Friday Odd Jobs

Today, feeling a bit trapped because yesterday my buggy left home for storage in a warm place. It will be returned next year, checked over, serviced and cleaned. Now the snowblower can be brought out of the shed and ready for activity. I hope not too much activity, though. Yard guy is always busy with shoveling and plowing places around the lake. Here he uses my equipment because I have a very short driveway and it is easier than the truck or SUV with attached plow.

The dehumidifier is filled every day and today it needed a good cleaning. The chalkboard needed my nap hours re-posted on a cleaner surface. The request sign was placed at the porch entrance for folks to please use the side door. That is because I move the antique rocking chair to the inside area in front of the front door. There is a reason for all I do. The chair blocks the heater from sending warmth when it is between my place at the table and its usual place beside the heater.

The decorative pumpkin gift from a granddaughter has been bagged and stored.

On Monday a 8.5 lb. fully cooked spiral-sliced bone-in ham should arrive here. It is for my local daughter's Thanksgiving family dinner. I'll stay home, not really liking so much activity nowadays. She'll save me some and especially the bone. Yes! I do love the pea soup I make with that bone. The ham comes frozen and takes three days to thaw so there is time before the dinner needs to be ready. This is hickory smoked and cured along with sweet brown sugar. It is so much less work than the usual turkey.

P.S.

Oh, and breaking in new shoes not fun.

Once is Enough

Now, if I were much younger I might not be saying this, but.... my latest baking project of Amish Ham Meatloaf is most likely the first and the last for me to complete. I think it will be a one and only. The funny part is that I see all kinds of baking dishes and recipes on Facebook by people I know, but I'll bet that the pretty pictures of the finished products are never baked by the posting person! If I post it, I've baked it!

Back to this one. I was talking with my neighbor about using left over spiral ham pieces and he told me that he once ate a very tasty loaf made with left-over ground ham. He said it was very different than the usual meatloaf. That perked my interest so I found the recipe that seemed to be the one he was talking about on the internet. His key word was "Amish."

Well, since I had all of the ingredients except for the ground pork I proceeded to purchase it and got started. Let me tell you that anyone who makes this needs to have very strong arms and hands. Very. Mixing was the hardest labor of all. I followed the directions to the "T" to be sure my efforts wouldn't be in vain.

Here is the loaf ready to go in the oven after 30 minutes of resting. I guess that was to let the spices permeate the meat better.

And the finished loaf ready to be sliced. I definitely will have to freeze some. Dinner is ready!

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Yield: 10 Servings Author: Renee Paj 
Amish Ham Loaf
prep time: 40 mins cook time: 1 hour and 10 mins total time: 1 hours and 50 mins
Similar to meatloaf, this Amish Ham Loaf is made with ground ham and pork, seasoned with curry powder, ground ginger, and nutmeg then glazed with a sweet and sour sauce.

INGREDIENTS:
     For Ham Loaf
1 pound ground ham (about 3 cups)
1 pound ground pork
2 to 2 1/2 cups soft white bread crumbs
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 TBSP lemon juice
1 tsp. curry powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 TBSP yellow mustard
     For Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper

Ketchup (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:
     To Make the Ham Loaf

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a broiler pan by covering the bottom portion in foil. Replace the slotted top and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
   
2. In large bowl, with hands, combine the ground ham, ground pork, and 2 cups soft bread crumbs.
   
3. In medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sour cream, onion, lemon juice, ginger, nutmeg, and mustard.
   
4. Pour wet ingredients into bowl with ham/pork/breadcrumb mixture and combine with hands until it all comes together. If it feel too wet, add the rest of the breadcrumbs.
   
5. Shape into an oblong loaf onto prepared broiler pan. Let sit for about 30 minutes before putting into oven.
   
6. Bake for 30 minutes. Baste with 1/2 the glaze. Return to oven and bake for another 15 minutes. Baste with the remainder of the glaze. Return to oven for another 15 to 25 minutes. Top with ketchup, if desired, and pop into oven for another couple of minutes.
   
7. Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
   

     To Make the Glaze
1. Combine all glaze ingredients except ketchup in a small saucepan and heat to boiling. Take off heat and use as directed in the Ham Loaf instructions above.

Ham

Our son and his partner gave us and his sister each a 12 lb. spiral ham for Christmas. I just got around to baking mine before the "use by" date in February.  Now we have ham for dinner, ham for breakfast, ham for lunch, ham for brother, ham for neighbor, ham for trashman. I know slices won't freeze well because they go "watery" and I also know what fabulous split pea soup will be made from the bone when it is stripped of meat.

Hey! It's winter. What else could I better spend my time doing besides baking, roasting, cooking, preparing meals? You get my point, and I also read books. I like these activities very much.

My home is my castle. My kitchen is my favorite room.

(I believe my husband thinks there is a food fairy living here because he doesn't participate in this activity - ever.) 

LINKS:   Split Pea Soup

                Split Pea Soup Prep

Still At It

... baking, cooking, you know! Along with the fantastic tomatoes our daughter brings to us, she also shared a hambone from a ham she recently baked for her family.  Of course when she brought some slices as well, we gobbled them like we never had home-cured ham, but they are all gone!  Her neighbor gave her some of his pork after it was smoked and ready to distribute. We have never tasted such delicious ham as this. Isn't it nice how sharing can be such a treat? It's a way of life around here.

Last night we had a bowlful for dinner and the containers shown are left-overs to be frozen and shared too! (There is nothing in this soup except for some chopped onions and dried split peas cooked for 4 hours after the bone broth was cooked and strained for the first 8 hours.)

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What?? You say you don't care for split pea soup? All the more for me.

Morning Project

I dug out the 1899 grinder from the cupboard, rinsed and clamped it to the countertop with a potholder protecting the wood. After all of the previously prepared chunks from the gallon bagful were ground, followed by a couple of Ritz crackers to clean the interior, I bagged some to share. Then I made ham salad from the portion I kept. My ham salad consists of mayonnaise, mustard and sweet relish. I must say it is tasty! Perfectly ground with minimal cleanup. I only rinse all parts of the grinder in very hot water and dry completely before putting it back together for storage. If we want more, I can always pull some of the packaged slices from the freezer and grind it for either salad or as an addition to scalloped potatoes or scrambled eggs, quiche, and more.

It goes from "catch" pan to large bowl as we go.

My salad is in a 3.5 cup bowl

and will last a couple of days.

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Leftovers

Today I took care of the 12 lb. ham, less a few slices we ate on Thanksgiving Day by cutting and packaging it for further use. We'll also share some. I cut off all the slices I could and made up 10 pouches in the old-style sealer bags. Then the larger pieces were cut into chunks, some to be used for soup and the rest to be ground into small salad sandwich-style pieces. Of course I'll use the old fashioned Gem Grinder for this. The food processor makes it either too chunky or too mushy.  The bone and smoky brown rind will be boiled and and used for my fabulous split pea soup. Whew! Tired me out!

1976 Dazey seal-a-meal

Sealed and ready to eat now or freeze

1899 Gem Food Chopper

Cut into chunks ready to grind.

That is a gallon bag!

And then......soup bone!

That's all for today!

Don't forget to click on an image to view larger

A Good Day!

By a good day, I mean it isn't snowing, the roads are not treacherous by weather conditions for those who chose to travel and our home is warm, we have food, we have comfort and our health seems to be in the "well" section of the dial.  It is an unusual Thanksgiving that we have this year as we did last. We stay home. We don't have family for meals. This year we didn't have turkey. We are content. We agree that it is time to slooooowwwww down!

The main thing is that we are thankful for multiple reasons and celebrate this day our own way. Did you watch the Parade in NYC this morning? It was impressive. Did your meal and your relatives, friends, and others eat well and have very happy visits? We hope so. There are so many people suffering emotionally, physically, financially...many are having an awful week and a bad year. Our hearts go out to them. Be sure to find one little nugget of goodness, something to be thankful for and then you too will have had a happy thanksgiving. We did.

8:00 AM 12°

 The ice is beginning to form on the lake.

 Before baking the ham...

 We shared some good stuff...

 We ate simple...

... and have leftovers to share!

Tonight it will be sandwiches with lemon cake and ice cream dessert. 

Dang!

I was careless this morning. Yeow! Yesterday I trimmed the hambone and stewed it all day for broth to make split pea soup. The trimmings then were saved to grind into ham salad for sandwiches, using my good old Gem grinder. In order to clamp the grinder on the countertop, I have to remove the large tempered glass cutting board. This I did, placing it on the floor against the lower cupboard doors. I promptly then forgot it was there when reaching for a bowl, and kicked it at the bottom. It fell hard against my shin and slid down. When it hit my leg, I knew immediately I had a problem. The blood from the upside down "C" cut was spouting like a fountain out of control and ran down and filled my sheepskin slipper! I ran for the bathroom, knowing there was a large roll of paper towel readily accessible to press against the site. It was a good thing that I was wearing fleece sweat pants or it would have been worse. After getting the flow to subside, using tons of towel, I called the Mister to help, instructing him what to pull from the closet so I could repair the damage. I squeezed almost an entire tube of Neosporin onto a large gauze pad and then wrapped medical tape around several times to hold it in place. His next job was to flush out my slipper and then to clean my foot and leg. It would have been difficult to do all of this if I were alone. Kind of a "funny" site, me, sitting on the toilet top, he, kneeling on the floor fixing me. 

The funniest thing is that he was in the chair waiting to help me with the ham and I yelled, BLOOD! BLOOD! while running to the bathroom. He thought I had yelled FLOOD! FLOOD! and thought I had a bladder problem, so didn't help right away until I told him I hurt my leg and needed his attention.

Yesterday, I just told a friend to always expect the unexpected. I need to follow my own advice!

Sure hope it heals (I'm a slow healer) and doesn't get infected but I don't see how it can because it was washed out so well with the red stuff. There goes my shower for a few days! Oh well, it isn't the start of the new year today so I haven't spoiled it - yet!

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Ow! Still hurts. 

Busy

Today I baked the very large smoked ham then, after lunch, I cut it up into slices for sandwiches and dinners. I cut up chunks for food processor work to make ham salad. I have a large pan of scraps and bones for broth. It took me two hours! I have put some in the freezer.  For dinner there is a corn casserole baking and we will have a piece of _ _ _ to go with it. Guess what!

Thank goodness my old electric knife is still sharp and has a LONG cord! It is important. Yes, my old hand mixer has a long cord as well. I have only one place to plug in these appliances for use and would not be able to get by without those long cords. 

After all that I played with photos of children who are adorable to begin with, but I changed them a bit. 

Title: DON'T CRY

Title: JOHN

 Title: JOHN-E

 Title: FOXI

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"Twas the Day After...

...and the sun is shining! We haven't had a sunny sunrise for 19 days!  Yea!! Clap! Clap! Clap!

...and the hambone is on the stove simmering away for the next 8 hours. Split pea soup is a comin' soon.  Ham salad is prepared for lunch.  

...and there is another ham in the fridge waiting to be baked for another kettle of soup.

...and the frost has left our dirt road and it is a slippery, slimy and rutted trip in 'n outta here. 

...and all's well at Cabin Tranquillity. 

Oh Happy Day!

Eggs and Ham

Merry Christmas Eve Day!

My contribution to the family Christmas meal is prepared. I must be getting older - it seemed to be more time consuming than I had planned, but I'm ready now.

Everyone raves about my deviled eggs but I have NO recipe for them. I just add a bit of this and a bit of that, and then I taste. I'm also often asked how I get my eggs to peel so well. I can tell you the egg "trick."

The eggs must be at least one week old. A single layer in a semi-heavy pot is covered with cold water to about an inch above the top of the eggs. I then bring them to a boil, boil for five minutes, remove from the heat and let stand for 10 minutes in the hot water. Then I fill and drain the pot with cold water until it is completely cold.

I tap the bottom of the egg against the kitchen sink and then tap tap tap it some more to crackle the shell. I then run cold water the entire time as I remove the shell at the bottom and keep peeling down, letting the water run under the shell, which loosens it from the egg quite well.

Click on photo for larger view...

I slice the eggs with an old cheese cutter that has lost its roller. It's a neat way to slice evenly and easily.

After mashing the yolks and adding the ingredients shown above, I use my spatula to fill the mixture into a freezer zip loc baggie and snip off the end so I can easily pipe the mixture into the halves. A topping of paprika makes them pretty!

What would eggs be without ham? This is an easy-to-clean-and-keep-moist method of roasting a ham. After it is finished baking, I can snip off the end of the oven bag to save the juices before removing the ham onto a platter to be sliced. Split pea soup will surely be the next project.

Ham and Eggs

Pea Soup Project

Yesterday my daughter visited and brought with her a ten pound ham shank because it was taking up too much room in her small freezer. OK. She asked me if I would make my "famous" pea soup with the bone. OK. Then she asked me if I would save some of the meat for making ham salad sandwiches. OK. She told me I might be able to cut off a couple of slabs for her as dinner entrees and to keep a couple for myself. OK.  At about 3pm I put the ham in a roasting pan, after digging that pan out of the deepest under-counter cupboard there is in this old cabin. (I thought I wouldn't need it until next Thanksgiving.) I used a turkey oven bag and it was ready to carve around 7pm. It came out beautiful! I'm very sorry that I was so involved that I didn't take a picture of it on the platter before carving. * I set aside two pieces for our dinner - which I had not yet even begun. Then we ate dinner. I finished cutting it up, packaged the edible slabs and chunks, and proceeded to strain the bones and remnants in my old colander over a large old bowl. The broth was then poured back into an old 6 quart pot, I added water to the top, added the bone and set it to simmer ALL NIGHT LONG. 

* This is not my photo but it looks exactly as mine did after it was baked.

This morning, the total brew was poured again into the colander, straining down into the large bowl. I had to have help. While I held the colander over the bowl, (in the sink, of course) my husband poured in the contents. Those bones now were bare as bones can be! The bowlful of rich brownish broth was then poured back into the pot and the potful was put in the refrigerator. After about 2 hours, I removed the pot, took a slotted spoon and skimmed off all of the white fat layer that had floated to the top. There was a lot and it was removed totally and easily.  

After rinsing the package of split peas, and chopping up two onions, the soup has been started. It will simmer all day long. There will be no need for further straining as it will become a smooth, kind of thickish gruel. No lumps or bumps. I'll then add pepper and leave it to others to the salting.  I will freeze portions and keep a few for myself. 

While the soup was simmering, we - get that - we dug out the old grinder and all of the chunks were processed. I fed the beast, he turned the handle. The result was three fairly large containers of ham - ready to be made into ham salad, or used for hash, or added to casseroles. Wish I could share a bit with you as well. There is enough. I packaged the remaining dinner entree slabs and that is that!  Soup simmering. Ham and soup project complete.

Did I tell you that she also brought over another dozen of those wonderful home-grown eggs? Well, I already had one partial and one full box so what do you do when you have extra eggs? You boil the oldest bunch and make egg salad for sandwiches. Oh, and egg-potato salad with three potatoes that were already cooked and just waiting to be used in some way. We had eggy potato salad for lunch. YUM! I'm tired now. I too am old.

The cleanup is extensive, but who cares? It will be worth it. Come for a visit. It sure smells good in here!

P.S. = PEA SOUP at 6pm with homemade sourdough bread.

The entire batch yield was 4 quarts.