Potato, Ham and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

This is NOT a quick recipe. But it is definitely worth making! This was part of our Christmas morning brunch. I boiled the potatoes on Christmas Eve afternoon to save time assembling this on Christmas day. I think next time I'll peel them and slice them as well. We'll also leave out the sun-dried tomatoes. It was delicious, but we think it would be even more so without the tomatoes. The other thing that would save a little time on Christmas morning is to shred the cheese the day before as well.
Here are the ingredients needed:

2 1/2 pounds Yukin gold potatoes, unpeeled
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed) - optional
12 ounces ham, finely chopped (2 cups)
8 ounces fontina, Gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded (2 cups) - I used Swiss because it's what I could find in the store.
2 tablespoons flour
8 eggs
3 cups whole milk or half-and-half (I used milk and it was fine)
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Place potatoes on a large pot with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium or medium-low and simmer for 15 to 25 minutes, until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain and let cool.
Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Cook onion for 5 minutes or until golden brown and softened, stirring occasionally.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13x9 inch glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray. Remove skin from potatoes with paring knife and slice 1/4 inch thick.
Layer half of the potatoes in the baking dish. Top with half of the tomatoes, half the onions and half the ham. Toss the shredded cheese with flour and sprinkle half over the potatoes. Repeat layers with remaining potatoes, onions, ham and shredded cheese.
Whisk eggs until blended. Gradually whisk in the milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the potatoes and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until browned and bubbly and knife inserted in center comes out moist but clean. Center will set as casserole cools. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Casserole can be made up to 4 hours in advance and kept refrigerated until baking time. Bake 5 or 10 minutes longer than stated in recipe.



*recipe found in the January 2011 Cooking Club magazine.

Creamy Ham and Potatoes

Yes...I know...it's been almost another month. It's been busy on the home front! Ya'll are beginning to think I never cook, aren't you? Well I do...I just never type. I mean to, honest. I thought I was going to have an awesome ham and bean soup recipe a few days ago. But, well, it was so NOT awesome we had mac & cheese instead. Big "F" for Failure there.
But we're not here to talk about the failures, we're here to talk about the successes. And this one was definitely a success, and will be added to my tried and true list.
This is another plan-ahead, use the crockpot recipe.
Here is your list of ingredients:

• 4 medium red potatoes, thinly sliced
• 2 medium onions, finely chopped (I just used one big one)
• 1 1/2 cups cubed fully cooked ham - great way to use up leftover ham!
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 teaspoon ground mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed cream of celery soup, undiluted (and it was good with the celery soup, but I think next time I'll try the mushroom)
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, optional (which I totally forgot to do, but it was fine without)

Night before:

Slice the potatoes, chop the onions. Mix together & store in the fridge. Cube ham.

In the morning:

Layer potatoes, onions and ham in crock pot. Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in flour, mustard, salt and pepper until smooth. Combine soup and water. Gradually stir into flour mixture. Bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until bubbly and thick (You might be able to do this the night before as well, I wasn't sure how much it would thicken up even more overnight in the fridge. But if you want to try it, go for it!). Pour over ham. Cover and cook on low 8-9 hours (or until potatoes are tender). Sprinkle with cheese before serving, if you remember.

This was a great dish and it was great for heating up for lunch the next day at work.

Enjoy!

Roasted Vegetable Combo

This was SO GOOD. and actually healthy! I have a hard time finding things that are both 'healthy' and 'good'. So this is definitely a keeper!
I served this with the Homestyle Chicken and Gravy. Yea, I know, the gravy totally ruined the 'healthy' aspect. It was still good. SO good.
The veggies take almost an hour between prep and roasting time, so I got them started and then went on to the chicken.
Here are the ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups fresh baby carrots
• 1 pound small red potatoes, unpeeled, quartered (about 3 cups)
• 1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil (I used the olive oil - yummy)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 - 14 ounce package frozen whole green beans (that's 'beans', not 'beens' for those of you who confuse easily) (private joke, just for Mel)

This couldn't be much easier to throw together. Here we go:

Heat your oven to 425. Spray a 15x10x2 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. In a large bowl combine everything except the green beans. Mix well so everything is pretty evenly coated. Spread evenly on the pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, mix in green beans.

Bake 20 to 25 more minutes, or until the veggies are tender, stirring once.

DEE-LISH!!