Homemade Ham Salad

Ham salad is a great thing to make anytime but at the end of the Holiday season it is really a great place to finish the ham that you have left over!! It seems my men love it and with a special twist or two it is special all over again. Here is what I used today:

1 pound of boneless ham trimmed of fat and cut into 1" cubes
3 oz. sharp cheddar cheese
1 stalk celery
2-3 T onion
1/4 C. sweet pickles
3 T. sweet pickle juice
3 hard boiled eggs
3/4 C. mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

I make this using the food processor but please beware and DO NOT OVER PROCESS any of these ingredients. I process each step in the following order and then empty what I have done into a large bowl that I will hand mix everything together at the end.

Using the shredding blade shred the cheese and dump into a large bowl. Next process the ham using the chopping blade and pulsing. Check that you just chop the meat to a "rough chop" state. Do NOT process this to a fine consistency. Dump the ham into the cheese. Combine the onion and celery in uniform sized chunks and pulse to a rough chop. Add to the cheese and meat. Lastly add the sweet pickles to the processor and pulse until it is a bit larger than relish. Add to the other ingredients. Hand chop the hard boiled eggs into the mixture. Add the mayonnaise and pickle juice and stir everything together well. Taste to see if it needs additional moisture. If it does add a bit more pickle juice and mayo. Season to taste and store in a covered container in the refrigerator.