The Eight Days of Ham - Day Six

On the Sixth Day of Ham we had ham loaf - again.

A newer reader sent along a suggestion for

ham loaf and I thought that I would try it.

And since I still had so much ham left, why not?

Her suggestion was to use Graham Crackers in place

of the bread crumbs and to add a bit of brown sugar

to the loaf.

So that is what we will do.

Everything else will stay the same.

The players are:

1 pound ham

1 pound ground pork

1 cup Graham Crackers

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

3/4 cup milk*

*Once again, all I had was Half & Half, so I used that instead.

First I ground the ham in the food processor

before mixing it with the other ingredients.

The food processor was also useful for grinding up

the Graham Crackers.

The ham loaf is ready for the oven.



Behind it is the glaze.

It consists of:

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup cider vinegar

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon dry mustard




Baked the ham loaf in a 350 degree oven for one hour.



Pour the glaze over the ham loaf and return to the oven,

baking it for another hour.

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the color brown.

The ham loaf is served with baked beans and

Schwan's Baguette bread with Sycamore Falls apple butter.

The Foodie Daughter liked this ham loaf better than

the Second Day of Ham's ham loaf,

but she still thought that the ham loaf I made two years ago

was better.

The Foodie Boyfriend thought I should combine

this recipe with the Second Day's recipe

and I think I need to find the recipe from two years ago

and mix that in as well.

Confused yet?

Thanks, K, for the recipe idea, as it was a good one.

But tune in next year and see what we do with it.

I happen to think that recipes, like gardens,

are never finished.

Turkey Noodle Soup

My dear daughter recently asked for some homemade chicken noodle soup. I decided that I could go one better than that and make Turkey Noodle Soup. That way I can have some too. Clever, huh? But not to worry. The dear will get her chicken noodle soup - eventually.

I pulled a turkey cutlet and a container of turkey stock out of the freezer. I also went through the vegetable crisper in the fridge and pulled out an onion, carrots, green beans, celery and a garlic clove. From the pantry I gathered kosher salt, black pepper and noodles. I then went out on the deck and harvested some thyme, sage and flat-leaf parsley.

I washed and chopped all the veggies before deciding that some corn from the freezer would also be good for the soup. I then minced the herbs and grated the garlic clove. I opted to only use one carrot for the soup.

First the onion and carrot sauteed in a bit of bacon fat (or for the Sandra Lee fans, bacon joos).

The remaining veggies went into the pot,

Before the herbs, garlic and diced turkey were added.

Then the stock and some water were added. I allowed this to come to a boil before adding the noodles. The heat was turned down to a simmer and the turkey was cooked through by the time the noodles were ready. Salt and pepper were added to taste at this point.

Remember to not attempt to taste the soup until after the meat has cooked through.

Crescent rolls from Schwan's accompany this simple but delicious soup. And the best part is that you can feel good about serving this food to your family.