Recipe: Get More From Your Easter Ham With My Delicious Ham Bone Soup!

Many of us are going to make a ham for our Easter dinner. Before you throw out that ham bone, I have a suggestion. Why waste all that flavor when you can use it to make a great soup? My Delicious Ham Bone Soup is an excellent way to get more of that ham while giving you another very tasty light meal.

This is a hearty soup with beans, potatoes, celery, onions, garlic, carrots and just a few herbs that go wonderfully together. Feel free to throw in bits of some leftover ham, if you so desire.

Here is a tip that I want to pass on. Add the salt when you are cooking dried beans when they are nearly done to help keep them softer. Otherwise, your beans will be hard.

I just hope you try my recipe because it is very good and helps stretch your budget further!


My Delicious Ham Bone Soup

2 cups of dried navy beans
2 whole cloves
1 meaty ham bone
1 cup of cubed potatoes
1 cup of chopped celery
1 cup of finely chopped onion
2 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1 cup of cubed carrots
1 bay leaf
2-1/2 quarts of water
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper

　

Cook the beans in the 2-1/2 quarts of water for about two or three minutes before taking them off of the heat. Now you will let this stand covered for about one hour.

Next, add the ham bone and any small chopped pieces of that leftover ham you need to get rid of along with garlic, cloves, and bay leaf to the beans and water. Keep this covered and simmer for about two hours or until the beans are almost tender.

Now add the rest of the vegetables, salt, and pepper and simmer an additional one hour.

Remove the ham bone and cut off the meat, which you can throw back into the soup before pitching that bone.

Reheat to almost boiling and be sure to remove the bay leaf before serving.

ENJOY!

Recipe: Make Your Easter Special by Trying My Grandmother's Easter Bread Recipe

You need plenty of eggs to bake my grandmother's paska for Easter.

Easter is the time my family always had a special sweet bread to serve with dinner.  My grandmother's recipe for this Easter Paska produces a wonderful raised sweet dough that turns out several delicious loaves of this traditional, egg-rich bread topped with a shiny egg-milk wash glaze. 

When you are making this dough, don't try to add all the flour at once.  Instead, you want to gradually add it because you might need more or less to get this soft, pliable dough.  Rushing the process can leave you with hard dough.

To activate the yeast, you need warm (not hot) water.  The easiest way to tell the right temperature is by testing some of that water on the back of your wrist like you would do for a baby formula. 

My grandmother liked to make round loaves.  Usually, she baked these Easter breads in round casserole dishes and the 3-quart and the smaller round metal mixing bowls.   

I do hope you give this recipe a chance because we always thought it was special.  


Grandmother's Easter Paska

2 cups of warm water  (about 110-degrees)
4-1/2 teaspoons of dry yeast or (2 packages)
3/4 cup of melted shortening or oil
2 teaspoons of salt
1 cup of sugar + 1 teaspoon
6 eggs yolks
1 cup of milk
10-11 cups of sifted flour

Egg Wash Before Baking:

2 egg whites
1 tablespoon of milk

To Prepare the Dough:

Start by dissolving the yeast in 1/2 cup of that warm water along with the one teaspoon of sugar in your measuring cup.  (The sugar will help activate the yeast to bubble up more quickly.)

Add 1-1/2 cups of the warm water, milk, melted shortening or oil, salt, and sugar to your mixing bowl next.

Once the yeast bubbles up after a few minutes, you will also add it to the mixing bowl of ingredients.

Beat the six eggs thoroughly.  Next, add those eggs to the mixing bowl as well.

Add two cups of the flour to your mixing bowl.  Using a long wooden spoon to mix the flour through is easy at this stage.  Gradually, start adding more flour, stirring as you go.  After a few more cups, you will need to use your hands to mix this dough because the spoon will become too difficult to use for continuing to mix it.  Keep adding only enough flour until it is pliable and no longer sticky.

Separate the dough and place in two large, well greased mixing bowls.  Be sure to cover them.

Let the dough rise in a warm spot for about two hours.  Later, punch the dough down.  Now allow the dough to grow another hour.

Shape into several loaves to fit whatever well-greased pans you want to use from bread pans to round casserole dishes to metal mixing bowls.  Cover with a towel.  Let these breads rise for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Brush your loaves with the egg-milk mixture.

Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes, depending on how your oven is regulated.

ENJOY!

Do You Want a Tasty Solution to Use That Leftover Easter Ham and Turkey?

If you're tired of those same ways to finish off that leftover ham or turkey still sitting in your refrigerator, then I two delicious recipes to share that will help you solve your problem.  This first recipe is a simple hearty casserole with a combination of seasonings that will elevate it into an elegant Cajun main dish.

The second recipe is geared toward getting rid of your ham and will transform those leftovers into a new oven casserole with kielbassa and beans that is so amazing with a lightly seasoned tomato sauce that you will not recognize it.  After you make this, you will look forward to leftover ham and welcome the opportunity to have this dish again. 

So don't get disgusted with those leftovers because you will be pleasantly surprised once you try these recipes for yourself.

My Cajun Surprise

1-1/2 cups of diced cooked ham
1 cup of chopped onion (1 large)
3/4 cup chopped celery
1 green pepper, cut into strips
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon of salt
1 can of tomato sauce (15 ounces)
3 cups of chopped cooked turkey or chicken
1/2 cup uncooked rice (regular variety)
2 tablespoons of minced parsley
2 tablespoons of canola or olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
1/4 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
1 teaspoon of sugar

Brown your onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic in a large skillet in the oil until onion is golden brown and then stir in your ham.  Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil.  Cover; simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally until the rice cooks and the flavors are well combined.

My Favorite French Oven Stew

4 cups of water
1 lb. of dried Great Northern or Navy Beans (2-1/2 cups)
4 carrots, sliced
2 medium onions, diced
2 cloves of garlic, fined diced
2 bay leaves
1 can of tomato sauce (15 ounce size)
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves
1/2 teaspoon of dry mustard
1/4 cup of flour
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
3 cups of leftover ham pieces, chopped
1 lb.  (or less) kielbassa, cut into pieces
3 tablespoons of canola oil or olive oil

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. 

Heat water and beans (that you soaked overnight)  to boiling in your Dutch oven or large pot; boil about two minutes.  Remove from the heat; cover and let stand one hour.  Add enough water to the cover beans if needed.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat.  Cover and simmer until almost tender about 1-1/2 hours. (Be sure not to boil or your beans will burst now).  Drain.

Brown your onion and other chopped vegetables in the oil till golden brown and your chopped kielbassa pieces until the vegetables are tender.  Take this off of the heat and stir in the flour to coat everything.

In a large Dutch oven or 4-quart casserole, place this cooked mixture and all the remaining ingredients together.  Cover and cook at 325 degree oven for about an hour.  Remove the cover and cook an additional 30 minutes more.

Celebrate Easter With My Easy Sweet Bread Recipe!

Easter was always the time when my great-grandmother used to spend lots of time making her famous Easter bread.  She had a giant mixing bowl in the largest size made and would crack lots of eggs, kneading that yellow sweet dough relentlessly getting it smooth and elastic until it suited her. 

Those round holiday breads never lasted long despite how many extra she made.  The only problem is if they did manage to survive without being eaten, then they got stale quickly since they contained no preservatives. 

Although I loved the taste of my grandmother's Easter bread, I am not fond of extra work if it can be avoided.  Now that the dear woman has passed, I still wanted to preserve this holiday tradition.  Therefore, I began an extensive experimentation on similar sweet bread dough recipes that could compare to her own except with less effort.

To those doubters, I am happy to say that this recipe for raised sweet bread does remind me of those incredible rounds we enjoyed for Easter.  Honestly, if you want a simple one that is delicious and stays fresher than my great-grandmother's recipe then I do hope you will try this for your own celebration.

I like to finish growing this in a 10-inch (12 cup tube) pan.  By doing so, this makes a beautiful presentation on your holiday table.

My Favorite Easter Bread

4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/3 cup of sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons of salt
2 tablespoons of active dry yeast (2 packets)
1 cup of milk
1/4 cup of  water
1/2 cup of canola oil
3 eggs, beaten

Combine 1-1/3 cups of flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl. 

Heat your milk, water, and oil until very warm.

Slowly add this heated liquid to your mixing bowl with those measured dry ingredients while beating with your electric mixer.  Scrape the sides and beat for about two minutes until well blended.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time and the rest of the flour.  This will be stickier dough than a typical yeast dough on the order of a batter bread.  Cover and let this rise in a warm spot until doubled about one hour or one hour and a half.

Take out your 10-inch (12-cup)  tube pan, grease it well, and then transfer your dough with your wooden spoon into it.  Cover and let this rise for about 30 minutes more so it can grow a bit longer.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes so it gets a golden brown.  You can stab it with a long thin knife to make sure nothing sticks to it.  However, this can cause it to break so be careful.  Another hint is if you tap bread the sound that you hear should be hollow.

Let it cool in the pan for about five minutes and then remove and cool it on your wire rack.