Category Archives: freeze

Leftover Christmas Ham Recipes

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.  Ours was very magical with a 3 year old who asked Santa for a muffin (can you tell we love food in this house?).  No joke.  And he got a big fat poppy seed one.  Hopefully he will continue to ask for equally easy gifts as he gets into his teenage years.  Instead of a car, maybe he will ask for a steak?

If your situation is similar to mine, you have about twenty pounds of leftover ham from Christmas.  Luckily, I found some good stuff today to help me use it up.  Of course, you can always freeze it (we still have Thanksgiving turkey in the freezer), or use on sandwiches, but if you are out of ideas, check out some of these links.  Some of them you might have to tweak a bit to make it healthier (i.e. add more veggies and less sauces or cut the cheese amount in half).

1.  Asparagus and Ham Casserole (I am making this one for dinner this week)

2.  Ham and Beans (also for dinner this week)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.  Orzo Ham Salad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4.  Cheddar and Ham Puff (from Whole Foods)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5.  Ham and Pineapple Pops

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And if you don’t feel like making these, you could throw some ham in a breakfast omelet, a frittata, or use it for toppings on a salad or Hawaiian haystacks.

Have fun hamming it up!!

Homemade Chicken/Veggie Broth

I know, I know.  The title sounds like a total snore and a pain, right?  But trust me, this is a time-saver, a money-saver, and a health-saver (and a flavor-saver, I might add).

Many recipes call for chicken, beef, or vegetable broth.  Most canned broths are filled with preservatives, partially hydrogenated oils, salt, and even corn syrup.  Swanson’s broth has less of that stuff, but is very high in sodium.  And the natural healthy ones are like five bucks a box, so what’s a girl to do?

I make a lot of steamed or boiled veggies for side dishes at dinner (I often boil chicken too because it is hard to mess it up and it makes it nice and tender), and I always used to dump out the water in the sink.  Then one day I thought…”Why am I wasting this?”  I decided to start saving it up for the future.  I use vegetable broth interchangeably with chicken broth when recipes call for it and can’t even tell a difference.  How great is that?  Lots of my motives are cash-driven, so this is a win-win situation. Healthy, easy, cheap, tastes great.

I made a batch last night…and got flustered this morning when The Wild One busted his chin open, and all I could find to sooth him were veggie ice cubes!  I should probably keep some real ice on hand for such emergencies… Anyway, here’s how you do it:

Boil or steam some veggies

Pour the excess water into a measuring cup (so you know how much is in there when a recipe calls for it)

Pour the amount into ice cube trays and freeze it.

When it is frozen, pop the cubes into a labled ziploc and store it for months at a time.

Great huh?  There you have it.  No sodium or preservatives.  With the cold weather upon us, I am trying to stock up a lot for all those yummy soups and stews.

Oh!  And you can also use this when you cook rice- it adds such a nice flavor to it!

Happy brothing!!