit one with additional $25 purchase, or $1.29 per pound for the butt portion, with no limit and no additional purchase required.

Aldi also has ham on sale. Appleton Farms shank portion is 99 cents per pound, and the butt portion is $1.19 per pound. Spiral sliced is $1.49 per pound. Sweet potatoes are still $1.49 for a three pound bag, and russet potatoes are $1.89 for a ten pound bag. Navel oranges are $2.49 for a four pound bag, and pineapples are 99 cents each. “Mixed fruit,” which seems to be red and green apples and oranges, is $2.49 for a three pound bag. Eggs are $1.29 a dozen, with a limit of six dozen. 5-ounce cartons of feta or blue cheese crumbles are $1.89 each. Evaporated milk is 65 cents a can and pumpkin is 89 cents a can. Cream cheese is 89 cents for eight ounces and butter is $1.69 per pound.

Kroger has ham on sale, too. Kroger spiral sliced ham is $1.27 a pound. I’m getting the feeling that ham is what’s traditional for Christmas around here! Frozen veggies are 10 for $10, or $1 per bag, and the bags range from 8 to 16 ounces. Cumberland Gap Semi-boneless whole ham is $1.99 a pound. They also have Cook’s shank portion “ham and water product” for 97 cents a pound.

It's hard to figure out how much ham costs per serving, because of the bone and the skin and all. However, MY BEST GUESS is about 60 cents per cup of ham. That's figuring the cost for leftovers, of course, since you don't usually serve it the first time around by the cup. That's about 4.85 ounces of cooked meat, which is probably more helpful if you're serving it sliced. And it takes about 6.5 ounces of ham as you buy it with, with the bone and skin and all to get one cup or 4.85 ounces. At least that's the best I can figure based on information I've found online.

Trying to figure out the differences between "ham," "ham with natural juices," "ham, water added," and "ham and water product"? Or whether it's worth the extra cost to get a spiral sliced ham instead of one that's not sliced? Check HERE for some tips.

So now for some recipes. The problem is that when I think of things to do with leftover ham, it’s mostly things like Ham Fried Rice, Ham and Beans (or lentils or split peas) Soup, or Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. Something that’s mostly a starchy “filler” type dish, and I’m staying away from those. Which is another reason I haven’t given ham recipes before!

The first thing you might think to do with leftover ham (after the ham sandwiches, that is) is to put it in eggs. Just fry some diced ham in some butter to warm it, then add eggs and scramble it as usual, for SCRAMBLED EGGS AND HAM. Or add it to an omelet along with some chopped green onions and chopped bell pepper for a DENVER OMELET. Don’t add any extra salt, since the ham is salty. 

Or you could do a HAM AND WHATEVER ELSE IS HANDY QUICHE. I’ll give a recipe using ham and frozen broccoli, but you could use spinach without changing the price more than a few cents a serving. A whole quiche will cost just under $5.00, assuming you use half and half cream and two cups of ham. That would come to about $1.25 per serving if you make four servings or about 85 cents a serving if you make six servings. A fourth of a quiche this size is plenty for either lunch or supper for me, without anything else. Or you could add an eighth of a head of lettuce plus a tablespoon or two of dressing and still keep it under $1.50. If you use frozen chopped spinach instead of broccoli, it will add about 10 cents per serving.

Here’s an old-fashioned sort of recipe. QUICKCREAMED HAM is basically Ham a la King. It’s traditionally served over something starchy, like toast, muffins, biscuits, waffles, rice, etc., but I serve it over a vegetable, instead. Broccoli is good, or spinach. It would be good over a baked potato, too. The cost of a recipe of this would run about $1.50. Add two pounds of frozen broccoli at 99 cents a pound (Walmart), and you’re up to $3.50 for four servings. How about some fresh pineapple for dessert? That’s 99 cents at Aldi this week. That brings the total for the meal to about $4.50, or about $1.15 per person. If you make your own soup, you’ll save about 30 cents total, bringing the cost per person down to $1.05.

Let’s go to Germany next, for Blumenkohl und Schinkenpudding. That’s CAULIFLOWER AND HAM PUDDING, for us Americans. I was surprised to find it in a German cookbook. Those of us who don’t eat potatoes frequently use cauliflower as a substitute, but apparently it’s not just a faddish, low carb thing. It’s also a traditional German thing, at least as far as this recipe goes. It’s more or less Scalloped Potatoes and Ham, but with cauliflower.

HAM LOAF is another very old-fashioned dish. It’s sort of like meatloaf, except it’s made with leftover cooked ham instead of raw ground beef. MUSTARD SAUCE and HORSERADISH SAUCE would be good with  HAM LOAF or with plain ham or roast beef., or in ham or roast beef sandwiches instead of mayo.

If you like pineapple or other fruit with your ham try PINEAPPLEUPSIDE DOWN HAM LOAF. It starts with the basic HAM LOAF, but is baked like a Pineapple Upside Down Cake, then flipped over so the decorations show when it’s served.

Zucchini Skillet Supper

(More-with-Less Cookbook, by Doris Janzen Longacre, 1976)

4 c thinly sliced zucchini

1 onion, thinly sliced

4 oz mushrooms, sliced (optional)

1 T oil

1 14-oz can tomatoes, undrained

Salt, pepper and oregano to taste

2 c cooked chicken, beef, ham or ground beef

Parmesan cheese, to serve

Saute zucchini, onion and mushrooms in oil. Add tomatoes, seasonings and meat and simmer until heated through. Serve in soup bowls and sprinkle with cheese. 4 servings.

Devonshire Eggs

(from a recipe in Aunt Mary’s Cookbook)

6 hardboiled eggs, peeled and halved

1/4 lb boiled ham

3/4 can Campbell’s tomato soup

Grind ham and egg yolks together.  Mix with enough cream to make a paste and fill the whites like you would deviled eggs.  Place in buttered baking dish.  Thicken the soup with a little flour and water and pour over the eggs.  Cover with cracker crumbs and bake until light brown.

Ham

Score the outside of the ham in a 1” diamond pattern (That means cut almost through the fat in a diamond pattern. It’s easiest if you cut a 1” strip of cardboard or foil or something, and use that to make your lines.) and put a whole clove at each point of the diamonds. Then bake according to the directions on the packet. You can make a glaze of brown sugar and either apple juice or orange juice if you want to, but it's not necessary. 

Figure you get about 12 ounces of meat from each pound of ham (because of the bone). The bones will be about the same size regardless of how big the ham is, so you might as well get a big one and have lots of leftovers. If you get a ten pound ham, you can serve eight ounces of meat (about a cup and a half, if it were cubed) per person and use just barely over half the ham. That's a bigger serving than you need, but it's Easter, after all, or a Spring celebration dinner.

Black-eyed Peas with Country Ham

From Rachel Rappaport of Coconut & Lime

Ingredients:
1 lb dried black-eyed peas 
3 leeks, chopped, white parts only
2 jalepenos, chopped (use cloves when handling chilies)
1 stalk celery
1 cup diced yellow tomato
3 cloves garlic
6 cups ham stock (or any broth or stock)
8 oz country ham center slices, diced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon hot paprika
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

The night before you want to serve the dish, place the black-eyed peas in a 4 quart slow cooker. Fill it with water. Cover and allow to sit overnight. Drain, return the black-eyed peas to the pot and add the remaining ingredients. Stir. Cook on LOW 8-10 hours. 

Ham and Cheese Sandwiches on the Cheap

(Note - this post was written in January of 2014, and is based on prices at that time. However, the basic ideas for making cheaper sandwiches are likely to hold all of the time. Even when not on sale, spiral sliced hams are likely to be a lot cheaper than deli ham, and slicing your own cheese will be cheaper than buying sliced deli cheese. Cooking and slicing your own roast beef and turkey breast will be cheaper than buying deli meats, too.)

Marsh has Hormel Cure 51 Spiral Sliced Hams for $1.29 a pound. True, there’s a big bone in it, so the meat itself probably costs about $2.00 a pound. Compare that to meat from the deli, which will probably run you anywhere from about $4.99 on up. The ham is sliced, which means you’ll get nice even slices, and a lot thinner than if you were slicing it yourself – or at least if I were slicing it myself! Cheese to go with the ham is on sale in various forms at most of the grocery stores. Aldi has 8-ounce blocks of several kinds of cheese for $1.79 each. Kroger has block cheese for $3.29 for 12 to 16 ounces. They also have some sliced cheese at $3.29 for 24 slices. Personally, I would go for the sliced cheese because the slices are thinner and more even than I could cut them, and they’ll go further. It depends on what kind is sliced, though. I’d rather have real cheese than a processed cheese. Even if I cut the cheese myself, it will probably end up cheaper than buying it at the deli counter. Beyond the meat and cheese, the last time I looked, Aldi had mayo and “whipped salad dressing” for $1.99 for almost a quart. I think it was 30 ounces instead of 32. A few different varieties of mustard were $1.19 a bottle, I think. When it comes to bread, remember to compare the price per slice rather than the price per loaf or the price per pound. Unless the slices are unusually large or small, two slices of whatever size you get will make a sandwich. If you go for a hoagie type roll, think about how many sandwiches – how many “servings” – you’re going to get from them, and compare the price to the same number of “servings” of regular bread. 

Collard Greens with Smoked Meat

(from Paula Deen at foodnetwork.com)

1/2 pound smoked meat (ham hocks, smoked turkey wings, or smoked neck bones)

2 t salt

1/2 t black pepper

1/2 t garlic powder

1 T hot red pepper sauce

1 large bunch collard greens (or a box of frozen greens)

1 T butter

In a large pot, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add the smoked meat and seasonings. Reduce heat to medium and cook for an hour. Wash the greens thoroughly. Remove the stems that run down the center by holding the leaf in your left hand and stripping the leaf down with your right hand. The tender young leaves in the heart of the collards don’t need to be stripped. Stack 6 to 8 leaves on top of one another, roll up, and slice into half inch to 1 inch thick slices. Place greens in pot with meat and add butter. Cook for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. When done, taste and adjust seasoning.

Hoppin' John

(from Emeril Lagasse on foodnetwork.com)

1 T olive oil

1 large ham hock (or bacon or sausage)

1 c onion, chopped

1/2 c celery, chopped

1/2 c green pepper, chopped

1 T chopped garlic

1 lb black eyed peas, soaked overnight and rinsed

1 quart (4 cups) water

1 bay leaf

1 t dry thyme leaves

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne (ground red pepper)

3 T finely chopped green onion

3 c steamed white rice

Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add the ham hock and sear on all sides for 4 minutes. Add the onion, celery, green pepper and garlic, and cook for 4 minutes. Add the black eyed peas, water, bay leaf, thyme and seasonings. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 40 minutes, or until the peas are creamy and tender, stirring occasionally. If the liquid evaporates, add more water or stock. Adjust seasonings. Garnish with green onions and serve over rice.

Ham Broth

Just simmer the bone, after you’ve taken all the meat off of it, in a pot of water (You might need to break the bone first so it fits – just wrap the head of a hammer in a towel and hit the bone really hard. It might take a few swings to get it to break.) and simmer it for a long, long time, with a couple of tablespoons of vinegar. I’m talking several hours. A crock pot or slow cooker works well for this. Then strain the broth (to make sure you don’t have any shards of bone in it) and freeze it to use for soup making later. 

Ham, Potatoes and Green Beans

(the way my Mom used to make)

2 pounds potatoes

2 pounds fresh green beans (or 2-3 cans of green beans, drained)

2 c ham, diced

Ham broth, if you have it
Salt, but not if you use ham broth

Peel the potatoes and quarter them. If they’re big potatoes, you’ll need to cut them again. Tip and tail the green beans and cut them into about 1” to 1-1/2” pieces. Cook the potatoes, green beans and ham in ham broth, if you have it, or in water if you don’t, until the potatoes are done. Serve it in bowls, with some of the broth.

Actually, I'm just pulling quantities out of the air, here. The real recipe is however much ham you have, and how every many green beans you have, and enough potatoes to make it feed however many people you expect for supper. It's a very flexible and forgiving recipe.

Baked Yams, Apples and Canadian Bacon (or Ham)

(adapted from a recipe in The Doubleday Cookbook, vol. 1, by Jean Anderson and Elaine Hanna, 1975)

4 medium size yams, parboiled, peeled, and sliced ½” thick (about 1 lb)

2 tart apples, peeled, cored, and cut in ¼” rings (about 1 lb)

½ t salt

3 c cubed cooked ham (or 8 slices ready-to-eat Canadian bacon, cut ¼” thick)

1 t prepared hot mustard

¼ c firmly packed light brown sugar

2 T butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375. Layer yams and apples into a buttered 2-1/2 quart casserole, sprinkling with salt as you go. Toss the ham with the mustard to coat evenly, then spread on top of yams and apples. (Or spread each slice of Canadian bacon with mustard and arrange on top, overlapping spoke fashion.) Sprinkle with brown sugar and dot with butter. Bake uncovered 30 minutes, until yams are tender and ham (or Canadian bacon) is lightly glazed. 

Ham and Broccoli Saute

(adapted from a recipe in Back to Protein, by Barbara Doyen, 2000)

2 T butter

3 c diced ham

4 c fresh broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces

            (or 1 pound frozen chopped broccoli)

1 c shredded Colby/Jack cheese blend or cheeses of choice

Melt the butter in a skillet, then toss in the ham and broccoli and sauté until the ham is lightly browned and the broccoli is bright green. (If using frozen broccoli, thaw the broccoli and drain it, then add it to the ham and sauté it.) Serve topped with the shredded cheese.

Ham and Spinach Casserole

(based on a recipe from Magic with Leftovers, by Lousene Rousseau Brunner, 1955)

2 c cooked ham, diced small

1 lb frozen chopped spinach

3 T butter

3 T flour

1-1/2 c milk or cream

Salt to taste

1 c grated sharp cheese

2 T buttered bread crumbs

Paprika

Thaw spinach, then drain thoroughly. It’s easiest to do if you put it in three or four layers of paper towel and squeeze it hard. It works better if you use a cloth towel, but it stains the towel.

Meanwhile, make a white sauce with the butter, flour, milk and salt. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, and whisk in the flour until it’s smooth. Slowly add the milk, whisking or stirring as you go, so it stays smooth. If it’s lumpy (which does happen, even to people who cook a lot), just dump it in your blender and whirl it around a bit. Put one tablespoon of the grated cheese with the bread crumbs, and add the rest of the cheese to the sauce.

Mix half a cup of the sauce with the spinach. Make a layer of half the ham in the bottom of a casserole, then all of the spinach, then the rest of the ham. Then pour on the rest of the sauce. Finally, top it with the cheese and bread crumb mixture, and sprinkle it with paprika.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400, or until the crumbs are brown and the sauce is bubbling.

Pineapple Upside Down Ham Loaf

(based on a recipe in Magic with Leftovers, by Lousene Rousseau Brunner, 1955)

1 recipe HAM LOAF, before it’s cooked

1-1/2 T butter

2 T brown sugar

Slices of canned pineapple

Maraschino cherries

Grease the bottom and sides of a loaf pan. (It’s important that you do, because you want the ham loaf to fall out of the pan.) Melt the butter and brown sugar in the loaf pan you’re going to bake the ham loaf in. Stir until they are well blended. Lay in the pineapple slices to cover the bottom and place a maraschino cherry in the center of each slice. Pile the ham loaf on top. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes, and turn out on a hot platter with the pineapple on top. Be careful when you turn it out – the butter and sugar mixture will be very hot! I’ve been burned making a regular pineapple upside down cake. 

Horseradish Sauce

Whip 1/4 cup whipping cream until stiff. Add 1 t prepared horseradish and salt to taste.

Serve with ham or ham sandwiches, roast beef or roast beef sandwiches, HAM LOAF, meatloaf, etc.

Mustard Sauce

Blend 1 cup sour cream with 2 – 3 tablespoons prepared mustard and salt to taste.

Serve with ham or ham sandwiches, roast beef or roast beef sandwiches, HAM LOAF, meatloaf, etc.

Ham Loaf

(based on a recipe in Magic with Leftovers, by Lousene Rousseau Brunner, 1955)

2 c ground ham

2 T butter

1 small onion, chopped

3 eggs, well beaten

2 T ketchup

2 t Worcestershire sauce

1/4 t prepared mustard

Salt and pepper

Brown onion in butter and add to ham with remaining ingredients. Pile in a greased loaf pan and bake 40 minutes at 350, or until well browned. Turn out on hot platter and serve with one of the following sauces.

Cauliflower and Ham Pudding

(based on a recipe in The German Cookbook, by Mimi Sheraton, 1965)

1 large head cauliflower

1-1/2 c coarsely ground cooked ham

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

1 egg yolk

3/4 c sour cream

1 T grated onion

1 T minced parsley

1 T tomato paste (optional)

1 t paprika (optional)

1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Break cauliflower into flowerets, wash and cook until tender in just enough salted water to cover. Drain well. Butter a baking dish and add alternate layers of cauliflower and ham. Pack ham down around cauliflower pieces. Sprinkle each layer with grated cheese and dot with tiny flecks of butter. Mix egg yolk into sour cream along with the onion, parsley, tomato paste and paprika. Add a bit of salt and pour the sauce over the ham and cauliflower. Sprinkle with the last fourth cup of cheese. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the top is brown.