Leftover Ham: Quiche

Sumiko mentioned that we're going to be together for Easter this year.  It's always a nice treat to be together for holidays since we live over 300 miles and 5 hours apart.  In discussing our menu, we were tempted to break away from the traditional Easter ham, but after some consideration, we decided to stick with tradition.  Our reasons:

• Hams (including spiral hams, which we like) are usually one sale before Easter.
• They're easy to make. Most are already cooked and require only reheating.  When you want to keep it simple so that you're able to actually enjoy your day, this is important.
• They produce a lot of leftovers.  

It's that last point that I want to focus on today.  We're planning on having Easter dinner on Saturday so that we can actually enjoy Sunday without being stuck in the kitchen all day.  Not to mention it can be stressful trying to get a huge meal together after being at church all morning.  Instead, we're hoping to enjoy each other and the sunny, 70-something degree weather we're supposed to have on Sunday.  After church we're hoping to get pictures of our kids dressed up (it's not easy to get a 6-year-old, three 2-year olds, and a 9-month-old sitting still and all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling, but we're going to be adventurous and try it!), go for a hike, etc.  We figured leftover ham sandwiches would be perfect to pack for a picnic lunch after church!

Ham is so diverse - sandwiches aren't the only things leftover ham's good for.  It makes great soup, omelets, breakfast burritos, etc.  The latest thing I've tried is ham and cheese quiche.  It's a great way to use up leftover ingredients other than the usual ham and potato soup, which is great (but gets a little old if we have it too much)!

Ham and Cheese Quiche
1 9-inch pie crust
1 cup ham, diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup onion, chopped and sauteed
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped and sauteed
4 oz. can diced green chiles
2 eggs
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper, to taste

Line pie crust with foil; bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.  Remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Place ham, cheese, onion, green bell pepper, and chiles in baked pie crust.

In a bowl, combine eggs, milk, salt and pepper; mix well.

Pour egg mixture over ham.

Bake at 400 for 35 to 40 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  If the crust begins to brown too much, cover only the crust with foil.  Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting.

Mashed Potato Casserole

One of my favorite parts of every holiday meal is the mashed potatoes.  I could actually do without the Thanksgiving turkey as long as I have mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Seriously.  So of course we’ll be having mashed potatoes with our Easter dinner on Saturday (yes, Saturday--read it here).

But anyone who has ever orchestrated a large holiday meal knows how hard it is to get the mashed potatoes to the table hot.  Not only do you have to time it perfectly, but they lose a lot of heat during the mashing and mixing process.  So what’s the answer?  Mashed potato casserole!!

It’s perfect!  You make it ahead of time, up to a day before you will serve it and just pop it in the oven when you are ready.  Not only does this help get it to the table hot, but it also means one less thing to be done that day.

I must admit here that I am a mashed potato snob.  I have tasted many a mashed potato that did not meet up to my standards.  I believe mashed potatoes should taste good enough that you don’t even want to put gravy on them.  This recipe meets that standard.

I got this recipe from Mrs. Kettering, the lovely lady who mentored me through college.  I have left it unaltered here, though there are many ways it could be altered (see end of recipe).

Mashed Potato Casserole

3 lbs. russet potatoes

8 oz. cream cheese, cubed

½ c. (1 stick) butter, cubed

½ c. sour cream

3 eggs

½ c. milk

½ c. onions, minced

2 tsp. salt

¼-½ tsp. pepper

Wash, peel, and dice potatoes.

Boil until tender; drain.  Return potatoes to pot.  Mash with potato masher to desired consistency.

This is best done in the pot so you will have the residual
heat to help melt the butter and cream cheese.  For the
sake of better photos, I used a large mixing bowl.

Add cream cheese and butter; stir until melted and incorporated.

Cubing the butter and cream cheese helps them melt faster.

Add sour cream and mix well.  In a small bowl, thoroughly beat eggs with fork.  Add milk, onions, salt, and pepper.

Be sure to completely break up the eggs before adding
the other ingredients.

Add egg mixture to potato mixture and mix completely (potatoes will be runny).

Pour into greased baking dish (at least 3-quarts).  Refrigerate overnight or until ready to bake.  Bake, uncovered, in oven pre-heated to 325° for about 1 hour.  Check with thermometer to be sure center reaches 165°.  Let rest at least 5 minutes before serving. Yield:  almost 3 quarts.  Total cost:  about $4.

The potatoes puff up in the oven so be sure you use a big
enough dish.  This one is four quarts.

I garnished these with garlic chives from my garden.

Variations:

-     Sauté onions with minced garlic in butter or olive oil before adding to eggs.

-     Add shredded cheddar cheese before pouring into baking dish.

-     Add cooked, crumbled bacon before pouring into baking dish.

-     Stir some chives into potatoes.

-     Fold some chopped roasted garlic into potatoes before adding egg mixture.

The Reason I Make My Own Baby Food

Saturday took me by surprise again this week.  I don't know how it does it.  Anyways, I don't have a baby food post ready, so I thought I'd just share some cute pics of the reason I put time and energy into making my own baby food (other than for economic reasons).

When I look at April's cute face, I just can't help but want the best for her.  And for me, that means making her fresh, nutritious food.  Additionally, she needs a lot of quality calories and nutrients to sustain these thighs.

Check back next Saturday for a real baby food post.  My apologies!

Easter Egg Dye

Growing up, one of our Easter traditions was to color Easter eggs.  We usually bought the dye kits from the store; however, it is very easy to make your own egg dye at home.  There are ways to dye eggs using only natural coloring, but I didn't have the time or ingredients to do that, so here's the food coloring/dye version.

Easter Egg Dye (recipe is per color)
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 cup water
30 drops food coloring
Hard boiled eggs

Combine vinegar, water, and food coloring.  Depending on how intense you'd like your colors, use more or less than 30 drops.

Place egg in dye; let sit for a few minutes.

Remove egg from dye and allow to dry completely.

If you have food dye, you can use that instead of food coloring.  Just start with a small amount and gradually add more dye until the desired shade is reached .

When you buy an egg dyeing kit, it comes with a handy little gadget to put your eggs into the dye and to get them out again.  I used a regular spoon and my fingers.  A slotted spoon would work even better.  Kits also usually contain little holders on which to place the eggs to dry.  You can simply use the carton the eggs came in or cut a strip of paper, make a loop, staple it, and set the egg on top of it.

Resurrection Rolls

Seeing as there are only ten days left until Easter, we’d like to start writing about Easter recipes and tips.  Both Kimiko’s and my family will be spending Easter together this year, along with our parents.  Since we are only all together a few times a year and our kids are growing so fast, we decided long ago to take advantage of the opportunity to get some great family photos.  Because all the kids will already be dressed up for church, Sunday afternoon will be the most convenient time to do so.

Considering that Sunday morning will be spent at church and the afternoon will be spent hiking and taking pictures, we knew it would be unrealistic and stressful to try to prepare, serve, and eat a big Easter dinner.  So this year we are having our Easter meal on Saturday!  I am really excited about it—we won’t spend all Easter in the kitchen and will actually be able to enjoy our families and all the activities.

We are still keeping Saturday’s meal simple:  ham, potato casserole, veggies (whatever’s on sale that week), fruit, and some sort of bread.  Oh, and a dessert or two (or three), of course!

I’d like to start our Easter recipes with one that reminds us why we celebrate Easter—resurrection rolls.  I learned how to make these from Mrs. Jones, my fourth grade teacher.  We’ve made these every year since Keanna was old enough to eat them.

They start out with a marshmallow inside.  As they bake, the marshmallow melts, leaving an empty “cave tomb.”  They are easy and fun for the kids to make and so make a great Resurrection Sunday illustration.

Some day I will make these with homemade dough; but for now, I just use refrigerated crescent rolls.

This recipe makes sixteen rolls.  You can very easily halve it to make eight.  When I make these at home for just my family, I still make a whole batch and send Keanna around to the neighbors with them.

Resurrection Rolls

2 cans (8 oz. each) crescent rolls

¼ c. butter, melted

¼ c. cinnamon sugar (or ¼ c. sugar plus 1 tsp. cinnamon)

16 large marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350°.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and place 16 cupcake wrappers on it.

Unroll and separate crescent rolls.  Dip marshmallows in melted butter then roll in cinnamon sugar.

There's no way around it--your fingers will get messy.

No licking your fingers until after you're done!

Place a marshmallow at the point of each roll and roll up; pinch all holes closed.

Put one roll in each cupcake wrapper.  Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

No matter how carefully you seal up all the holes, you will
get some oozing--hence the foil.

Meanwhile, mix all ingredients for glaze.

Resurrection Roll Glaze

½ c. powdered sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

2-3 tsp. milk

In a small bowl, mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and about 2 tsp. of milk.  Stir to combine, adding more milk as necessary to reach desired consistency.

Drizzle over warm resurrection rolls.

So yummy!!

If you have leftovers, simply store them in an airtight container at room temperature.  Pop one in the microwave for a sweet, gooey, day-after-Easter treat!

Tomato Basil Pizza

Pizza is great because it's so diverse.  It can easily be customized to meet your individual taste preferences.  It's also a great way to use up leftover ingredients in your fridge!  I had extra basil from another recipe and some tomatoes, so I decided to make a tomato basil pizza!

Tomato Basil Pizza
1 unbaked pizza crust
Olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
Mozzarella
Fresh basil
Fresh tomatoes, thinly sliced

Drizzle olive oil over unbaked pizza crust; spread minced garlic over olive oil.

Lay a layer of whole basil leaves over the garlic, followed by a layer of cheese.

I had some leftover sliced mozzarella that I bought on sale for $1.99/lb, so I finished that up, then used shredded for the rest.

Add a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes and top with a little extra cheese.

I like my tomatoes sliced quite thin.

Bake in a preheated 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until cheese is golden and crust is baked through.
 

Pizza is also good with a pesto sauce instead of whole basil leaves, but since pesto can get quite pricey, this is a budget-friendly alternative!  Also, if you really like basil, now's the time to plant it so you'll have an abundant crop this summer!!!