Vegetable Soup

Last night I had the pleasure of dinner by myself with a glass of wine and a book. This is *very* unusual and was most welcome. I've always enjoyed dining by myself. I like to go to restaurants by myself as well. Sometimes I really miss the days when I was working and I'd go hide at Houston's for lunch because it was highly unlikely anyone from my office would come looking for me there. No, I didn't have any business eating lunch at an expensive restaurant like that. It probably took me the whole day's pay to make up for my lunch. But it was divine. These days, I make no money and generally travel with an entourage of toddlers. Plus sometimes my husband works from home, and he'd totally bust me for extravagant lunches like that.

Last night while the kids watched Aladdin for the 10 billionth time, I hid in the dining room with my dinner, glass of wine, and book. Which also has totally made me make the jump from vampires to faeries. I finished Wicked Lovely in one day mainly because I am obsessed. Granted it is also a young adult novel, but I love the escapism.

As for the blackeyed peas, you can use fresh or dried that you've soaked overnight after cooking them in water for about an hour. Just don't put them in your ham stock raw. Or you can use canned, but I'd rinse them first.

Vegetable Soup

Leftover shank bone from ham, with some meat still attached

Water

large white onion, sliced

1 lb of carrots, peeled and sliced

6 stalks of celery, sliced

2 c. cooked blackeyed peas

8 small red potatoes, peeled and sliced into thin discs

40 or so ounces canned diced tomatoes

22 ounces canned whole kernel sweet corn

salt

pepper

cayenne

Place ham bone in stock pot, cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook 3 hours or so, the longer the better. Remove ham bones with a slotted spoon. Add blackeyed peas, carrots, celery, onion, cook 30 minutes. Add potatoes cook, 10 minutes, add tomatoes and corn, cook another 20 minutes. Season to taste, serve with grilled turkey and cheddar sandwiches.

Ready to Cook Ham

Around Christmas and Easter, and a few other times, you can find ready to cook hams in the grocery. They come in a shank portion and a butt portion. I go with the shank portion because it has less gristle and is easier to carve. A ready to cook ham has been wet cured and needs to be cooked to reach an internal temperature of 160.

Ham also definitely falls under my budget meals category. This 8 pound ham cost just over 10$. Sometimes it's more than that, I've paid double or triple, but this is still a good price. An 8lb ham serves about 15 dinner size servings, and the bone provides a wonderful base for blackeyed pea soup or vegetable soup. The price per serving of this meal was literally about $1.25. Of course we'll need to be committed to eating ham sandwiches for the next while, but who doesn't love a jambon-beurre sandwich?

8 lb ready to cook ham
water

In a glass pan, place rinsed ham, then add about an inch of water to the pan. Cook in an oven preheated to 325. Needs to cook for about 18 minutes per pound to an internal temperature of 160.

To carve, slice thin slices down to bone, then cut along bone to free slices. Turn ham to other side and repeat. Save shank bone in freezer for later use.

Sides to Liven Up Leftovers

Tonight's Recipe: Leftover Turkey with Creamed Spinach and Lentils

If you've been following along, you might be wondering what happened to the 12.5 lb turkey. We aren't an army, just four people, and two of them sometimes refuse to eat anything but Veggie Booty. With the leftovers, we had some turkey sandwiches, tonight's menu, and next week we'll have turkey based soup.

I'm trying to get better about reducing our food waste while not winding up bored to tears with identical leftover meals. I've never been a great left over eater, but it does warm my heart a little to be able to get 4-5 different meals from one dish.

Creamed Spinach
16 oz package frozen organic spinach

3/4 of a white onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tbsp. butter

1/3 c. half and half

1/3 c. 2% milk

kosher salt

fresh ground pepper

nutmeg

In a saute pan, melt butter. Saute onions 6-7 minutes on medium high heat until soft. Add garlic, saute another 1-2 minutes. Reduce heat if onions or garlic appear to be browning.

Thaw spinach and squeeze all the water out through a strainer. Add to onions and garlic, saute 3-4 minutes. Add half and half and milk, stir and continue to heat about 3-5 minutes until liquid is reduced by half. Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Lentils
3 cups chicken stock

1.5 c brown lentils

murray river salt

fresh ground pepper

Rinse lentils thoroughly. Bring chicken stock to boil in a saucepan. Add lentils and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook about 25 minutes, until lentils are soft. Season to taste.

I know, I know. That's not even really a recipe. But lentils are new to our rotation by about 2-3 years. I didn't grow up eating them and had never cooked them at all until relatively recently. Lentils are very high in protein, iron, folate, and fiber. When I had gestational diabetes with my son, I had an extremely hard time keeping my blood sugar in check. I think that was what pushed lentils further into our rotation. They are practically the perfect pregnant lady food. And they are dirt cheap. Bonus!

Nutmeg is one of my favorite spices and it does wonders for spinach. But don't overdo it or your dinner will constantly push memories of eggnog into your brain. Fresh nutmeg is considerably stronger than dried, but is really fun and smells marvelous. We picked some up on a trip to Jamaica last year, which incidentally had a fascinating rafting trip where our guide pointed out all of the local spice plants. Think of how much faster you can take a trip to Jamaica if you start eating more lentils.