Sometimes I find buying big huge pieces of meat in the grocery store a bit daunting, especially when there is only Hubby and I to eat it all.

But you can get some wonderful deals on whole tenderloin, ham, chicken, and etc from time to time.  Right now bone in cooked hams are on sale in many places.  So here are some ideas on how to use a whole ham in a relatively healthy and tasty way:

First- cut your ham into manageable sections, leaving the ham hock with a bit of meat, not large sections because you want to be able to thaw and use a piece completely.

First night: Ham, butternut squash and green bean saute.  This is a quick fix because well after breaking down a ham you don’t want to linger hours over a soup, but want something filling.  Either start cooking your rice out ahead of time or cheat and use instant rice.  I suggest brown or wild rice.  Set your over to 350 degrees.  Cut half a peeled medium butternut squash into about 1/2″ cubes,roughly slice/chop a shallot put them in a roasting pan with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon dried thyme, 1 teaspoon parsley and salt, pepper and mix pieces to coat. Roast about 20 minutes.  While that is roasting cube about 1 1/2 cups of ham into 1″ cubes (Cut about 1 cup extra for future use).  Then snap and cut about 1/2 cup of green beans into 1″ segments.  Remove the roasting pan and add the ham and green beans and stir the mixture.  Roast about 10 more minutes.  Remove and add your rice (however cooked) right to the roasting pot, add about 1 tablespoon of butter and mix gently.  Then serve.

Then slice some ham for sandwiches.  Refridgerate your ham hock and sandwich meat.  Wrap the remaining meat in butcher paper and freeze for a time that you won’t be sick of… ham.

Next day: Ham and swiss panini with mustard, mayo and bread and butter pickles, a faux cuban if you will.  If you don’t have a panini maker at work you could use a toaster oven to melt your cheese for the desired goodness.

Next evening: Ham Hock White Bean Cabbage Soup, well it’s more like a stew really.  Put the ham hock in a large stock pot with about 3 pints of water, bring to a boil then down to a simmer for an hour.  Use that time to dice 3 potatoes, 3 cups of cabbage, half a cooking onion and 3 cloves of garlic and drain and rinse a can of cannelli beans.  Add those to the pot with 1 large bay leaf, 2-3 tablespoons dried parsley and 1 tablespoon dried thyme and let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Let simmer for about 5 minutes and remove the ham hock let it cool and shred the meat to add back to the pot.  Add a couple dashes of Old Bay to the pot.  Then remove the bay leaf and serve.  It is excellent with a few dashes of Old Bay.

Next day or two if you are full of ham.  It is time for a ham and brie sandwich on pretzel roll.  I first discovered this sandwich at the Greenbrier and have loved it ever since.  Put some spicy grainy mustard on it to cut the richness and enjoy.

Then use your left over dice to make breakfast with a ham, cheddar and jalapeno (or spinach or mushroom with swiss) scramble.

That should do quite well for about half or more of your ham.  I suggest waiting a little while before using the rest.

A few posts ago I listed a recipe for a terribly good lavender bundt cake, which by the way recently I have been throwing in blueberries or peaches halfway through the batter pouring process, very good.  On that thread I said what the rest of my dinner consisted of, and a recipe was requested.

I don’t have a very specific recipe for this dish, but it is an adaptation from a lot of recipes that work well.

Here are the basics- you will need a protein, I prefer fish or lamb for this dish, and have also had success with chicken but prefer the other two.

You will also need a large amount of diced tomatoes, canned is fine, fresh of course is better.

The other essential ingredient is red wine- I normally always have a little bit of red wine left from a bottle that Hubby and I couldn’t finish in one night that is cheap enough to use for cooking.  I really like Cabernet’s for cooking, but really any good red wine would work.  As a note, I don’t cook with wine I wouldn’t drink, I don’t think it makes for good food.  I will keep white wine for cooking in the fridge past the point I would drink it but when first opened it has to be good enough to drink.

The last essential is tagine paste, if you can’t find it harrissa or tandoori paste will work in a pinch.

In general I like to use one pot to cook this dish.  Why I have no clue because Hubby does the dishes, but I am frugal with the amount of mess dishes can make.

So here is what I do put about a tablespoon or two of olive oil then a tablespoon of butter in a dutch oven or skillet/sauce pan hybrid the name of which escapes me but it is a skillet deep enough to put a lot of stuff in on medium heat.  If I am making it with fish I will make sure the fish is pasted quite dry,  then I will dredge it in searing flour then apply some paste- sear it off in the pan till all the way cooked on the outside then remove and let it rest.  It it is a different protein I just apply the paste.   Next you want to add any vegetables that take a while to cook or are better sauteed then boiled- before adding the tomatoes and wine in this category for me is mushrooms, carrots, artichokes, green peppers, green beans.  Cook those until they get a little softer (probably three to five minutes).  I then towards the end of that throw in any other ingredients I am using- garlic, shallots, squash, zucchini, olives, capers and allow them to cook for a minute or two then I throw in about a can of diced tomatoes, I add a little more tagine paste, red wine and salt and pepper.  Then I will add any last minute herbs or liquids necessary for the desired taste- cumin, parsley, basil, oregano, balsamic, worchestershire.  I then let this reduce a little add the meat back in and let it reduce till very tasty (probably about 10 minutes without protein then add it and cook another 5 minutes ten minutes max).

Now I don’t put all these ingredients in one dish, I use combinations so here are some combinations I like to make:

Mediterranean- a white fish like swordfish or halibut or lamb, artichokes, capers, green olives, garlic, balsamic, basil and oregano.

Indianish- salmon with tandoori paste, cayenne pepper (fresh), green beans, mushrooms, carrots, shallot, cumin- a bit of balsamic or lemon juice.

Non-denominational- lamb or chicken, peppers, mushrooms, shallots, chili pepper, worchestershire, garlic.

So really I kind of mix and match with this, which is why I was hesitant to post a recipe.  It is a lot of tasting and adding, so just taste decide what flavor it is missing find something similar to that profile and add, I also always season it with salt and pepper, as well.  I then normally serve the finish product over rice.      So there it is- easy, one pot and very comforting.  You can ajust the ingredients and spice to your level.

Sorry I don’t cook with a ton of recipes at this point- so if you are going to follow me you have to be willing to wade into the deep end a bit.  But have faith this one is really hard not to make tasty.  The next couple times I make this I will try to take pictures.

I will admit I was a non-believer in the virtues of the much touted KitchenAid stand mixer.  I mean for the price I could buy so many hand mixers over a lifetime.  I registered for it because my Mother in law told me to.  When my kitchen was finished being remodeled I opened it up and put it on the counter.  Why?  I have no idea.

But that week I had two guests for dinner.  I decided to try to make a cake similar to one I had at PS7 recently.  It was a plain lavender cake sort of a mix between a pound cake and angel food cake.  So I whipped out Martha Stewart’s Baking Book, the be it end all really.  (You may try to argue with this, but even starting that arguement will make me think you are not worthy of the time it will take for me to prove you are wrong)  I opened up and found a quick, easy and simple pound cake recipe.

I set the oven to 325 degrees on the convection setting (normal would be 350 degrees).  I buttered a 9″ round cake pan, but you could use a loaf pan if you wanted a loaf or if you wanted to use it as sheet cakes that would work too.  I threw the butter in the mixer to warm while I measured out the 1 teaspoon of vanilla and 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  Added those to the mixer and put the mixer on medium speed for about 5 minutes until the ingredients were light and fluffy.  And since I don’t have to hold the mixer it made combining the 2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt (I used lavender salt) very easy.  I then added six eggs to the mixture one at a time letting the mixer combine between each egg (note you will have to scrape down the sides a couple times) then I added 1/2 cup of lavender to the dry ingredients and added the dry ingredients to the mixer and let it mix until just combined.  (When I do it again I will put the lavender in my coffee grinder first)

Scooped into my cake dish and baked for about 45 minutes in my oven until golden brown.  I didn’t glaze it because I was serving it with fruit and ice cream, but you certainly could make a quick glaze and it would look lovely.  I think fruit with a nice drizzle of a sweet dessert wine would be good too.

The stand mixer made this so easy.  I was wrong about it, it is essential for anyone who bakes frquently.  It allows you to multi-task, it cleans easily, the attachments come on and off easily.  All in all it was a wonderful gift.

The rest of the menu:  (chicken cooked with olive oil and fresh oregano then stewed with onions and peppers in a diced tomato sauce, cucumber and zucchini salad, toasted pita and hummus all served with Kluge Estate Albermarle 2004 Simply Red)

Peeps, I am utterly exhausted.  All this wedding stuff has me drained.  This past weekend was wedding portraits in Charlottesville on the UVA campus, putting wedding favors together, and making some last minute wedding plans.

Fiance has been in and out of town, he is at a conference in San Fransisco and was in Miami.  When Fiance is out of town, I really despise cooking from scratch for myself.  So the night before he went to Miami we went to Caribbean Grill and got a whole chicken.

Caribbean Grill is pretty good, the chicken isn’t near as good as El Pollo Rico, but they have good sides.  I need to try some other places I have heard about such as Pio Pio, because as much as I love my El Pollo Rico, fries and coleslaw are not what a girl watching her figure should be eating often.

Instead we get the baked plaintains and cuban rice, or baked yuca at Carribean Grill.

So I came home the next night, looked in the fridge.  I had mushrooms, a green pepper, lettuce, carrots, greek yogurt, soft corn tacos that needed to be used, and some good fresh salsa.

So I took about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil threw it in my skillet to let it heat up.  Cut up half my green pepper, put the other half in the fridge, cut up some red pearl onions and tossed them in the skillet, cleaned the button mushrooms with a damp cloth and tossed them in too.  Let this cook a little, while I took the meat (with a tiny bit of skin for flavor) off the bone of 1/4 chicken.  Chopped up the Yuca which had been stewed with garlic and onions.  I then tossed this in the skillet put some Worcestershire sauce in, probably about 1 tbsp and about 4 tsp of dried basil.  Let cook until all of that was warm and looking good.  Poured it all into a small corning ware dish put the warm skillet back on the stove top.  It still had oil residue so I popped a tortilla on, let it get warm and pliable, flipped it and then did the same with another.  Filled the corn tortillas with some of the chicken mixture, some cut lettuce, fresh salsa and a little greek yogurt.  It was good.  Couldn’t have taken me longer than 15 minutes.  Highly suggest it.

Put the leftover mixture in the fridge, there wasn’t much left I was hungry.

Next night, still the same things in my fridge, although now a little less of some of the items…

Cut the other half of the green pepper into strips, cut a carrot into matchstick pieces, cut up a little onion, a clove of garlic.  Threw it into a hot skillet with about 1-2 tbsp olive oil.  Cleaned more button mushrooms, thew them in, used the last breast of chicken took it off the bone pulled it apart into smaller pieces tossed it all into the skillet, put in some soy sauce probably about 1/4 cup, red pepper flakes and some ginger powder because I was out of real ginger.  Let it cook, threw an Uncle Ben’s 90 second packet of brown rice into the microwave.  Took the rice out let it cook a bit put half the rice into a bowl with the chicken mixture, threw the left over rice and mixture into the corningware with the other chicken to take to work.

Oddly enough there was one last thigh which is odd, they must have given us more chicken than we deserved, so I pulled it apart, mixed it with the mustard sauce, and a little of the chopped pepper mixture, put it on some olive oil rosemary bread with some goat cheese and took it to work.  Very tasty.

All fast, all easy, all from one trip to Caribbean Grill and some odds and ends in the fridge.  If this doesn’t prove cooking is easy and just all about tasting your food and adding what it needs to taste good, I don’t know what will.  I rarely use a recipe, most of the time it turns out good, if not well this month Taqueria Poblano had a buy one entree get the other 1/2 price coupon in the Clipper Magazine, and their shrimp taco entree is darned good.

You can also find promotions for local restaurants at GoOut2Eat.com

Currently they have promotions for Pietanza, Dungarats, and a bunch of other places in the DC, MD, VA area, even Dr. Delivery!  So if you really don’t feel like cooking, or screw soemthing up, at least you can get some good food on the cheap.

Readers these Totally Bamboo products are dishwasher safe, food safe, made from renewable, sustainable products and naturally anti-microbial.  I got a beautiful bamboo cutting board from here for the MIL to be for this reason.

Now you can get one too at 20% off. They also have free shipping on orders over $50.

They have trays, plates, cutting boards, frames, bowls and even kitchen and bar carts.  See some of my favorites below:

Green-lite Large Oval

Malibu Groove

Soft Zebra Small Plates

And the nifty bar cart, perfect if you have a large house, lots of events and an extra $1,000.  So obviously not a need of mine, but McLeaners any takers you have HUGE houses where you may need an extra bar?  It is by far cheaper than building an extra bar.

Anyway readers Totally Bamboo has awesome high quality products that are a good price, even before the discount.  I really recommend them.  What other wood cutting board is naturally anti-microbial, dishwasher safe and harder than maple?  These really are superior than any other wood, plastic or other material for cutting boards.

Today I am miserably sick.  Gross, yucky, will not be leaving the house sick.  Thank goodness for me I have a fiance who knows about www.drdelivery.com.

For those of you out there who have someone you care about who is under the weather may I suggest this recipe for spaghetti al bianco.  It has the ability to be homey and comforting, while also seeming very impressive, and it can be very filling.  If you have a boyfriend who you make this for I guarantee he will be impressed, and if it is for your girlfriend, well be careful you might be cooking more often:

Spaghetti Al Bianco

Serves 4 (I have halved the recipe many times and it always turns out just as good)

1/3 oz dried wild mushrooms (I usually use either a can of button mushrooms or just dice fresh mushrooms I use probably about 1/3 cup fresh)

1 leek trimmed

2 celery stalks

2 carrots peeled

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

4 thyme sprigs (I think this is an important thing to have over dried thyme if you have a balcony I highly recommend growing thyme it smells great and is such a versatile herb)

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 1/2 lb lean ground beef or ground bison

1 tbsp all purpose flour

sea salt and pepper

2 cups hot stock or water (I recommend the stock even if just the water plus a bullion cube)

14 oz spaghetti

1 tbsp lemon zest

freshly grated Parmesan cheese for serving

If you use dried mushrooms soak them in 1 cup boiling water for 30 minutes.  Like I said I find it much easier to use canned mushrooms with the water in the can.  Finely slice the leek, celery and finely dice the carrots.

Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan and cook the leek for 5 minutes.  Use a big pan so you can toss your pasta in later.  Add the carrots, celery, thyme and parsley cook for 5 minutes.  Add the beef and cook, stirring until nicely browned.  Sprinkle with the flour, sea salt and pepper and stir for a minute or two to cook the flour.

Add the mushrooms with their soaking water, discarding any sediment.  Gradually stir in the hot stock or water, then simmer partly covered for 45 minutes or longer.

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salted water until al dente.  Drain well then put with the sauce, add the lemon zest and toss well until combined.  Serve with the Parmesan cheese.

If this doesn’t impress them well you need to find someone who appreciates you more.