Welcome back!! I have had a difficult time choosing what to post today. Nothing seemed impressive enough, or delicious enough, or all-Encompassing enough, to share for my first meal preparation posting.
Anytime I get into a pickle or don’t know what I should do next, I think this: “do what is in front of you”. I love that advice, because it keeps me focused on the realities of the moment. It is also practical: most of the time, whatever task is in front of me needs attention anyway.
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Since I have started writing dozens of posts in anticipation of this moment, the mantra “do what is in front of you” could not be more appropriate. So today, I am going to tell you what was in front of me this weekend: I baked a ham, and turned it into six dinners, five lunches, and four breakfasts. In total, 13 meals. Don’t worry. None of these meals, including baking the ham, are very difficult. I didn’t spend the entire weekend in the kitchen (although my range got a workout).
Many cooks avoid hams and turkeys due to the large quantity of potential leftovers. There are lots of ways to use ham, but the entire process of cooking the first, usually fancy, ham dinner sours many cooks on doing much of anything with the remainder.
I feel that way too! I only cook a ham three or four times a year, and only Easter involves a fancy dinner. The other times I cook very simple and small sides to go along with the meat. In every case, I plan simple, freezable recipes to reuse the ham, and a realistic timeline for when the transformation will take place.
Let’s start with the initial ham dinner. I started baking my ham around 8:30 on Saturday morning simply because I had ten minutes to spare at that moment. (And we can talk more about how to implement this practice later, but a good, productive kitchen practice is to use your spare minutes to prepare meals whenever possible, rather than carving out 45 minutes at a time to go from start to finish).
Here is my ham, ready to go! I like to use a Reynolds Oven Cooking Bag
Next I halved a butternut squash and scooped out the seeds. Then, I sprayed with olive oil, added pink salt and freshly ground pepper, and placed in a pan and set it in the refrigerator to wait. I baked that in the oven along with the ham for the last hour and a half of the ham’s baking time.
After the ham finished cooking, I removed the meat and reserved it in two food storage containers in the refrigerator. The bone, below, went into a separate storage container along with the juice from the oven bag. This also went in the refrigerator, to sit overnight.
For dinner that night I served our “big” ham dinner! The girls are obsessed with canned green beans, so obviously that is on the menu frequently 🙂 . I also had a jar of homemade cranberry applesauce on hand, as well as some fresh sourdough bread. You could use whatever side items are in your refrigerator, or do what we did and raid the canned goods pantry section!
All in all, it took about 10 minutes to prepare the ham and the squash for baking, 10 more to prepare it for the refrigerator, and less than five minutes to put our dinner plates together. It took a little more time to take these pictures (which are terrible, I know!).
Sounds great, right? Well, what about the REST of the ham? The next two posts will detail how the rest was used. In the meantime, please let me hear from you!
Hey Courtney! I’ve always wanted to try something with butternut squash, but I’ve been afraid (that sounds ridiculous!) I like to get a ham a few times a year when my mom finds then on sale at Whole Foods. I just divide it up and we might start with a ham meal…sometimes I heat individual slices in the microwave or the little oven for a short bit, but sometimes we just eat it cold and like it that way, too…sometimes I put pineapple slices on it with some brown sugar while warming, but I think I prefer fresh, cold pineapple as a side…my favorite thing to do with ham is to make pea soup. It sounds bad, it looks bad, but it is one of the few things in life that all 6 of us actually like. My picky 4 year old cannot get enough. I add tons of diced onions, a ham bone if I still have one, lots of carrots, some salt, pepper and brown sugar…and then the diced ham towards the end…oh and a bag of dried peas, too, of course–at the beginning! It’s one of our very favorite soups and so easy (the major thing is giving the peas enough time to get totally mushy)! I guess it is our favorite…which cannot be said for the beef stew and cream of broccoli I made over the weekend. (My 4 year old was in agony with each bite). I hope one day I am brave enough to purchase some butternut squash! 😉 I enjoyed reading this post.
Love it, Kate! You and I are on the same page. We also love split pea soup!!! Be sure to check out my next post 😉 As far as the butternut squash goes- take the plunge! They are very inexpensive and you might be surprised at the flavor! Are there any other squashes that your family likes?
oh your pictures are awesome especialy the Dinner all on plate looks delicious!! i am lookin forward to checkin out your Turkey i can no longer eat ham or any pork for that matter 🙁 my Liver has gotten worse and Hubby mostly eats what i do cept his beef which i can’t have either . but dear one i am enjoyin your sight it is awesome , give lovins to family an i love you too <3
I am glad you are enjoying reading the blog! After the holidays are through I will have plenty of ham and pork-free recipes to share with you. We don’t eat a whole lot of meat in general. Love you too!
Courtney, I love your blog! The ham dinner sounds wonderful and I’m looking forward to reading what you did with the rest of the ham!
Thank you, and thanks for reading!
Man I wish there was a good vegetarian ham option – you make this sound amazing, doable, and healthy – what more could one ask for?!