Bologna Salad - Delicious!

 

When Joe and I were first married, I delighted in fixing his favorite meals.  I’d mention things that I knew how to cook, and he’d say “Yes, make that” so I would.   He  and I both had grown up with mothers and grandmothers who were good cooks … and frugal cooks.  He used to talk about having to take bologna sandwiches every day for his school lunch.  I walked two blocks home for lunch, so we didn’t have that in common, but we did have bologna in common.  We also had bologna salad in common.  The first time I made it, he was thrilled.  The second time I made it, he pulled a prank on his least favorite aunt.

His Aunt Billie and her husband came to visit on a Sunday.  They just dropped by to see where we lived.  In reality, they were hoping for a free lunch.  Billie was an arrogant woman, and she didn’t hesitate to let her presumed superiority be known.   She went all through the house, even opened the bedroom closet, and Joe was not happy.  Realizing they weren’t going to leave until we fed them, he suggested that I make them a sandwich for lunch.  I was happy to plate bologna salad sandwiches with chips and a dill pickle spear for each of them.  Billie proclaimed that her sandwich was the best ham salad she had ever had.  Joe smiled ear to ear as he told her, “That’s because it’s bologna salad.”

Growing up, my mother had certain menu items that she repeated every week.  During high school football season, Friday nights included supper of hamburgers, chips and soda.  That was a treat because of the soda and chips, but I’m not sure it was the best meal for my football playing brothers. 

Lunch meat sandwiches weren’t on the menu much because Daddy wanted cooked food.  However, in the heat of the summer months especially when Mother was in the midst of canning, bologna salad was a favorite Saturday lunch menu item.  Think of those primary color Pyrex mixing bowls.  The biggest yellow one was filled with potato salad.  The green one was filled with bologna salad for sandwiches.  The red one was filled with creamy slaw and the blue one remained empty to hold any leftovers!  In those days, we didn’t have food processors, so we chopped everything for the bologna salad with an old fashioned food grinder.  At our house, the only place we could fasten the grinder was on a basement step!  Our kitchen counters and kitchen table did not have an edge where it would work.  It was a project!

Mother came from a big German family, and I suspect her recipe for bologna salad came from one of her many relatives.  Wurst Salat is identified as a recipe that came to America with German immigrants.  Families in many regions, heavily populated with families of German descent, enjoy it still today.  It is kind of like potato salad in that every family has its own recipe!  The variations are many.

Bologna originated in Italy, specifically in its namesake city, Bologna.  We know it as Mortadella.  It is made from beef and pork and is studded with little chunks of fat.  Italian immigrants brought it to America, shared it with German sausage makers and bologna was Americanized to be what we love today. In Germany, Wurst Salat is made differently in regions.  It is typically julienned.  Strips of Swiss cheese, pickles, onion and sometimes pimento are added.  Dressings range from a vinegar and oil base to a mayonnaise base.  A quick internet search will lead you to recipes and pictures.  It is served as a salad with rustic bread, boiled eggs and radishes.

We see this style of salad in German communities in the United States.  We find it made with German bologna which has a nice garlic flavor   Amish and Mennonite communities favor Lebanese bologna, which originated in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania.  This beef bologna is heavily flavored with spices like black pepper, white pepper, mace and nutmeg.  It is smoked and I think it is more like a summer sausage than typical bologna. 

I’m happy to share my recipe for bologna salad today.  We love it on soft white bread and on crackers.  My husband could eat a whole sleeve of saltines with bologna salad.  I enjoy it for breakfast/brunch on white toast.  Find your favorite way to eat it and adjust the recipe to your own tastes.  Enjoy!

Bologna Sandwich Spread

1 pound of bologna, cut in chunks

1 hardboiled egg

1 stalk of celery

About ¼ of a medium sized sweet onion

2 Tablespoons of sweet pickle relish and a splash of the juice

¾ - 1 cup of mayonnaise

1 Tablespoon of yellow mustard

Salt and pepper

A sprinkle of celery seed

Use a food processor to prepare these ingredients.  Begin by chopping the onion and celery into chunks.  Add the bologna and the egg.  Continue chopping until it reaches the consistency you desire.  Complete the mixing in a bowl.  Add the relish, juice, mayonnaise, mustard, salt, pepper and a sprinkling of celery seed.  You should adjust the liquid ingredients if the salad is too dry.   You can certainly eat this immediately.  It is better if you refrigerate it for a couple hours.  This will last in the fridge for three days but doesn’t hold up well in the freezer.  I have, however, made sandwiches on white bread and frozen them.  They are great to take in a packed lunch.  Just remove from the freezer in the morning and by lunchtime, they are ready to eat.  If the mayonnaise liquifies because of the freezing, I don’t notice it. 

Homemade Sliders!

 

I can honestly say that I’ve never eaten one of those little square greasy burgers from that fast food chain that made the ‘slider’ popular in the 1920s.   Hard to believe, I know.  

During WWII, sailors made the slider even more popular by creating similar sandwiches on ship.   They created greasy little burgers that were consumed in two bites and would slide down!

In the 1970s, Silver Dollar sandwiches became a popular supermarket deli catered item.  They were typically filled with sandwich spreads made with ham or chicken.  The buns were about the size of a silver dollar.  In the 1990s, Funeral Sandwiches became popular.  You know that recipe using Hawaiian rolls filled with ham and cheese, baked with a brushing of a savory butter mixture.   These sandwiches were created out of the history of small bun sliders, just given different names.

Now, sliders have reached the highest popularity ever, but not really because of the greasy burger!  Sliders today are all about the small size of the bun.  They include any of a huge variety of sandwich fillings … hot or cold.  My granddaughter and I love to make them.  We love to eat them, but we enjoy the creative ideas in making them.  Here are some of our creations from the last year!

This first one is a simple burger made with ground beef!  I season these heavily with a grilling combination of spices typically used for steaks.  Use your favorite.  Then we dress the burger with our favorite cheese and toppings.  We love thick slices of tomato and bread and butter pickles!  I usually make 5 sliders from a pound of burger.   So simple and lots of fun.

This one is a breakfast slider.  We put a pork sausage patty on a biscuit with cheese.  We added lettuce and tomato, mayonnaise, katsup and some crumbled bacon … just because I had some left from the previous morning’s breakfast!

This catfish fillet slider is made with fried fish from the previous evening’s meal!   I frequently fry too much fish and refrigerate it for a couple of days and make sandwiches with it.  You can microwave it for about 30 seconds or put it in the air fryer for about  a minute to reheat it.   These sliders included thinly sliced red onions and tomatoes with tartar sauce.

See how good these barbequed pork sliders look.  A pork tenderloin is another item that I always have left.  There are lots of foods that I cook for one person, then have to plan the ways to use the leftovers.  Pork is easily pulled apart and frozen in small packages.  You can put it in a microwave proof dish with a little BBQ sauce on it, cover it and microwave it from the frozen state.  This makes awesome sandwiches.

Here are a couple pictures of one of my most favorite ways to use left over salmon.  There is nothing better than fresh salmon.  Refrigerate your leftovers … or freeze them for later (thaw them in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for about an hour).  Crumble the salmon and for every 2 cups of salmon add ½ cup dried breadcrumbs, a Tablespoon of dried minced onion, a dash of Old Bay seasoning and an egg.  One of these patties has lots of fresh dill added.  The other does not.  Form the patties and bake them for about 8 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees.  You can use an air fryer.  You can also pan fry them in a drizzle of canola oil.  Tartar sauce, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles make these sandwiches even better.

Not every slider has to be crunchy!  Here’s a good example of our creativity.  This buffalo chicken slider is made with sliced chicken breast meat that was originally baked to have with a baked potato and a green salad.   

We reheated the meat by microwaving it for a minute, then topped it with a drizzle of bottled buffalo sauce and crumbles of blue cheese.  We added a tomato slice and off to the side had celery sticks.  All the flavor and the crunch … without the mess that wings make … made us pretty happy!

I hope these ideas help you create some sliders.  Do your best to repurpose foods in ways that are fun and totally different than the original menu!   I keep slider buns in the freezer all the time so I’m aways ready to get creative with my granddaughter!

Enjoy!

Rustic Tomato Tart

We have had the best tomatoes all summer!  One of our favorite growers has a small market and we can go there and pick up all the produce we want.  I love to choose tomatoes in stages … some that are ripe and ready to eat … and some that need to ripen more.  That way, I have them all week long.  Yes, I will eat a fresh tomato each day. 

I had one really big tomato in my stash from last week, so I decided to make this delicious rustic tart.  I’m cooking with one arm, right now.  I broke my shoulder.  This didn’t require two hands! 

This is so easy to make.

Slice the tomato in rounds or slice it in thin wedges.  Place the pieces on a plate lined with paper towels, so all the extra juice will drain out.  If you sprinkle them with a little salt, this process will take less time.  Let them drain for at least an hour.

I used a prepared pie crust for this,  but you can use your favorite homemade crust.  Build the pie by brushing a thin layer of mayonnaise over the inside of the crust. Sprinkle your favorite shredded cheese over the center of the crust.  Sprinkle fresh herbs over the cheese.  I love to use basil and oregano.  Layer the tomatoes over that and pull the edges of the crust up and around the tart.  Pinch the crust so it stays in place.

Bake the tart on a sheet at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes.  Check the tart at about 20 minutes to make sure it isn’t getting too brown.  You can always place foil over the edges to prevent that.

Finish the tart with parmesan cheese and more fresh herbs.  It is delicious.

Easy Savory Chicken

 

Cooking for just one person continues to be a challenge for me!  I recently found a recipe that was so easy and so good, I’ve made it a  couple times. I named it Easy Savory Chicken!   One of my freezer staples is a bag of individually frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I thaw a breast in cold water, and it takes about 30 minutes.  That makes this an easy last minute recipe.

After the breast is thawed, rinse it in cold water then pat it dry with a paper towel.  Brush about a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard on both sides of the breast.  Over that, brush a Tablespoon of your favorite mayonnaise on the meat.  Dredge the meat in plain or seasoned breadcrumbs.  My favorite breadcrumbs are seasoned with sage, parsley and onion. 

Roast the chicken breast in the air fryer oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes.  That is it.  The meat is crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside.  I served this with a microwaved sweet potato and a combined salad of cucumber, strawberries and a small scoop of cottage cheese.

A Giant Sweet Potato!

Yesterday was the first day of our outdoor farmers' market in my little town!  It is just a couple blocks from my house, and it was delightful to see all the sidewalk traffic headed that direction on a chilly but sunny Saturday morning.  

After shopping, my daughter brought me a giant sweet potato and a bunch of crisp green onions.  I couldn't wait to use them.

I'll tell you about my bacon, onion chicken recipe, then I'll tell you what I did with the potato that would easily have fed four people.

Creamy Bacon and Onion Chicken

While this recipe might look or sound a little elegant, it is so easy.  You can use any kind of chicken.  Skinless boneless breasts would be great, but this time I used chicken pieces.  I had a  bag of thighs and legs, so that's what I used.  Frugal!

I cook for one and I don't want too many left overs, so I used four pieces of meat.  Rinse it, but make sure you dry it too.  Paper towels work well for that.

I seasoned the chicken with a dried mushroom blend and with two blends from Pampered Chef - Triple Onion and Dijon Mustard.  Don't hesitate to be liberal in using the seasoning.  You want that flavor.

I chopped 4 strips of bacon and gently browned it in a heavy skillet.  Remove the bacon and set it aside.  In the remaining bacon grease brown the chicken pieces on all sides.  Add a few tops from green onions.  When the chicken is browned, add 2 cups of chicken broth.  Put a lid on the skillet and let the chicken simmer until it is done.  Remove the lid and let the broth reduce a little.  Add 1 1/2 cups of cream or half and half.  Stir the sauce to blend it and when it is thick enough, you are done!  I love green onions, so I added 4 in the last couple minutes of cooking.  That softened the onions, but they still had a nice crisp bite to them.  Sprinkle the bacon crumbles over the finished dish.

I served part of the sweet potato with this delicious dinner.  I baked the potato in the microwave.  It was so big, it took ten minutes.  I simply added salt and pepper and butter to the portion I used for dinner.   Yes, I have plenty to serve with the left over chicken!

What did I do with the rest of that sweet potato?

Sweet Potato Swiss Fritatta  

This recipe makes two small sized fritattas.  These dishes are Pioneer Woman 5.5 inch pie plates.  If you want to use muffin pans for these, you'd probably get three fritattas.  If you want to make lots of these, all you need to do is multiply the recipe.

Ingredients 

1 1/2 to 2 cups of  slightly mashed baked sweet potato

2 teaspoons of Pampered Chef Three Onion seasoning

2 teaspoons of Pampered Chef Bell Pepper & Herb seasoning

Gently mix these ingredients.  You don't want pureed sweet potato.  You want chunky bites!  Place equal portions in the baking dishes.

2 whole eggs

1/2 cup of half and half

1/2 cup of shredded swiss cheese

Whisk these ingredients together and pour equal portions over the potato mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Mine went in the air fryer oven, so they just took 10 minutes.  Serve them with additional cheese sprinkled on top.  Add chopped chives or green onions.

I froze my second fritatta in foil.  The best way to reheat it is in the air fryer.  Just open the top of the foil and bake it for a few minutes.  Even starting in the frozen state, it won't take long.  You can also reheat it in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.

 

Baked Salmon with Rosemary, Lemon & Strawberries

A couple months ago, I purchased a slab of fresh salmon with the skin still on.  I love it so I bought a half fish. I knew I’d have plenty left.  I love that, too.

I prepared the entire slab, then cut it into portions.  I enjoyed it freshly prepared but what I did with the leftovers was remarkable.

I prepared the fresh slab by brushing it with rosemary olive oil.  I laid lemon slices and fresh rosemary over it and baked it in the air fryer oven.  I didn’t put it in a pan, just laiid it on the baking screen in the air fryer skin side down.  I wanted the skin to get crispy.  The weight of your salmon determines the length of time you need to bake it.  My slab weighed 2.5 pounds and was pretty thick on the big end.  I baked it for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Copying a recipe my daughter had recently used, I made a strawberry relish to serve with it.  I chopped fresh strawberries and drizzled them with balsamic glaze.  This combination was scrumptious. 

Beautiful Salmon

I plan to share my recipes for my left over salmon, but I originally served it with caulifloweer and cheese sauce.  I used the left over cauliflower in a neat way, too.  I’ll share that.

Cauliflower Toast

I’ve seen lots of recipes for Cauliflower Toast.  Always thought they sounded good, but I love cauliflower so much, that I really enjoy eating it left over and never thought about repurposing it.  I’m so glad I did, this time.   I wanted to use a new spice blend from Pampered Chef, Honey Sriracha.  I had about 1 ½ cups of mashed cauliflower.  I didn’t mash it too much because I wanted some actual bites still in it.  I added 4 ounces of room temperature cream cheese to the cauliflower and about a tablespoon of finely chopped sweet onion and the same amount of finely chopped bell pepper.   I stirred in 2 teaspoons of the honey siracha blend.

To prepare the toasts, I sliced the end of a loaf of French bread into small rounds.  I brushed one side of them with honey and put them in the air fryer.  It took about 4 minutes on 370 degrees to toast them nicely.

I gently piled the cauliflower mixture on each piece of toast, sprinkled a little cheddar cheese on each piece and put them back in the air fryer oven.  In less than 8 minutes they were toasty brown and delicious.  I had them for lunch one day, but they would make great appetizers.  They’d be scrumptious served with tomato soup or a fresh green salad.

Salmon Patties

What to do with all that left over salmon?   I used half of the slab of cooked salmon to make 2 more meals.  That was probably about a pound of fish.   Flake the fish and mix the following ingredients with it.

½ cup combined of finely chopped onion, bell pepper and celery.
½ teaspoon of salt
A couple grinds of peppercorns
The zest of a lemon
¼ cup of unseasoned breadcrumbs

Blend until smooth 1 Tablespoon of lemon infused olive oil with an egg  and a squirt of Dijon mustard.  Now mix the above ingredients with the wet ingredients.  You should be able to form patties with your hands.

Gently fry the patties in a couple Tablespoons of oil  Shouldn’t take but 4 minutes on each side for them to brown nicely. 

This recipe makes 4 patties. Serve them with tartar sauce, lemon and fresh dill.  These are also delicious.

Salmon Burger

I couldn’t eat all the patties, so I froze the leftovers individually and look what I had the next time I wanted salmon.  This pretty salmon burger was simply reheated in the air fryer for a couple minutes.  Let them thaw in the fridge overnight.   I served mine with sweet potato fries.  So good.

So here we started with a pricey piece of salmon, but it made 6 meals for me.  As it turned out it wasn’t so pricey.  Frugal doesn't always mean cheap.  It also means getting as much as possible from something!

Roasted Chicken ... and then what

 When I  found myself in a totally empty nest, I also found that cooking for one was a huge change for me.  I had to teach myself how to plan ahead for using the extra portions of family sized entrees like pot roast or a whole chicken.  I’ve managed, but it has taken a decade!  If you don’t plan, you end up with a freezer filled with leftovers that are never used.  It was the Covid pandemic that forced me to focus more on being frugal.  Empty supermarket shelves and difficulty in obtaining products I loved made me save what I had left.  Always a frugal home keeper, this wasn’t a huge change for me.  It was a focused change, however.

I cook a whole chicken at least once a month.  Sometimes, I split or spatchcock the bird and cook it on the grill.  Other times I roast it in the oven, pressure cook it in the instant pot or slow cook it in the crockpot.  I love it for the first meal, and I’ve grown to love all the extra things I do with the cooked chicken meat.  In fact, I’ve learned to depend on having my little packages of meat in the freezer.

I’ve posted this recipe for Chicken Demidoff previously.  You can find it right here. https://dlmsliceofpie.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-russian-house-of-demidov-was-noble.html

It is what I do with leftover roast chicken that I’m showing you today.  You can use any roast chicken recipe you’d like.  My blog is full of various versions, and you can always Google!

Chicken Salad Your Way

When Miss Phoebe visits, we have lots of fun watching movies and snacking.  I always try to have homemade snacks to add to the typical chips and popcorn.  Chicken salad (sandwich spread) is one of my favorites and it can be changed with so many flavors. 

To 3 cups of chopped chicken, add 1/3 cup of mayonnaise, 2 Tablespoons of mustard, ¼ cup of relish.  This time I used sweet mustard and green tomato relish.  As you make this, add more mayonnaise or juice from the relish to get the consistency you want.  Salt and pepper to taste.  It really is this simple and this time we had our chicken salad on crackers.  Sometimes I add grated cheese or chopped boiled eggs … finely chopped celery and sweet onion.   It is all about the flavor you desire.  Don’t hesitate to experiment a little bit.

Chicken and Stuffed Pasta Shells

When I separate a roasted chicken to store for later, I always pull some pieces off whole.  Maybe I’ll save  the legs or thighs or a nice chunk of breast meat.  For this recipe, I had saved one side of the breast and packaged it as a whole piece.  I always thaw the meat overnight in the refrigerator.

First, let me tell you one of my most frugal recipes!  I never drink an entire  gallon of milk before it gets close to expiring.  I use the end of the portion to make ricotta or what some call farmer’s cheese.  My grandmother made this when I was a kid and hung a bag over her sink to let it drain.  I later learned how to do it from an Italian grandmother who had a quicker method.  Heat 1 quart of whole milk just to the boiling point.  Don’t let it boil.  Remove it from the burner and add ¼ cup of lemon juice or white vinegar.  Let the milk set until it separates.  The curd will float.  Then you need to pour it through a fine sieve until the moisture is all gone.  This will take a couple hours.  You don’t need a cheesecloth bag and you don’t need to drain it overnight.  This will give you about a cup and a half of cheese.

To make the shells, boil them … drain them and let them cool under cold running water.  This recipe will make about a dozen.  To the cheese, add ¼ cup of dried parmesan, 1 teaspoon of sugar, a Tablespoon of chopped parsley and a couple grinds of nutmeg.  Combine an egg with all that, and you have a perfect filling for the shells.  You’ve saved the cost of ricotta!  Here's another recipe for this cheese https://dlmsliceofpie.blogspot.com/2020/06/oak-leaf-kale.html

Use what you have in the pantry for this recipe.  If you have a jar of pasta sauce, use it.  If not, use a can of stewed tomatoes.  That’s what I did this time, and I actually prefer that because there is already lots of flavor in the roasted chicken and I enjoy the simple celery and onion in the stewed tomatoes. 

Pour some of the sauce (or juice from the can of tomatoes) in the bottom of a baking dish. That will keep the shells from sticking.  Add the stuffed shells and place the portion of chicken in the dish beside the shells.  Cover all of it with the stewed tomatoes and remaining sauce (or more pasta sauce) and bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  You can add mozzarella cheese to the top.  For these, I tucked a mozzarella pearl into each shell … because I had some that needed to be used.

Be frugal and enjoy a very special entrée.

Chicken Pot Pie

I love chicken pot pie. This recipe uses leftover chicken meat and a can or small bag of mixed vegetables, some homemade broth and pie crust. I had fun making this because I used one of my heart shaped pie plates! It was my Valentine’s dinner!

When I roast a chicken, I also save a couple portions of the broth from the bottom of the roasting pan.  I just let it cool, skim off the fat and store it in freezer bags.

For this recipe, I used 2 cups of broth.  I didn’t thaw it.  I just dropped in in a sauce pan over low heat and brought it to a simmer.  If you don’t think it will have enough flavor, add a teaspoon of chicken bouillon.  To thicken the broth, stir a Tablespoon of corn starch into a cup of cold water and add it to the broth.  Whisk it until it thickens.  Over a low heat, add a can of mixed vegetables.  Include the juice for more flavor.  Add one or two cups of chopped chicken meat, a dash of salt, pepper and ½ teaspoon of poultry seasoning or rubbed sage.  You probably have all those ingredients in your pantry. 

Pour the filling into your pie plate.  Top it with a pie crust and bake it at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.  We also love this topped with biscuits.

Quick Tostadas

This is a perfect late night snack and so easy.  I used mini corn tortillas for these.  I always have grated cheese, salsa and fresh vegetables in the fridge.  This time I had beautiful artisan tomatoes that had great summertime flavor in a wintertime month! You can top your tostadas with shredded lettuce, sour cream, olives or any of the things you love in tacos.

I made these in the air fryer oven and it took about 20 minutes from beginning to end. 

Place the tacos on an air fryer baking sheet.  Top with chopped chicken.  Sprinkle with taco seasoning.  Bake this for ten minutes at 350 degrees in the air fryer.  Remove and top with shredded cheese, chopped tomato and chunky salsa.   That’s it. All done, and so much fun.

You’ve probably used all your chicken meat if you’ve made these recipes.  If not, there are hundreds of things you can do.  Make your favorite tuna casserole, replacing the tuna with chicken.  Add chopped chicken to a green salad.  If you have strawberries, toss those in.  Pecans make it better.  Add chicken to your favorite pasta sauce … red or white.  Use the meat and some of that frozen broth to start chicken noodle soup.  The possibilities are endless.  Have fun and save money!

Ham and Navy Beans and More!!

 

I hate beans.  Not really.  I hate the popular New Year’s dish of Ham and Navy Beans.  None the less, I have cooked them almost every year for the last forty years just to maintain the tradition.  My husband was a big fan, so I cooked them frequently during the winter months.  Since Joe’s death, I have not held with tradition and tried other beans on New Year’s Day.  I don’t like them, either!

This year, because I have a plan for an annual project about frugal and fun cooking ways, I decided to begin 2023 with Joe’s favorite Ham and Navy Beans.  My real objective was to remake the leftovers into something I might like more than the original dish, and something that stretched money.  For this new project of mine, ‘fun’ had to be included.  Wait until you see my creations.

Let’s start with Ham and Beans.  When I was a little girl, my mother would coax me to each cornbread with butter and syrup.  Cornbread was always served with beans in my childhood home.  I continued that tradition in my own home.  Joe loved cornbread, too so it was a frequent item in our menus.  I continued to eat it my favorite way, and I raised a daughter who does the same.

 

Just look at my little cornbread waffles.  You’ve seen tiny waffles in previous blog posts.  I bought this waffle maker a few months ago so Phoebe and I could have fun making appetizer size fried chicken and waffles.  I love this unique appliance and will continue to use it to add fun to my menus in 2023. 

This is a frugal meal, and it begins with dried navy beans.  I soak mine overnight in water.  I always remove any discolored beans.  This is an Instant Pot recipe but can be prepared in any pressure cooker.  Another frugal part of this meal is to have saved the ham bone from a Christmas ham dinner.  If you don’t have a bone, you can use a chunk of leftover ham or a small package of ham bits or a small, packaged ham steak.  I always plan ahead and make sure I have ham in the freezer!

Soak 2 pounds of navy beans in cold water overnight.  The next day, pick out any discolored beans.  Place the ham bone, beans, a bay leaf and a ½ cup of chopped onion, celery and bell pepper with 6 cups of water in the Instant Pot.  Put the lid on, turning the vent to seal.  Cook on medium pressure for 40 minutes.  Let the pressure cooker reduce pressure naturally.  You’ll have flavorful creamy beans.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

We enjoy serving our beans topped with pepper relish and on this day we used a tangy sweet red pepper relish.  Sometimes we serve green tomato relish, chopped onions and hot sauce.

On the side, the mini cornbread waffles made the meal extra good and lots of fun!

Think ‘frugal’ and freeze leftover ham and beans in small portions to add to other recipes later on.

 A Perfect Saturday Lunch

Tuscan Style White Bean Soup

A short week later, I used a bag of frozen leftover ham and beans to make soup for a Saturday lunch.  Almost everything in the soup was left over, so it was practically a no cost meal. 

All the ingredients are combined in a crock pot and cooked on high for 2 hours.

½ cup of chopped onion and bell pepper (I had them left from a salad preparation)

1 cup of cooked carrots (right out of a can or left from a previous meal)

1 can of stewed tomatoes plus any leftover fresh tomatoes you might have

4 cups of canned chicken broth or half broth and half water

1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning

A pinch of minced garlic (or garlic powder or roasted garlic)

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 – 3 cups of leftover ham and beans

At the end of cooking, add a handful of fresh kale … or arugula, spinach, radicchio or leaf lettuce. Stir it in until it wilts.

 

A Sunday Night Snack.

White Bean and Eggplant Dip

When I say I hate beans, I especially hate Garbanzo beans so Humus is certainly not a favorite of mine. I do like humus made with sweet potatoes, tahini and all the right spices. I also like Baba Ghanoush, the delicious dip made with roasted eggplants. I decided to create a combined white bean roasted eggplant dip to serve with fresh vegetables and pita bread. It takes less than 30 minutes to make this.

Cut 3 Asian eggplants in half lengthwise and place them on a roasting pan. Drizzle them with olive oil. Use your favorite infused oil. I like lemon, garlic and rosemary. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven (or use your air fryer to make it go faster) and let them cool.

 
In the meantime, puree about 2 cups of leftover ham and beans in a food processer. Scoop out the eggplant and add to the food processer. Season with a heaping Tablespoon of Za’atar. If you don’t have this spice blend, make your own by combine garlic power, cumin, dried oregano and dried thyme. As you blend everything together, drop in 2 Tablespoons of tahini and drizzle in olive oil in an amount needed to make a creamy dip.

White Bean and Tomato Casserole

A Warm Weeknight Dinner

After a month of creating new menu items with my frugal leftover ham and beans, I can honestly say that I finally found something that I really liked! This casserole is all about leftovers, too, but it certainly has attitude of its own!  It’s creamy in texture with the crunch of toasted croutons.  It is tangy and herby in flavor.

Use about 2 cups of leftover ham and beans.  Put them in a big bowl.  Add 2 teaspoons of capers and several torn fresh basil leaves.  If you don’t have fresh basil, just add a teaspoon of dried basil.  Add a crushed garlic clove.

Stir in a cup of shredded Italian cheese (your choice).  Gently stir in a cup of halved cherry tomatoes (or more if you want to use them up).  Lastly, add 2 cups of toasted bread cubes.  I made mine from leftover dinner rolls. 

Blend all this together and pour it into a greased casserole dish.  Drizzle olive oil over the top.  This casserole is intended to be dry, but if you are worried that yours is too dry, add water, broth or tomato juice in small portions until you reach the consistency you want.

This casserole with chunks of ham was a main course for me. Add a salad or serve it alongside grilled meat. It would be nice with baked fish filets, too.

Here you’ve had a hearty meal of Ham and Navy Beans and three additional menu items made with the leftovers. How frugal is that? Oh, don’t forget that you probably had leftover cornbread mini waffles on that first day. They make a great snack with a little peanut butter and honey. I ate them for breakfast one morning. I’m pretty pleased with this first installment of my 2023 Food Frugal Fun columns.

Stay tuned in. I’ll write a column a month hoping to help all of us continue to have fun with our cooking and meal planning, while being frugal with our time and money. Enjoy!