Hamtastic Holiday Happiness

One of brother's fears about coming to live with us is that he wouldn't get enough meat. At one point, he accused me of wanting to turn him into a vegan, which is, of course, hilarious. Because while I could probably live without meat, and do cook a fair amount of vegetarian meals, I most certainly could NOT LIVE WITHOUT CHEESE. Not to mention the fact that E would probably leave me if we couldn't eat bacon.

I think brother may have recruited mom to help fight the imagined meat battle. Or, perhaps my mom is just doing the ordinary motherly love-is-food thing. Regardless, after Thanksgiving, mother left us, conservatively, with a ridiculously overstuffed fridge and freezer including 8 lbs. of ham. The second half of the meat is still on the bone!

In case you too have too much holiday ham, or just for your general amusement, I present some of the hamtastic treats we've been enjoying:

1. Everyone's favorite: Thanksgiving part 2. We just served up the leftover potatoes au gratin (but with extra cheese under the broiler), green bean casserole, and, of course, sliced ham. Mmmm... good the second time, too.

2. The pita-chip-ham-slice midnight snack. You heard. Take some pita chips, put 'em around a thick slice of ham. Enjoy! A favorite of brother's.

3. Sauteed ham chunks and onions in defrosted garden tomato sauce over shell pasta. Yummm...

4. Sauteed ham chunks and onions mixed with 2 cups of leftover black bean and corn soup plus a can of black beans, some cumin, cayene, and chili powder. Delicious!

5. Tonight's plan? Risotto. With small ham chunks. And cheese (of course). I think I'll even add a salad for good measure - it's been entirely too long since I've been accused of torturing E (and now brother) with dark leafy greens.