Great recipes for leftover ham or turkey

For Christmas this year, I bought a twelve pound, bone-in spiral cut ham. It was delicious, especially with the glaze mix that came with it, but I can assure you, the seven adults, one toddler and one baby who had dinner at my house didn't come close to finishing off this ham.

So of course we had some pretty great ham leftovers for a couple of days. Then we got a little sick of ham and started dreaming of steak fajitas (recipe coming soon).

Meantime, I had a lot of really good ham and a very large ham bone left over from Christmas dinner, so I did what I always do. I cut the ham away from the bone, into bite sized pieces. (I trim the yucky stuff off meticulously.) I froze three two-cup containers of ham and one big ham bone.

Here's what I do with it.

For leftover ham...

POTATO-HAM BAKE
(a Better Homes and Gardens recipe)

1 pound Yukon gold potatoes, sliced
1 8-ounce tub cream cheese with chives and onion
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed tarragon
8 ounces cooked ham, cut in bite-size pieces
1 pound fresh asparagus spears, cut in 2-inch pieces*

*You can use green beans, but the fresh asparagus makes this dish especially wonderful.

Preheat oven to 400*.

In medium saucepan cook potatoes, covered in lightly salted boiling water, for 5 to 7 minutes, just until tender. Do not over cook. Drain. Transfer potatoes to a bowl and set aside.

For sauce, in the same pan combine cream cheese, milk, 2 tablespoons Parmesan and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Heat and whisk until smooth and cheese is melted. Remove from heat and stir in the tarragon.

Layer the potatoes, ham, asparagus and sauce in a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Bake, covered, for 20 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes more. Let stand for 5 minutes.

Serves 4


If you have a ham bone...

NAVY BEAN SOUP

1 pound dried navy beans
7 cups water
1 ham bone
2 cups cubed cooked ham
1/4 minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 bay leaf
dash of pepper

Rinse beans. Heat beans and water to boiling; boil gently for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Drain beans and add 7 cups fresh water.

Add remaining ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about an hour and 15 minutes, until beans are soft.

Remove bay leaf and ham bone. Season to taste.

(I like to add canned, cubed carrots, but that's a matter of taste, and of course navy beans are great with corn bread.)


For leftover turkey...

TURKEY AND STUFFING CASSEROLE
(a Paula Deen recipe)

4 to 5 cups diced leftover turkey
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 8-ounce container sour cream
3 cups herb-flavored stuffing mix
(Paula recommends Pepperidge Farm and so do I)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
(it's a Paula Deen recipe, after all LOL)
1 cup canned chicken broth

Preheat oven to 350* Spray a 13-by-9-inch glass casserole dish with vegetable-oil cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together the turkey, soup, and sour cream. Place the mixture in the prepared dish and pat down evenly with the back of a spoon.

In a clean medium-sized bowl, stir together the stuffing mix, butter and broth. Spread evenly over the turkey mixture.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the stuffing topping is browned and the casserole is hot and bubbly.

Paula says it serves 8. I'm thinking maybe 4. It's good!


All of us end up with leftover ham or turkey and if you're like me, you can be bewildered. I mean, a huge turkey or ham is expensive and by the time you know you should be doing something with the leftovers, chances are you're so sick of it taking up space in your fridge, and you're beyond sick of just eating it, you don't know what to do.

Tossing it isn't an option, if your food budget is like mine. :-)

So these are three recipes that you can make quite easily, and if you're not ready to make them, then do what I do. Freeze everything until you are ready!