Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Also known as "leftover Easter Ham".

Ingredients
6 medium potatoes - I think we only had 3, so ours might not have been as full as it calls for, and I'm pretty sure we didn't half the recipe. Although my husband started this and I finished it, so it's possible I'm just totally off base.
3 tbsp butter, separate, melted
3/4 cup soft bread crumbs
1/2 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1 cup potato water (saved)
1 cup milk or light cream - We used whole milk, thank you Emery!
2 cups ham cooked and cubed - Thank you Easter!
4 ounces cheddar cheese

Cook potatoes, pared and sliced in boiling, salted water for 10-15 minutes or til tender. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid. Place potatoes in 9x13 baking dish. Melt 1 tbsp butter, toss with bread crumbs, paprika and thyme. Set aside. Melt 2 tbsp butter in sauce pan, then blend in flour, mustard, salt and pepper. Add reserved potato liquid and milk. Cook and stir til thickened and bubbly. Stir in ham and cheese, one cup at a time. Cook til cheese is melted. Pour sauce over potatoes. Sprinkle with crumbs. Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour.

We did the potatoes the night before, then I pre-chopped everything that afternoon. It was really easy to put together an hour before dinner.

Sheila Salad

This salad is named for our good friend Sheila who used to make this for us all the time in Missoula. After living in Kalispell for a while, she came up here to visit her sister and we all had lunch together and she made her classic salad. We realized how much we missed it and started making it for our family too!

Ingredients
Lettuce - I like using spinach and a spring mix. But you can use Romaine, or even Iceberg if that's your thing.
Tomatoes, chopped - If I could, I'd always use cherry tomatoes, quartered.
Cucumbers, chopped
Bell peppers, chopped
Colby Jack Cheese, cubed
Carrots, chopped
Optional: bacon bits, green onions, croutons, cubed ham, hard boiled eggs, etc.

This is a real, make it how you like it salad. What we love most about it is the variety of things to put in it, and we make it quite chunky. This way the flavors are a lot stronger. We're also fans of the colby cubes. We just had this for a birthday dinner with a medium-sized group of family and had everything in separate containers so everyone could literally create their own salad with the fixings they like best. This salad's a big hit with our family, and we just love it.

Toasted Spiced Ham Drizzled in Honey

This Easter, I got excited about making some traditional foods. Mostly because I don't know much about the "traditional" foods. I'm not a real holiday food person, outside of candy canes, candy corn and jelly beans. So I found a recipe on foodnetwork.com for a traditional Easter ham, and this is what I found.

Ingredients

1 boneless country ham
2 cups honey, for glazing ham
2 tablespoons Toasted Spice Rub recipe below- The recipe makes 1 cup. DO NOT use the entire 1 cup. 
1 tablespoon thyme, chopped fine
6 celery stalks

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Place ham on an open brown paper bag for easy clean up. With the tip of a paring knife carefully score a 1-inch grid pattern around the outside of the ham. Brush the entire surface of the meat on all sides with some of the honey. Season the entire surface of the meat on all sides with the toasted spice rub and thyme. Add about a half cup of water to the base of the roaster. Place ham on several celery sticks in the roasting pan. Cook for 1 hour. Every 15 minutes, baste ham with juices that collect in the base of the roaster and the honey. Let rest for 15 minutes before carving as desired.

Toasted Spice Rub:
1/4 cup fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1/4 cup (1-ounce) pure California sweet chili powder*
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a small, heavy pan over medium heat. (Toasting freshens spices, releases their oils, and makes them more fragrant, as well as adding a new dimension of flavor.) When the fennel turns light brown, work quickly. Turn on the exhaust fan; add the red pepper flakes, and toss, toss, toss, always under the fan. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to cool. Put in a blender with the sweet chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until the spices are evenly ground.
If you have a small spice mill blender or a coffee grinder dedicated to grinding spices, grind only the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour into a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients. Keep the spice mix in a glass jar in a cool, dry place, or freeze.

*Chef's Tip: Taste your chili powder and, if spicy and hot, cut back the amount. California chiles are almost sweet, not hot.

So I forgot to take my camera to the dinner, and didn't take a picture until after we got home and my hubs rinsed it off. I realized, just now, that I used the entire 1 cup of seasoning mix instead of 2 tbsp. Our ham still tasted good, but there was a lot of seasoning on it. You can see a little bit on the stump there what the seasoning rub looks like. I know my ham is in a shape not really natural to the nature of ham, but it was the cheapest I could find, and that's what we could afford. Looking back, I think if I had read the recipe properly, this would've been an even greater success than it was. Because it was a success. Unless everyone was lying so as not to hurt my feelings. Anyway, it was good, and the ham was used in recipes to follow. So keep an eye out.

Crispy Deli Wraps

These came out so good! They were awesome! Also an appetizer. I was pretty excited for these guys and rightfully so. I'm glad I doubled the recipe. I could've tripled it and maybe had some leftover. They were great.

Ingredients
1 box (9 oz) frozen spinach
2 cups Bugles corn snacks (I'm sure other corn chips would do, I imagine. I did use Bugles.)
1/4 cup butter, melted
16 thin slices cooked ham or turkey (I used both)
4 sticks mozzarella string cheese
1 can crescent rolls

Dipping Sauce
1/3 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing (I used mayo)
1/3 cup Dijon mustard (mine was just plain jain mustard)
1/3 cup honey

Heat oven to 375. Remove spinach from container; place in colander. Rinse with warm water until thawed; drain well. Squeeze spinach dry with paper towel; divide evenly into 4 portions. Set aside. Meanwhile, place corn snacks in plastic bac; seal. Crush with rolling pin until crushed fine. Pour into shallow dish or plate. In another shallow dish or pie plate, place melted butter; set aside. Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles. Press each into 6x4 rectangle; firmly pressing perforations to seal. (I didn't make mine any particular size, but just used the rectangle in whatever size it came out as.) Arrange ham or turkey in 4 stacks. Top each stack with 1 portion of spinach, spreading spinach evenly over ham. Place 1 stick of cheese on one short side of spinach-topped ham. Roll up each stack. Place 1 filled ham roll on one long side of each dough rectangle. Fold sides of dough up over ham and roll to opposite long side; press edge and ends to seal and completely cover ham roll. Roll each in butter, then in crushed corn snacks to coat. Place seam side down on cookie sheet. Bake 20-28 minutes or until deep golden brown. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix all sauce ingredients with wire whisk. Serve warm wraps with the sauce for dipping.

These came out great. One of the eaters even let me know that they do not like spinach, but enjoyed them. After reading the directions thoroughly, I realize I constructed mine wrong. I would be sure to follow the instructions. It will just turn out the best possible way. Ours still tasted great, but the construction could've been easier if I'd followed the instructions. So read them well and then enjoy, because they're really yummy!