Tag: Hints

Christmas Leftovers: Ham, and Mac and Cheese

Mac & Cheese is another one of my favorite childhood foods. It is cheesy and packed with carbs. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water! My mom made a roux based sauce, that is butter and flour, then we add milk and an entire block (8 oz) of cubed white sharp cheese. The recipe below is enough for pretty much just me and my husband since I love it so much, however there is enough in the recipe to serve another person if it is paired with a protein and a veggie.
Also, some cheese brands don’t melt as evenly as others, so if your cheese tastes a bit gritty once it’s cooked, you should probably use a different brand next time. I usually use Aldi’s brand, cracker barrel brand, or Kraft. We have had Cabot work out sometimes while other times it is gritty, and Helluvagood always comes out gritty.

  1. Cook 1 1/2 cup of macaroni to al dente and drain.
  2. While that is cooking, preheat oven to 375 F. Dice 1 small onion (1/2 cup) and cook in 4 Tbsp of butter until translucent.
  3. Once onions are translucent, add 4 Tbsp of flour stir, then add 2 cups of milk. Heat to a slight simmer.
  4. While that is heating, cube one block of cheese (8 oz) by cutting the block in half the short way, then slicing into slices 1/4 inch thick. Once milk is simmering, remove milk from heat and immediately add cheese and start stirring until all cheese is melted.
  5. Place drained macaroni into a 2 quart size or bigger backing/casserole dish. Then pour the hot cheese over top and carefully stir.
  6. Bake your mac & cheese for 30 minutes until the top has begun to brown and is bubbling hot.
  7. With only 10 minutes left, slice ham and fry in a frying pan with 1 Tbsp butter. Serve together.
0

Christmas Holiday Ham

I am a Ham Lover. We’ve had just about every type of ham you can get, and they always turn out well if they are cooked enough with a good glaze. When I was growing up, we always got a 5 lb canned ham. But over the years, even the price of canned ham has risen, which has led us to try spiral cut hams, pre-cooked & sliced hams without the bone, ham steaks, and we’ve even done a roast for Christmas! Ham is the tradition, and I personally never miss out on a holiday where I can have a nice ham.

I do like spiral cut hams, but it’s very important to cook them “low and slow” because you want the internal temp to come high enough to melt the internal fat. It is also important to remove it from the glaze once it’s finished cooking, because the fat will re-solidify and ruin your remaining ham if you don’t remove it from the fat and bone after you finish eating. Some people don’t like canned hams because they seem fake or overly processed, and though that is a good concern and it doesn’t look like real ham anymore, it also has less fat and tends to be an easier eat if you have bad teeth or want a meal that requires less chewing. Processed ham steaks are definitely less food than the other types. They also tend to be a mix in textures being mostly ham-like with it having pieces that seem less processed than canned hams. Each type of ham has a draw back to different people, however most of the problems arise in how the meat is prepped and cooked.

Though it seems old fashioned, I always go with the honey and brown sugar glaze even for my non-holiday hams. I find the sweetness to go so well with the savory aspect of the ham. But, for Christmas, we also top our ham with pineapple and cherries, so when we make up the glaze we also add a bit of acidity by adding some pineapple juice to the honey brown sugar. The acidity does really well to compliment the saltiness of ham. When we make our glaze, we usually do 1:2 Honey to brown sugar. When we make our Christmas ham, we usually go for 60% brown sugar, 30% honey, 2% cherry juice and 8% pineapple juice. You are looking for a consistency where the glaze is mostly solid and won’t run completely off the ham. If it is too liquidy, add more brown sugar and honey, and stir well.

1

Easy Tuna Noodle

Tuna noodle casserole is a staple of depression era cooking. It’s a simple dish that requires very little to feed many people for the night. Though I’m sure there are fancier ways to make tuna noodle, this is the way I grew up with and the way my mom grew up with too. This recipe makes enough to serve 3 adults, but the recipe can easily be stretched by adding more noodles, or doubling/tripling the existing recipe. You can also then stick it in a casserole dish once mixed and add a crisp topping and bake, however I’ve always had it without, and I tend to prefer it quick and easy. Since I don’t do the casserole step, I tend to just call it tuna noodle, since I don’t make it into a casserole.

  • Bring a pot of water to a boil
  • Add 1/2 a bag (8oz) of egg noodles and cook to al dente, and strain.
  • In a dutch oven add one strained can of tuna, one can of cream of mushroom soup, and one can of Milk. Bring to a boil and stir till smooth.
  • Once smooth, add the noodles and cook for 3-5 minutes, and serve. Sauce thickens upon standing. Best serves with buttered bread and sweet peas.

1

Stroganoff without Sour Cream

Beef stroganoff is one of my favorite dishes. It’s creamy, savory, and makes a meal that will keep you feeling full for hours. I like making stroganoff, but I almost never have sour cream in the house. If we do have sour cream, it’s a small container and is eaten within a few days, usually with baked potatoes.
For this recipe, like other recent recipes, I used sliced venison. I should have made my pieces a bit smaller, because they were definitely larger than bite sized. But, you can also use leftover steak to make this meal and it works really well!

  1. Cube your meat (1/2 lb.) into bite sized pieces/strips and start heating a pot of water for your egg noodles.
  2. Add 1 Tbsp of oil to a dutch oven, place over medium heat, then add and cook your beef/venison.
  3. Chop one small onion (approx. 1/2 cup). Slice 3 large mushrooms/open 1 small can of sliced mushrooms and strain. Add onions and mushrooms to meat.
  4. Cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms are cooked. At this point, start to make beef broth and add half a bag of egg noodles (8 oz) to boiling water.
  5. Add 2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce and heat. Add 4 cups of beef broth, then bring to a simmer
  6. Strain your noodles, then add them to your broth.
  7. Add 1 cup of milk to your broth, and begin adding flour until it begins to thicken (5-7 Tbsp).
  8. Slowly heat and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Add more Worcestershire sauce to taste (3-4 Tbsp).
  9. Remove from heat and serve. Makes 3 adult servings.
2

Minute Steaks with Peppers and Onions

Hello again. Last night, I made minute steaks with peppers and onions. I used left over peppers and onions from the sausages that I made on Sunday, but you can of course, cut new or open a new bag of frozen.

For this recipe I used venison, but if you have beef or chicken minute steaks you can use them. You can also add some different flavors to the mix by adding some Worcestershire sauce, ginger, or pepper rub to your steaks.

My minute steaks were made by cutting steaks to be about 1/5 inch thick on my in-law’s slicer, but you can also cut them thinner/thicker as you desire.

  • Heat your frying pan over medium heat and add some oil. Once it is hot cook your minute steaks (about 2 cups, or 12 slices) until cooked, only about a minute each side.
  • Remove your steaks and add your chopped peppers (2 cups) and onion (1 cup). Add more oil if it’s dry.
  • Once veggies are cooked, add the steaks and juices, stir. Heat for only a minute, remove from heat and add to buns/bread, or serve over rice.
2

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started