Merry Christmas! I hope you had wonderful celebrations this year! We’ve finished up two celebrations so far. Santa came to our house on Sunday morning {before Christmas} and the kids were shocked and awed. It was pretty funny actually, because that has never happened to us before! I actually stressed a lot about Santa this year because we had a blizzard last Wednesday and a few of my last minute gifts were delayed due to bad weather {which meant they were slated to arrive AFTER we were hitting the road and wouldn’t be able to get them on time}. On Saturday before Santa was to arrive, I ran around like a mad-woman trying to save Christmas. And I’m happy to report, I prevailed.

Not only did I pick up a few last minute gifts last Saturday before our Christmas, but I also was in charge of our holiday ham. I grabbed a ham from Sam’s Club – lucky for me – I had a huge selection to choose from! I ended up with a Hickory Smoked Boneless Spiral Sliced Ham for right around $20. I normally get a Bone-In Ham, but I didn’t see any and I needed to keep a fast pace to run all of my errands. I was a little bummed about a boneless ham, but it ended up being quite all right! I got everything I needed and raced back home to prepare for Santa and our drive to Missouri. You can see pictures from my shopping trip at my Google + Album.

On Sunday after Santa came, Dan & I and the kids headed to Missouri for our second Christmas with my family. My sister came to visit from Seattle and we all enjoyed another celebration with my parents {whom the kids call Omi & Opa – German for Grandma & Grandpa}, my grandparents, and one of my uncles. We enjoyed more presents and a fabulous meal with turkey, ham, and all the trimmings.

The ham was delicious and oh so easy. I simply cooked it in my crockpot. Since the ham was already cooked, it just had to heat up. I cooked it on high for 3 hours and the resulting ham was really tasty. The ham came with a Honey & Spice Glaze which I mixed up with a small amount of water and put on the ham right before it was finished cooking. I spread only about half the glaze on my ham and I’m glad. I’m not much of a glaze person and I thought the flavor was a bit over-powering – much more of it would have ruined the ham, in my opinion.

But overall, the ham was a huge hit – especially with the kids. They couldn’t keep their hands out of it. Uh-oh! Caught red-handed… One of my favorite meats to serve during the holidays is ham. I’ve had it almost every year as a married woman, in part because my hubs is the son of former pig farmers and grew up eating a lot of pork. But there are three more reasons I love to serve ham during the holidays. First, it’s super easy to make – I just dump it in my crock pot and let the heat work its magic. And second, it’s pretty economical. For under $20, my ham fed 15 people on Christmas Day, plus yielded enough leftovers for many more meals. And that leads me to the third reason I love ham – THE LEFTOVERS!!

I hope you enjoy these pictures from our celebrations. My mom was the head cook, but I was glad to contribute the ham, a delicious pomegranate, orange, walnut salad {recipe coming}, and brussel sprouts with bacon & parmesan cheese. My mom cooked the turkey, stuffing, green beans, and mashed potatoes. And my 92 year old grandmother made all of the desserts – including her signature rum cake, a blueberry pie, and a strawberry cheescake. Everything was really tasty and we had a wonderful meal. I’m always glad to spend time with my family, but having my grandparents and my sister there was a special treat and we really enjoyed wonderful conversations, laughed a lot, and ate until we were really, really full.

The next day, we had to figure out what to do with all of the leftovers. The trick to getting the biggest bang for my buck is trying not to throw out any leftover food. My family is not huge on eating the same meal for days in a row, but ham is so versatile – I don’t have to do that. It’s super easy to recreate ham into many more, new and original meals. Here are three of my favorite ways to use up all the left-over ham {including the ham bone when there is one}. Waste not, want not, as my father always says.

1. Ham & Bean Soup

Ham & Bean Soup in the Crockpot

Author: Michelle @SimplifyLiveLove

Ingredients

10 cups water
1 1/2 cups dried Great Northern beans, rinsed and sorted
1 1/2 cups red beans. rinsed and sorted
4 cups cubed ham
1 ham bone {optional}
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp pepper {or to taste}
2 bay leaves
2 ribs chopped celery
2 chopped carrots
1 tsp salt
32 ounces crushed tomatoes

Instructions

Dump everything in a large crockpot except the tomatoes.
Cook on high for 1 hour.
Reduce temperature to low and cook for 8 – 10 more hours, until the beans are tender.
Add tomato sauce and cook for another 1/2 hour.
Garnish with shredded Parmesan Cheese.
Enjoy!

2. Fried Potatoes & Ham

Fried Potatoes & Ham is another crowd-pleasing, super easy way to re-purpose your leftover ham. Just thinly slice up a bunch of potatoes {I use my food processor}, and fry them in oil with lots of crushed garlic {the more the better!}, sliced onion, and salt & pepper, and don’t forget the leftover ham! If you make these, you’ll want to cook the potatoes on medium heat, turning frequently.

3. Fried Egg & Ham Breakfast Sandwich

Another super easy and delicious use for leftover ham – Fried Egg & Ham Sandwiches. To make these, I become a short order cook. Everyone prefers them a little differently in my house. I like my egg over medium; the kids prefer either over hard or no egg at all. Some people in my family like a little bit of grated cheese on top; others prefer a huge slice of cheese, nicely melted of course. And others prefer no cheese at all. I use my homemade whole wheat bread, but I think this would be fantastic on homemade English Muffin bread or on a store-bought English Muffin. I use sharp white cheddar cheese, but you can use your favorite cheese if white cheddar doesn’t sound good.