A Delicious Post Christmas Meal!

It seems that after the Christmas Day meal is done that there are always LOTS of leftovers. For us, that's not an exception. I have a funny story to tell about the Christmas Ham. I shop at a local store called Family Fare,  they offer fuel rewards for every $50.00 spent in store (.05 off up to 20 gallons), and at times if you spend $75.00 they will give you a .50 off up to 20 gallon coupon. As you accumulate points you can then also use them to get items free in the store. Around Christmas time if you have 2,000 points you can get a free ham. This is a really great deal. Well, my mom worked VERY hard to get to 2,000 points and then told me to go and use her card and get the Ham that we would all be having here on Christmas Day. The store is literally a hop-skip-and-a-jump down the street from my house. So, I went and picked up the ham and few other things that I needed the week before Christmas. The store was hopping busy, and there were only 3 cashiers working, this included the Manager whose line I was in. Well, she asked me if I wanted to get my Cool Whip free for 200 points and I told her no, instead of hitting just no for that transaction she must have hit no for using all points...so when it came to my ham it didn't ask again, I told her that I wanted to use the 2,000 points for this. So, she credited back the $32 ham and said we'd have to go to the Service Desk to take the points off the card, which I was fine with...When all was said and done she realized that it was just too busy to go and do this, so she told me to have a Merry Christmas and use the points on something else. What a nice blessing. What did I do? I went and got a boneless ham and came home and cut it up into slices and chunks to be placed in the freezer to be used at a different time. I was able to get two hams totaling over $60.00 for FREE. At that time I wasn't working yet, and it was a really great blessing.

So, last night I used some of that second ham to make dinner. The brother came upstairs as it was baking and was salivating over how good it smelled in the house! This always makes me happy! Especially because it was so easy to make!

SCALLOPED POTATOES & HAM

INGREDIENTS:
4 Tbsp. Butter 
2 Tbsp. Flour 
1 1/2 C. Milk
Salt & Pepper to Taste
2 Medium Onions; thinly sliced
4 Large Russet Potatoes; thinly sliced
12 oz. Ham; Cubed
3 C. Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a Baking Dish. In a saucepan melt 2 Tbsp. Butter over medium heat. Add in the Flour and stir. Cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in the Milk. Return pan to heat and bring to simmer while continuing to stir; until thickened. Remove from heat; season with Salt & Pepper and set aside. In a skillet melt butter, add onions and cook until browned. Spread 1/3 of the White Sauce in bottom of Dish. Top with 1/2 the Potatoes, 1/2 the Onions, 1/2 the Ham, and 1 C. Cheddar Cheese. Repeat with 1/3 of the sauce, remaining Potatoes, Onion & Ham, and 1 C. Cheddar Cheese. Top with remaining White Sauce and Cheese. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour; until bubbly and cheese is completely melted.

It was a delicious and filling meal. And really only took me about 20 minutes to throw together!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

I want to wish you all a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! I know that I had a wonderful Christmas with my family! It all started at my house on Saturday when we did our family Christmas here. It was great to watch the expressions on my nieces and nephew's faces when they opened their gifts. Especially when my nephew opened his Thomas The Train items, oh how he loves his trains! :) So sweet. We were all blessed with many wonderful and thoughtful gifts...My parents bought my sister-in-law and I Pandora bracelets with a couple beads on them, they are beautiful and VERY unexpected. I made a lot of Life Expressions signs as gifts, and also made my mom and sister-in-law necklaces from Origami Owl. I also received these BEAUTIFUL teacups from my brother & sister-in-law!

I absolutely LOVE them and cannot wait to use them!

On Monday, we all met at my Aunt & Uncle's house in Illinois. My Mom's brother and his family, and her sisters and their families were all there, along with my Gramma. We had a fun afternoon together and ordered our traditional meal of pizza for supper. We then proceeded downstairs to open gifts together. Then it was back up stairs to have a yummy array of homemade cookies and treats, and the traditional glass of wine for those old enough to partake. The younger bro, Mom & Dad and I made the drive home last night and we attended our church this morning for a WONDERFUL Christmas Service. I then made a Ham for dinner. We had that with a Bavarian Ambrosia (thanks Pinterest), Jell-O and Corn. It was a yummy meal. Overall, I have had an EXTREMELY blessed Christmas and hope that you have too! Let's all remember that among all the craziness and busyness, that Jesus is the reason for the season, and give the praise to Him.

BAVARIAN AMBROSIA:

INGREDIENTS:

1 small box orange Jell-O
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup orange juice
1 (8 ounce) container Cool Whip, thawed
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained, juice reserved
1/2 cup flaked coconut

In a medium bowl, dissolve Jell-O, sugar and salt in boiling water. Stir in orange juice and syrup from pineapple. Chill until thick as unbeaten egg white. Beat until fluffy light with beater.

Stir in Cool Whip until well blended, then fold in pineapple and coconut. I also added drained Mandarin Oranges and Marshmallows to it. Pour into large bowl and chill.

A Christmas Favorite...

This post is late in coming...but, better late than never is how I operate! A few weeks ago I had the privilege of learning how to make a holiday favorite with one of my favorite people! Thanks C. for opening up your home to me for the day, it really was a blast to learn what to do and what not to do. We really must do it again next year, it just seems so much more fun together!

We made Rock Candy together. LOTS of rock candy, all sorts of flavors. I even made some more at home by myself to give as gifts to my neighbors, a friend and my Aunts! So fun!!!!

ROCK CANDY:

INGREDIENTS:
(Single Batch First)
2 C. Granulated Sugar
2/3 C. Light Corn Syrup
3/4 C. Water
1 dram (1 tsp.) Candy Flavoring (I used LorAnn Gourmet Flavoring)
Food Coloring of choice for flavorings
Powdered Sugar

Combine Sugar, Corn Syrup & Water in 2-Quart Saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves completely. (Then quit stirring) Bring to a boil, without stirring. When syrup temperature reaches 260 degrees, add Food Coloring; DO NOT stir, the boiling action will incorporate the coloring. Remove from heat at 300 degrees, when drops of syrup form hard brittle threads in cold water. After boiling action ceases; add flavoring (stand back as you stir as the smell can be very powerful). Stir in the flavoring. Pour candy onto Foil Lined Cookie Sheets and allow to cool and harden. ***It is VERY important that once you've poured onto cookie sheet that you IMMEDIATELY get your pan and all utensils under boiling water to remove the syrup and stop the hardening process.*** Tilt the cookie sheets back and forth to thin out candy before hardening. When cool, break into pieces and place in a strainer, add in Powdered Sugar and shake to coat; to prevent candy from sticking together. Store in an airtight container.

DOUBLE BATCH: 
3 3/4 C. Sugar
1 1/2 C. Corn Syrup
1 C. Water
2--1 dram Flavorings

Follow above directions; except place on two foil lined cookie sheets.

Ah, A Divine Crock-Pot Meal

This morning, before I headed out the door for an interview I threw the things together in the Crock-Pot for supper. Let me tell you, by the time I got back home and opened the front door the whole house smelled so delicious. I could hardly wait until supper. It was definitely as good as it smelled and worth the wait! ;)

HAM & POTATO SOUP

·         3-1/2 cups peeled, diced potatoes

·         ⅓ cup chopped celery (I didn't have any celery, so I omitted it)

·         ⅓ cup finely chopped onion

·         1 cup diced ham

·         3-1/4 cups water

·         6 chicken bullion cubes

·          1 t. salt

·         1 t. pepper

·         5 T. flour

·         5 T. butter

·         2 cups milk

Instructions

1.     Stir all but milk, flour and butter into crockpot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, check tenderness of potatoes.

2.     minutes before serving, melt butter in a saucepan, add flour and gradually add milk, stirring constantly over med heat until thick.

3.     Stir mixture into crockpot.

4.     Let cook 15-20 minutes more.

It was nice and creamy, and not watery like most soups. I tend to like my soup to have a little substance to it! Give this one a try, you won't be disappointed. 

A One Dish Meal

Who doesn't like an easy to prepare dish that uses very few dishes? I know that I sure love them! This one is no exception and is very easy to make.

I'm back in Missouri and have been since last week. I've had several interviews and have a few more to go. While I've been here, I've also been cooking again. Something that I really enjoy doing. Who would've guessed?? :)

DINNER-IN-A-DISH

INGREDIENTS:

1 Lb. Ground Beef; browned
1 Small Onion; thinly sliced or chopped
2 Small Potatoes; thinly sliced
2 Cans Tomato Soup
1 Can Creamed Corn

Preheat the oven to 375. Brown the Ground Beef. In a 9x13 pan place the Ground Beef. Then layer the Onion, Tomato Soup, Potatoes and Creamed Corn in that order. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 2 hours.

It is quite tasty and it encompasses the meat and side dishes all in one!