Back to School Night

Potato, Leek, Broccoli, and Cheese Soup with Ham and Cheese Melts
The holidays are over. January is here which brings an end to the parties, sleeping in, and general laziness associated with "winter break." The combination of cold weather and a busy work schedule makes me crave a quick, easy, and hot dinner when I get home. This is one of my absolute favorite mid-winter meals when it gets dark around 4 pm and all I want to do is cuddle up under a blanket.


Ingredients
- 1 lb. broccoli florets
- 2 medium sized Yukon gold potatoes, cut into 1" chunks
- 3 large leeks, trimmed, rinsed, and chopped
- 1 qt. chicken broth
- 4 c. shredded baby Swiss cheese, divided
- 1 c. heavy cream
- salt and pepper
- 1 tsp. paprika
- 3 oz. diced Canadian bacon
- 2 Tbsp, minced chives
- 1 ciabatta loaf, split lengthwise, then cut into 4 equal portions
- 1/3 c. mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp. butter

In a large, heavy soup pot melt butter over medium high. Add leeks and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook over medium, stirring occasionally until the leeks become tender and fragrant. Add chicken broth and potatoes. Cover and bring to a boil. When the broth reaches a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes become soft.

While the potatoes are simmering, prepare the cheese toasts. In a medium bowl combine ham, mayonnaise, chives, and half of the shredded Swiss cheese. Stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and the spread ham mixture in equal portions on sliced ciabatta bread. Arrange ciabatta slices on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake in a 350˚ oven for about 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starts to bubble.

Once the potatoes are soft, add broccoli to the soup, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for an additional 8-10 minutes, until the broccoli is tender and bright green. Remove soup from heat and slowly stir in remaining shredded cheese and cream. Sprinkle with paprika and additional salt and pepper to taste. Serve with prepared ham and cheese toasts for dipping!

Hamming it Up

Ham and Sweet Potato Hash with Caramelized Shallots 

Christmas dinner was a delicious success of scalloped potatoes, gingerbread cake, and ham. Oh so much ham! More ham than five of us could possible eat in a day. More ham than necessary for a huge pot of split pea soup, scrambles, and sandwiches. What to do with an excess of ham? I poked around the fridge and pantry for ingredients and came up with this delicious and easy meal perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Try it out next time you're facing a few slabs of uneaten hog!

Ingredients
- 3 medium sized sweet potatoes, diced into 1" chunks
- 2-3 large shallots, sliced crosswise into disks
- 2 Tbsp. butter
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 Tbsp. minced parsley
- 2 c. roughly diced leftover smoked ham
- 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
- 4 eggs cooked to your liking (I like them poached!)

Preheat the oven to 425˚F. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Toss diced sweet potato chunks in olive oil and arrange in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the potatoes begin to soften and turn brown. Turn potatoes occasionally with a wooden spoon to prevent from sticking to the foil. Remove from oven.

While the potatoes are roasting caramelize the shallots. Melt butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Add shallots and break rings from disks with a wooden spoon. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Allow shallots to soften slightly over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low and and caramelize shallots until they become very brown and soft. 

Once shallots have caramelized add roasted potatoes, ham, and parsley to pan and cook over medium until ham heats up and begins to brown. Meanwhile, heat broiler and prepare eggs to your liking (fried or poached works best). Once the ham and potato mixture is warmed through, sprinkle with an even layer of cheddar cheese and melt under boiler. Divide potato and ham hash among two plates and top with two eggs each. Serve with ketchup, Sriracha sauce, or your other favorite condiments! Very yummy!

Sweet Pea Serenade

Fast and Fabulous Creamy Pea and Potato Soup with Ham and Cheese Paninis
Surely I have sung the praises of soup before, but what the heck . . . here I go again. I just freakin' love soup and sandwiches for dinner. They're fast, inexpensive to make, and offer nearly infinite possibilities of ingredients to throw in a pot and shove between two slices of toasted bread. My panini press/griddle/grill is one of my favorite extravagant kitchen appliances. Is it necessary? No. It's not like a great set of knives or a food processor. But, it sure allows for a lot of kitchen creativity. I whipped this dinner up in less than a half hour. I made sandwiches for two, but the soup easily made enough for four with leftovers. Try it out for a quick and yummy weeknight family dinner!

Ingredients
- 4 slices crusty sourdough bread
- 4 slices Black Forest Ham
- 4 slices of your favorite cheese (I had Swiss with mine, my sweetie prefers cheddar)
- olive oil
- fresh ground pepper
- 1 qt. chicken broth
- 6 oz. smokey bacon, diced
- 1 medium onion, dinced
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- leaves from 5 springs fresh thyme
- 8 oz. frozen peas
- 1 medium russet potato, washed and diced into 1" pieces
- 8 oz. cream cheese cut into 2" pieces
- salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a medium sized heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until bacon is cooked through and begins to crisp. Remove bacon from pot with a slotted spoon, reserving fat in the pot, and allow it to drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Add diced onion to bacon drippings and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion begins to soften and turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add garlic. Cook for 1-2 additional minute, stirring to combine, until garlic becomes fragrant. Add potatoes, thyme, and chicken broth and turn heat up to high to bring to a boil. Once the mixture is boiling, cover and reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10-12 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

While the potato mixture simmers, prepare the paninis. Heat the panini press to high heat and brush one side of each slice of bread with a little olive oil. With the oiled side down, stack each sandwich with a slice of cheese, two pieces of ham, a couple grinds of fresh pepper, the remaining slice of cheese, and top it with a slice of bread with its oiled side up. Place paninis on press and grill for about 5 minutes until the bread is toasty and the cheese is melted. 

Once the soup has simmered, add peas, and cook for an additional 2 minutes for peas to heat through. Remove from heat and blend with an immersion blender or blend in batches in a regular blender. Blend until smooth. Return to low heat and add cream cheese, whisking until soup is smooth. Add cooked bacon and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve in bowls with sandwiches.

Wham, Bam, Thank You Ham!

Cheesy Ham and Veggie Bake
The split pea soup was delicious, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to rid the fridge of all the excess ham. Another solution had to be concocted. I've said before that I'm a fan of one-dish meals and this certainly foots the bill on a chilly New Years Eve Eve. This was easy to throw together and helped purge the fridge of those pesky post-Christmas leftovers. I can add this to my ever-growing list of mac and cheese recipes. Definitely not vegetarian-friendly, but delicious nonetheless.

Ingredients
- 2 c. diced cooked ham
- 1 lb. mixed bag of broccoli and cauliflower, cut into bit-sized pieces
- 1 lb. corkscrew pasta
- 1 large shallot, peeled and minced
- 2 c. heavy cream
- 1-2 c. milk
- 2 c. grated extra sharp white cheddar cheese
- 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- t tsp. fresh thyme
- 1 c. breadcrumbs
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 c. flour
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350˚F and butter a 9x13" baking dish. Set aside.

Melt butter in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add shallot and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add flour and whisk together with butter for 1 minute. Slowly add cream and milk, about a half cup at a time, allowing the mixture to thicken over medium-low heat. Add cheese, thyme, and mustard to mixture and stir over medium-low heat, allowing cheese to melt. Remove Dutch oven from stove and add ham, broccoli, and cauliflower, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meanwhile, boil pasta according to package directions to al dente, about 9 minutes. Drain and add to ham and cheese mixture. Mix ingredients thoroughly then spread evenly into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle with an even layer of breadcrumbs and bake 35-40 minutes until sauce starts to bubble and breadcrumbs become golden brown. Remove from oven and allow 5 minutes to cool before serving. Yum.

Ham-tastic!

Split Pea and Ham Soup for a Cold December Night
Ham from Christmas dinner? There's nothing wrong with that. I glazed an eight pound ham with an orange juice, brown sugar, and honey mixture to create a sweet-and-salty-meaty masterpiece. As delicious as it was, there's only so much ham four people can eat. Thus the creation of a savory cold-weather solution to an abundance of ham became necessary. I love split pea soup. It's simple to throw to together and perfect for post-Christmas dinner . . . a good respite from holiday over-indulgence.

Ingredients
- 2 qts. chicken broth
- 2 c. dried split peas
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- 1 meaty leftover ham bone
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- salt and pepper
- 3 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
- 2 c. diced leftover ham

Heat olive oil over medium and cook onions and garlic until softened and translucent. Season with salt and pepper. Add celery and cook until softened, about 3 minutes longer. Add chicken broth, thyme sprigs, ham bone, and split peas. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium low. Cover and simmer for about an hour until peas are softened. Remove Dutch oven from stove and remove ham bone and thyme sprigs. With an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth and thick. Cut excess meat from bone into bite-sized chunks and add to soup with additional diced ham. Discard bone and season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Eat with bread.

So Cheesey!!!

Mac and Triple-Cheese with Ham and Peas (If You Please)

I have had a life-long love affair with mac and cheese. Really, what's not to like? Pasta and melted cheese is a match made in Foodie Heaven. From my early encounters with powdered-cheese Blue Box Mac to my current and constant quest for new cheese and pasta combinations- the passion and commitment is very real.

When planning my menu this week, I did my typical fridge/pantry inventory for inspiration and found several intriguing remaining items from previous recipes including several cheeses, a cup of half and half, a cup of chicken broth, Canadian bacon, and (for some reason) bags and bags of frozen peas. The solution seemed obvious and I'm always up for a little culinary experimentation. Ham and peas go together as naturally as peanut butter and jelly and I think you'll really enjoy this velvety, mild cheese sauce playing off the crisp freshness of Italian parsley. I hope you love it.

Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 lb. medium shell pasta
- 4 Tbsp. butter
- 1/4 c. flour
- 1 c. chicken broth
- 1 c. half and half
- 2 c. whole milk
- 2 c. grated mild white cheddar cheese
- 4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
- 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese
- 4 oz. diced Canadian bacon
- 1 lb. frozen peas
- one bunch chopped Italian parsley
- 1/2 c. plain toasted bread crumbs
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Spray a 9x13" glass baking pan with cooking spray, set aside. In a large stock pot bring water to a boil to cook pasta. Boil pasta to al dente. While water is boiling, melt butter in a large Dutch oven or stock pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until tender (about 5 minutes), season with salt and pepper. Add flour and whisk together with butter. Whisk constantly for 1 minute to create a thick paste. Slowly add chicken broth, whisking constantly to combine. Add half and half and milk, a little at a time, and whisk to combine until smooth. Cook over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken and can coat the back of a spoon. Add grated cheddar cheese and feta and whisk sauce until smooth. Remove from heat, add peas, Canadian bacon, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

When pasta is cooked, drain and add to cheese sauce. Stir until pasta is well coated. Transfer to prepared baking dish and spread evenly. Sprinkle evenly with breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese.

Bake in oven for 30 minutes until top begins to brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving. It's a tasty dish!