Recently, I was given leftover ham from a party my mom went to. And honestly, it looks like it was barley even touched! So needless to say I was excited about the possibilities with this. Soups, sandwiches, breakfasts. The possibilities were endless in my mind with this ham. But being 38 weeks pregnant (At the time of this ham being given to me) I also knew I’d likely only have so much time and energy, epically if I were to go into labor.
1. Ham and Mac N Cheese
The first one is a simple one, and honestly pretty cost friendly too. Grocery outlet had Kraft Mac N Cheese on sale for 0.49 a box! So I got a bunch of course. And for this meal I used two boxes, along with butter and milk. I can remember as a child, my mother making scalloped potatoes and ham, and I loved the cheesy sauce, and just how well the ham tasted with it, and that’s a similar vibe to what I was looking for in this dish. All in all it was about what I expected, not great, but a simple easy thing to do with leftover ham. My son really liked it, and so did my daughter. Daniel was sick and wasn’t feeling like eating this night.
2. Ham and Potato Soup
For day 2 the weather went from just cold, to cold and rainy. And that always makes me want soup. So I made ham and eggs for lunch that day, and decided on making Potato soup for dinner that night. My husband was still sick, and can’t have chicken (or chicken broth, etc.) while he’s sick due to a mild allergy, so I decided I’d warm him up some beef soup we had, if he’s even hungry, and I’d make potato soup for me and the kids. Then the next day we’d just have a leftover night, since we’d have chicken noodle soup in the fridge from a few nights ago, as well as this Ham and Potato soup as well.
The great thing about potato soup is that there are so many different ways to make it. My mom would do the very basic potato soup when I grew up, boiling potatoes in chicken broth and then pureeing them and adding cheese to it in the end. When I grew up and moved out, I started experimenting with it. Adding other things such as milk, or cream, or bacon, etc.. Just playing with it. And I still play with the recipe to this day. I don’t think I’ve ever made my potato soup the same way twice honestly.
3. Ham, Egg and Cheese Sandwiches
The third time I used the ham, I used it to make sandwiches, just simple ham egg and cheese, nothing special, and with it I cooked up some French fries. It’s not a very original idea, but it worked for us.
4. Ham and Bean soup
When I started to have issues getting actual meat off the bone, I started trying to think of a way to easily use up what was left. So, I remembered that I have dried beans, specifically I have the 16 bean soup mix that comes with the flavor packet, plus, I have homemade chicken broth in the fridge. I figured it would be the best way to use up the rest of the ham, plus use some of my freezer stash of broth (I typically have a tendency to forget that I’ve made homemade broth in the fridge)
Bonus: Lard
While I was using up the ham, I noticed that I was getting really good sized chunks of fat off it. So, I decided I’d accumulate what fat I had, and see how much I end up with and hopefully have enough fat to render down and make a batch of homemade lard! While I made each dish I trimmed off some of the lard, and then tried to get the rest of it before I made the ham and bean soup.