I’ve told you before that Kramer’s boss is a great guy. Even though Kramer, my husband, passed away in June of 2019, his boss has continued to be great to our family. Last year for Christmas he gave us a huge ham. Karl’s work had given him a ham and being there were only a few of us gathering, we ate Karl’s ham.
Well…you know know how chest freezers go. Something gets put in and if it’s not used immediately, it sinks to the bottom. That’s where the HUGE ham landed.
I was working on getting things in the freezer under a little better control and discovered the ham. I took it out with the intention of cooking it the first weekend in December when I had a lot of family home. Well, I was just about to put the ham in the oven when Buck called and told me he was on his way home and had all of the kids. I said great. I was just about to put the ham in the oven.
Buck said, “Ham, really?” His voice wasn’t excited. Then he explained that since Thanksgiving that’s all their family has eaten. We have ham at Thanksgiving and then they made another ham a couple of days later for Lucy’s birthday party.
Normally he loves ham but I agree. That’s a lot of ham and to have it again here, that would be a lot.
So…what’s a good mom to do? I made a different meal.
That left me with the HUGE ham. I ended up putting it in the frig and cooked it two days later for Karl’s birthday supper here. No one who was attending was “hammed out”. It turned out great. The ham was awesome…we all were so happy with our meal.
I offered to the kids to take some ham home. Craig said, “I’d rather come back for Scalloped Potatoes and Ham.” He knows me so well. Yes, I’ll be making Scalloped Potatoes and Ham.
Karl took some ham…Kelli intended to but then forgot it here.
So the HUGE ham has been feeding us for lots of meals. Here are some of the things I’m doing with it…After I cut much of the ham off, I left a meaty bone. Pea soup is on the menu. We all love pea soup. HERE is my recipe.
Remember Craig wanted… scalloped potatoes and ham. Well, it’s all in the crockpot ready to start cooking. You can find the recipe for that HERE.
I chopped up much of it into cubes.
Then I packaged it up into small bags and put it in the freezer. I’ll pull these out when I’m making omelets, meat lovers pizza, Hawaiian pizza…or our favorite…Friend potatoes and ham.
This is the makings for fried potatoes and ham. This is a Kramer family favorite and it’s so simple. I take cooked potatoes, chop them up along with ham and onion…
and fry them in a pan that has a couple of tablespoons of melted butter in the bottom. Add a little salt and pepper…some garlic. YUM! If I had a restaurant, I would for sure serve this. It’s a real comfort food around here.
This was my lunch…YUM.
I made up the fixings for two more of these meals all chopped and in pyrex containers in the refrigerator. I’m going to have an easy weekend of cooking. Everything is prepped. All I have to do is fry it up.
The ham was truly the gift that kept on giving. YUM!! We all love ham and we so appreciate getting them as it’s not something I typically buy unless it’s the holiday.
How gracious it is of Kramer’s boss to think of your family and to provide such an amazing gift.
I love having left over ham and your idea of cutting the ham into small pieces and freezing makes so much sense, I will steal it from you. I have never made the scallop taters and ham in a crock pot but I do like the idea, so that one will be made this Christmas when we have ham. Thanks for sharing.
We just had crockpot potato soup that cooked all day with a ham bone. Delicious! Thanks for the recipes.
6 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
4 1/2 cups water
1 small onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Ham bone or cubed ham, if desired.
Cook on high for seven hours. Add 12 oz. evaporated milk, or half-and-half or cream and cook for another 1/2 hour. I mash it with a potato masher a dozen times before serving.
Your ham looks like it had delicious ham on it. I don’t get very much ham since my mother-in-law died. I fixed it for her because it was one of her favorite meats, but her son won’t eat it! I like it, but the bone is what I usually want so I can make soup. You have prepared some yummy meals with yours. What a generous boss Kramer had.
I have a friend who served ham and corn casserole. It has pasta, oregano a rue and crackers and butter on top and bake. If you look in Pinterest, it’s called ham and corn casserole. Delish!
Oh, you’ve brought up a favorite childhood memory. My mom always made ham and scalloped potatoes after we had a ham. She just made a quick white sauce instead of using the canned soup (probably to save money) and she layered a little cheese in the potatoes, not just on top. I’m pretty sure she used up bits and bobs of leftover cheese to use them up, too. Is there a cheese that doesn’t go with potatoes!? Thanks for the memory.
Ha! Our freezer ate a whole turkey that was not discovered until I tried to find room for the one I bought for Thanksgiving! I guess it’s turkey for New Years here! I followed the link to your previous Funeral Meat AKA Ham Salad (October 23, 2020) article and it brought back memories of helping my Mom in the Trinity Lutheran Church kitchen; the smell of coffee from those huge urns, strange casseroles (as in nothing my Mom made), BIG pieces of cake–12 to a 9 X 13 pan–Church Salad–lemon Jello with crushed pineapple,shredded carrots and chopped celery with Miracle Whip on top–and Funeral Pie made with raisins. We never called ham salad Funeral Meat, but we had “Sandwich Spread” at home made with a chunk of bologna from the meat counter at the tiny neighborhood grocery store, sweet pickles and of course, Miracle Whip! Your yummy fried potatoes and ham sounds like my Dad’s famous “Eggs Mixed In” — just add beaten eggs to the pan when the ham and potatoes are lightly browned. Thanks for sharing your family stories and stirring up some kitchen memories. Now I need to see if our freezer ate a ham!
Sounds like you really know how to make use of every last bit of that gift ham, Jo!
That ham bone would have been in a big pot of red beans or pinto beans at my house. Those are our favorite way to use them. My husband is not a big fan of ham so we don’t have it often. Your potato, onion and ham sounds great. I will have to try it.