French Brie and Ham Baguette

It's not very often a Sandra Lee recipes gets my attention, enough to want to make it (these did, and are a huge hit during the Holidays!) but since I was doing an Alouette review already, I picked some up to try this recipe. I am not a hot crispy sandwich kind of person (the toasty crunchy bread cuts up my mouth, lol), but I decided to just try it anyways.

I found some take & bake ciabatta rolls (at Fresh & Easy), so I toasted it up first, then made the sandwich. Since I didn't have any foil, I wrapped it parchment twisting the ends so the filling would not run out. Placed it on an upside down cookie sheet and used my cast iron tortilla pan to weight it down (press it like a panini). Baked for about 10 minutes, and it was ready!

I liked it! I saved half in the fridge for later, but guess what! It was gone when I remember it. I thought one of the kids snuck off with it. Later on I found out MR. ate it! I never suspected him to like jam and meat together so I didnt' even tell him about it. Another day I made one with apricot preserves and offered him half. He ate it!! =)

French Brie and Ham Baguette

1 (18 to 20-inch) baguette (individual ciabatta rolls)
1/3 cup peach or raspberry preserves
1 (6-ounce) package deli ham slices (black forest ham)
1 (5-ounce) wedge brie, sliced, room temperature (recommended: Alouette)

Slice baguette horizontally with a serrated bread knife. Spread preserves on both sides of bread. On bottom half of baguette, lay down overlapping slices of ham and top with slices of brie. Place top of baguette on sandwich. Cut into 1-inch pieces and secure with decorative sandwich picks.

Optional: heat in a 400 degree F oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

See, little boy wanted to be like me & take a food photo too! haha!

enjoy,

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

When I saw this recipe at Mommy's Kitchen (back in Sept.!), I knew I had to make it! I have already made it once before, but it was so good there wasn't any left for a photo. This time I set aside a little so it wouldn't get eaten so quickly. =)

This is such an easy recipe and everyone loves it. I am also thinking this would be a great potluck dish!

Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

1 30 oz. bag frozen, shredded hash brown potatoes
8 oz sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup (gluten free homemade version)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 small onion, diced fine
16 oz package cubed ham (I use sliced deli ham too)
2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, set aside 1 C

Stir all the ingredients together. Place into a lightly greased casserole dish (9 x 13 in). Sprinkle top with 1 C cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min - 1 hour. Let cool a bit and serve.

enjoy,

Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches

My gal pal Jenny Mac posted about these little cuties on Facebook. I have been looking for new dinner recipes so I thought I'd give these a try (plus I hear they're great for potlucks, so I wanted to try them). I used King's Hawaiian sweet rolls (lucky me, they were marking them down that day at the store, so I froze them until ready to use). I also had a heck of a time finding a honey mustard! I did find some though, and the poppy seeds...I was glad to have found a bottle for $3.79 on sale (gosh those are expensive!), which I'll also use for some lemon poppy seed muffins sometime.

Anyways...these are easy to do, assemble the sandwiches and pour the marinade/sauce over it and let sit over night in the fridge. I wasn't able to get all 24 in my 9x13, so some were just plain little sandwiches. I baked them the next night for dinner. They hold up well, because well all that butter hardens. They are not soggy, once baked they form this nice crusty shell all over the little rolls. Everyone (kids and Mr.) loved them! Yay! My little girl even asked if she could take one for school snack! haha! I served these with a veggie and potato salad for a nice little dinner. It was a nice change.



Mini Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
from BeantownBaker

1 c (2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 Tbsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 Tbsp grated dried onions
1 1/2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbsp honey mustard (not dressing, could mix honey & mustard?)
2 (12 ounce) packages white party or Hawaiian dinner rolls
1 pound cooked ham slices (I used deli sliced ham)
12 ounces sliced swiss cheese

In saucepan, mix butter, poppy seeds, onion, Worcestershire sauce & mustard, stir until blended and melted. Pour 1/2 of mixture into bottom of baking dish.

Assemble sandwiches with ham and cheese slices (I cut each to fit the rolls). Arrange rolls in single layer in baking dish, spreading them around to soak up sauce in pan. Pour rest of sauce over tops of sandwiches, cover dish and refrigerate up to 24 hours for sauce to soak in.

Preheat oven in 350 degrees, bake rolls for 10-12 minutes until rolls are lightly browned and cheese is melted.



enjoy,

Ham and Bean Soup

I found this recipe at The Wives with Knives when looking for another recipe to try. I had a Christmas ham bone in the freezer and some leftover ham to use up. I have made this other recipe before (see my photo there!) but I was the only one who liked it. So I thought maybe I'd try another recipe to see if I could get my family to like hamd & bean soup again. I adapted this recipe and made it in the crock pot. I loved it, but again they did not.

White Bean and Ham Soup
adapted from The Wives with Knives

•1 pound of white beans - either Great Northern or cannellini
•8 cups water
•3 or 4 ham hocks (I used a ham bone)
•1 cup carrots, chopped
•1 cup celery, chopped
•1 cup onion, chopped
•2 bay leaves
•3/4 teaspoon thyme
•Dash of hot sauce
•1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
•1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
•Salt and pepper
-crushed garlic
-1/2 tsp each of rosemary, marjoram and basil
1 bay leaf
2 C diced ham

Soak the white beans in cold water for several hours or overnight. Drain.

Put the ham hocks in a large pot and cover with 8 to 10 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and cook until hocks are starting to fall apart. This usually takes several hours. I added a handful of celery tops and the bay leaves to the stock as it simmered. Remove the hocks from the stock when they are done and let them cool. Remove meat from the bones and set aside. Strain the stock to remove celery and any meat bits left in the pot. I chill the stock at this point so I can skim off the fat from the ham hocks.

Saute the carrots, celery and onions in 1/4 cup olive oil in a large pot until they are soft. Add stock, beans and thyme and simmer until beans are soft, usually about 2 hours. Season with salt and pepper and add vinegar and fresh parsley. I like to mash some of the cooked beans to thicken the soup a bit.

enjoy,