Today I ran into a steal at my local Aldi's: a bone-in ham shank for $0.89/pound (cheaper than Aldi's bologna for $0.99/pound). It took me more time to slice up my purchase than for my whole marketing trip (travel included). I bought the smallest one they had left. Apparently this sale had been going on since my last visit.
My 10.55# purchase makes for about eight one-gallon freezer bags of what should be more than two servings of ham, with some of the fat removed, that ring in at $1.18 per bag. They are just half full, but it's enough for a cooking session. I froze six and kept two in fridge (and marked them all with their contents and the current date
—I'm so proud of myself). I also have an overflowing sandwich baggie full of ham fat to render as needed.
I'm already thinking of adding a piece of ham with red-eye gravy to my standard two-egg breakfast, or maybe cooking some grits instead to top with said ham and gravy, plus one night this week assembling a crustless ham and green onion quiche with cheese just sprinkled on top
—I'm rationing cheese. Can you tell?
—saving the cooking for the next morning. Yum.
Also I have some leftover rice that I could make into pork-fried rice. Sounds good to me. (It all sounds good to me.) Of course ham and potato casseroles come to mind, but I've got ten pounds of rice in my pantry, so I'm purposely not buying potatoes. I'll scour my recipe banks for something along that line too.
Have my ham bone already simmering with my saved cut ends of onions and celery and other veggies to make a broth that I'll strain to include in a ham and white bean and spinach soup soon. And for lunch today I browsed Yummly (love, love, love that site) for something other than the same old boring ham and cheese sandwich recipe.
I found a great one: the Cuban sandwich, with its amped-up mayo (spread on both sides of the bread) which sports the thinly sliced pickle spear inside, all seared and heated in a hot skillet. Here's the link for the recipe I used: http://www.yummly.com/recipe/Spicy-mexican-_cuban_-sandwiches-304210?columns=4&position=1%2F1.
Of course I made changes to the original recipe based on what I had here. Instead of Italian bread, I used the rye loaf that I found in my freezer (what a great surprise). For the chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, I opted for some deseeded, demembraned jalapenos. With no Swiss cheese in the house, I substituted Monterey Jack, which turned out to be a wonderful mix. And the cilantro? I just happened to pick it up during my morning trip to Aldi's. Talk about serendipity.
All these recipe searches are nagging at me to get to my own cookbook, to get it done. And I may have to work on said Nonfiction Book #4 Project sometime later this month. Fingers crossed.
Enjoy!
"If your vocation
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Books that Build Character(s)
What lies behind you and what lies in front of you pales in
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When you give someone a book, you don’t give him just paper, ink, and
glue. You give him the possibility of a whole new life. Christopher
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