The Craftiest Workshop

Our family does not really love turkey or roast beef on special occasions. Our “go to” meat of choice is usually ham. Early on in our marriage I would usually buy a Toupie Ham which is often fairly large but has no bone in it. Big Mistake!! I am not sure when it was that I first purchased a bone-in ham but I will never go back. So much more flavour and the ham stays moist.

I would normally cook the ham either on the holiday or the day before the holiday. After we had ham for dinner I would strip the bone of as much ham as I could and then put the bone in a crock pot just covered in water. The crock pot would stay on overnight and in the morning I would discard the bone and put the broth into containers to go in the freezer for soup.

The leftover ham would be cut up and put into 2 cup amounts in ziplock bags. I use the ham for omelettes, homemade pizza toppings or casseroles. The recipe below is for a casserole that I make every time I have cooked a ham and it is so easy to make.

Just like the ham being bone-in tastes better than toupie ham so do the Green Giant Sweetlet Peas taste better than just regular frozen peas. I will never buy regular peas again.

Ham Casserole

3 cups cooked macaroni or similar sized pasta

2 cups chopped ham

1 cup frozen sweetlet peas

2 Tbsp margarine

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk

1 cup shredded cheese (I use marble)

2 Tbsp honey mustard (I use PC honey mustard)

Crushed crackers (optional)

dabs of margarine

Makes enough to feed four adults

Instructions

Melt 2 Tbsp margarine in a saucepan.

Add flour and blend with a whisk

As you can see, it starts to brown quickly

As soon as the flour is mixed in, whisk in the milk.

Continue whisking until it starts to thicken. Remove from heat and add the cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted.

In a larger casserole dish (I use my 4L oblong one), add the macaroni, ham, frozen peas and honey mustard. Stir together and add the sauce stirring till coated.

You will notice that mine does not look as creamy as yours if you are following the directions above. I always add a bit more pasta to make it go farther (we had five to feed) and it still tastes great. So, depending on how creamy you like it or how many mouths you are trying to feed, you may want to add more. I like to add the crushed crackers to the top or the pasta on top sometimes gets crunchy.

I don’t measure the crackers but instead take a sleeve of these crackers and use about half of it. I add small dabs of margarine all around. I like to buy this brand of crackers because they taste similar to the Ritz crackers I like but come in four separate sleeves.

Bake covered casserole at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

There you have it, a hearty ham meal made with bone-in ham.