Ham, Potato, & Corn Chowder

I made this for dinner a couple weekends ago.  It was very cold and dark and kinda snowy so I didn't want to go out to the store.  I checked out the pantry.  There was most of a bag of Yukon gold potatoes.  I checked out the fridge.  Nothing.  Finally, I checked the freezer and rediscovered my leftover ham that I made a few weeks ago. 

And this is what happened.

Yummy! 

This soup has a really nice consistency.  Not too thick, not too thin, perfectly creamy.  With chunks of caramelized ham and topped with extra sharp cheddar, it was the perfect meal to warm me up on a cold January night.  Give it a try next time you need warmin' up!

Ham, Potato, & Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

3 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 - 3/4 cup diced ham
2 Tbsp olive oil
4 cups chicken stock
1 medium sweet onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow corn kernels
Salt and pepper to taste
Cajun seasoning (optional)

Grab a large dutch oven or stock pot.  I'm using this awesome orange beauty:

Thank you, Aunt Kay.

Isn't cooking so much more fun when you use pretty pots?  I think so.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat.  Add ham.  Cook until caramelized (just beginning to brown and crisp up), about 8 minutes or so.  The ham is already cooked; you're just giving it some color here.  Remove ham from pan and set aside.

Now add the rest of the oil to the pan.  Add the onion, and saute 5 minutes, or until just softened.  Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.

Add the diced potatoes to the pan.  Stir the onions and potatoes together and cook about 5 minutes.

Next, add the chicken stock.  Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer.

Meanwhile, in a small mixing bowl, whisk together milk and flour.

Add this milk mixture to the pot.

Allow everything to cook together at a slow simmer for 5-10 more minutes, stirring often.  The flour-milk mixture will start to thicken things up.  

Now, carefully, ladle two to three cups of the soup into the bowl of your food processor.

 Give it a whirl for 10 seconds.  Now it's all smooth.

Now add the contents of the food processor back into the pot on the stove. 

Stir it all together.  Now add the corn.

Then the ham...

And salt, pepper, and Cajun seasoning to taste.  Now it's ready to serve!  Top it with cheese, sour cream, and parsley.  Enjoy!

Vanilla Almond Granola Bars

After doing egg muffins for breakfast the last two weeks in a row, I'm ready for something different.  So here is my latest breakfast adventure:  homemade granola bars!  The great thing about these is they are totally customizable.  You can use any kind of cereal here.  I just used the Chex because that's what I had, but feel free to use anything you want, from Grapenuts to Lucky Charms.  You could also switch up the almonds and pecans for walnuts, pistachios, or whatever kind of nut you're into.  Follow the method, but switch out the ingredients for whatever you've got in your pantry.

The key is to incorporate ingredients with varying textures.  The big cereal squares and almond chunks contrast beautifully with the little bitty flax seeds and the finely chopped pecans.  That, my friends, is what makes a gourmet granola bar.  They're crunchy and sweet and toasty and pretty much everything you could ever want.  At least in a granola bar.

Vanilla Almond Granola Bars

Ingredients:

3 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups Rice Chex cereal, kinda crushed
1/4 cup flax seeds
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses
2 Tbsp water
1/3 cup honey
1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup plain almonds, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with foil.

In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt butter.  Once melted, add the oil and the salt.

To the butter/oil mixture, add the oats.  Toss to coat.

Spread the oats evenly on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, stirring twice to keep from burning.  Reduce oven temp to 325.  Save your foil, and now spritz it with non-stick spray.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine brown sugar, molasses, water, and honey.  Stir often.  Bring to a boil, then remove from heat.  Stir in vanilla.

Now chop the almonds and pecans.  For the pecans, you want a finer chop, and the almonds, you want a rougher chop.  Ain't nothin wrong with finding an entire almond in your granola bar.

That just sounded like Honey Boo Boo.

Anyhoo, here is pre-chop:

And post chop:

Grab your large mixing bowl again.  To the bowl, add your cereal and flax seeds.

Then add the nuts.

Next add all the toasted oats.  Stir to combine.

Now pour your brown sugar and molasses mixture over the top.

Toss to coat evenly.  It should be sticky, and will look like this:

Now dump it all onto your prepared, foil-lined cookie sheet.

Press along edges evenly.  You can see that I didn't take it all the way to the right edge so that it would make thicker bars.

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, or until just getting golden.

Allow to cool completely.  Cut into bars or squares, or you can crumble it.

Store in zip top bags or air tight food containers.  Enjoy!

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Puffs

On Tuesday night, we were having a friend over, so naturally I made a 9 pound ham for dinner.  For three people.  Now that may seem like too much ham to you, but is there really such a thing?  I say no.  In my defense, it was the smallest ham Publix had, and I was not about to do something totally inconvenient like go across the street to Kroger to see what hams they had.  So anyway, back to my big huge ham.  Studded with cloves and glazed with brown sugar and honey, it was magnificent.

But as you may have guessed, I have a lot of ham on my hands.  I reserved some in the fridge for our dinner the rest of the week.  I froze most of it in one pound blocks, and of course I saved the bone.  Just wait til the summer.  My green beans will be the bomb thanks to this very ham bone.  But there was a little ham left in the fridge this morning that needed to be used.  So I decided it must somehow become breakfast.  After I discovered I had a puff pastry sheet in the freezer, this idea came to me.  Ham and cheese breakfast puffs!  I made it up as I went.  And it was good.  So here it is, for your eating pleasure.

When you pop this in the oven, the cheese melts and the ham caramelizes with the onion and the pastry puffs and browns...it's just wonderful.  If having too much ham is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Ham & Cheese Breakfast Puffs

Ingredients:

1 puff pastry sheet
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar
3/4 cup diced ham
1/4 cup diced sweet onion
1 egg

Preheat oven to 400.  Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and then spritz with nonstick spray.  Dice 1/4 cup of onion, which was about 1/4 of a medium onion for me.

Next, shred your cheese.  I shredded some using the medium grate, and some using the fine.

Trim any fat off the ham.  Here's what my ham looked like pre-dice:

Here's post-dice:

Combine your onion, ham, and cheese in a mixing bowl.  

On a floured surface, spread out your dough.  Cut into 4 equal sections.

At this point, I determined that my dough quarters weren't going to be big enough to accommodate my fillings. So I rolled them out to make each a little bigger and thinner.

You can't tell from the picture but I swear they are much bigger now.  OK, so now spoon on your ham and cheese filling.  Try to put most of it in the bottom left corner of each pastry square.  This will help when you fold them over.

Next, fold the top right corner of each square over the fillings so that the edges meet.

Now use a fork to press and seal your edges.

Now place each pastry onto prepared baking sheet.  In a small bowl, beat egg with 1 Tbsp of water.  Brush the top of each pastry with the egg.

Cut a little slit in each one for air to escape.  Here's what they look like:

Now place in the oven and bake 18 minutes or until golden and puffy and beautiful!  Here's what they look like when they're done.  Yay!

Serve immediately.  Enjoy!