The Leftovers - Ham

Sorry it's been a while.  A lot of stuff was going on post-op, so now that things are starting to slow down a little (or not), I thought I'd share with you a quick casserole recipe I came up with over the weekend.

I have a motto this year: Shop Less and Use What You  Have Already.

Taking that motto into the kitchen, I've started to realize just how much food I've wasted over the years.  Or, I buy in bulk, store it, then forget about it.  Then when the fridge cleanout comes, there's all this wasted food that goes into the trash.  To minimize that, I've been creating a few new recipes to use up leftovers and the stuff I already have.

While this may be a little late, you should keep it in your thoughts on how to use leftover ham when the next holiday comes around. 

First off, the trick to any amazing ham recipe is a well-cooked ham.  One of my favorite ham recipes that I go back to every single time is a country baked ham recipe from the 1950's.  [Here's a similar recipe, but add 1-2 cups of apple juice to the pan to baste.  Also, do yourself a favor...buy a ham that is pre-sliced and pre-baked.]

What you'll need for this recipe:

Leftover ham (cut up into bite-sized pieces)
Corn (I used frozen)
Peas (I used frozen)
Green Beans (I used frozen)
Leftover Dressing (I used leftover dried bread crumb dressing)
Fresh Cranberry Sauce (do not use the jellied version, use the whole berries version or fresh sauce)
Mashed Potatoes*
Cream Cheese (room temperature)

If you notice most of this recipe follows the basic shepherd's pie.  It's very similar to that, but with modifications.

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. While the oven is pre-heating, in a casserole dish, add a layer of corn, peas and green beans [the first layer is a mixture of these veggies].
3. Add the ham as a second layer.
4. Add a layer of cranberry sauce on top of the ham.
5. Add a layer of dressing (I didn't have a lot of dressing, so it was sparsely added as a layer).
6. Add a layer of mashed potatoes.*
7. Spoon cream cheese on top (try to spread out as much of the cream cheese as you can).
8. Cover with aluminum foil.
9. Place in oven and bake for 25 minutes.
10. After 25 minutes, remove aluminum foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes (to lightly brown the top).
11.  Remove from oven and let cool. 
12.  Enjoy!

*Modification for mashed potatoes: I had 1 potato and a bag of frozen cauliflower.  I boiled the potato until soft, then added the frozen cauliflower to the pot.  After the cauliflower was hot, I transferred everything over to a bowl and mashed them.  I added salt, pepper, butter, and milk (like in a traditional mashed potato recipe).  I prefer this version over regular mashed potatoes, because you can't tell the difference and it remains moist and doesn't dry up like regular mashed potatoes.

What's interesting about this recipe is that it's like having your entire holiday feast in one dish, plus dessert on top of it all.  The cream cheese tames the tartness of the cranberry sauce and makes you think you're eating pie...and your dinner altogether.  Kind of reminds me of Violet's Willy Wonka Every Flavor Gum in casserole form!  Trust me...this was so good, I had a hard time not eating the whole thing in one sitting.  

I don't use measurements, because it's kind of silly to use measurements on leftovers.  You're creating a casserole based on layers.  I didn't use that much bread crumbs because I didn't have much left from Thanksgiving.  Ends up it turned out perfectly fine.  I can only imagine what it would taste like with dressing that was already made! 

Do you use the whole bag of frozen vegetables? No.  You're only creating the first layer with the three varieties of vegetables. 

It's also important to make sure the cream cheese is room temperature so you can easily work with it.  You won't be able to create a clean layer over the mashed potatoes, so just spoon it over the mashed potatoes and try to spread it out as much as you can (yes, you should use your fingers along with the spoon to attempt this). 

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did.  The ham was leftover from Christmas (was in the freezer).  The cranberry sauce was leftover from Thanksgiving (I can't believe how long it lasted). 

It's January.  There's a snowstorm out and this was like a little piece of heaven leftover from the holidays.