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. 

Homemade Turtle Candy

The men all smile like little angels when they see I have made a tray of homemade candy. Especially pecan and caramel enrobed in semi sweet chocolate. They are really easy to make the way this grandma does it. I use Merken's Caramel that I order from the King Arthur Catalog and pecan halves with melted chocolate chips. 

Just preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Gather together:

1 lb. pecan halves
4 lb. Merken's Caramel* cut into medium dice
1 lb. good semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 bar of paraffin

Arrange 3 or 4 pieces of nutmeats close together to form a cluster and top with a piece of Carmel. I have used Kraft Caramels and they work just fine too. Place in the preheated oven for 8 minutes until the caramel just melts enough to hold together the nut meats. 

Cool completely and remove to wax paper lined surface. Melt chocolate and paraffin together in a glass bowl over simmering water. 

Stir well to melt, then carefully spoon over each candy. Let sit until cold and store in an airtight
container in a cool place.

* I order from King Arthur in a 5 # block.

12 eggs do an Angelfood Cake make!!!

Angel food Cake

Emily and Kate's Fondant Fish Cake!!

This month we celebrated two birthdays this past Saturday night. Early on our granddaughter, Emily had wanted to make a "fish' cake for Joel and I would make an angel-food for her dad, Mike. I was so proud of Emily and her sister Kate for the job they did with fondant. It turned out great.

My cake recipe is adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook. Here is what you will need:

1 C. sifted cake flour
3/4 C. plus 2 T. sugar
12 egg whites (1 1/2 C.)
1 1/2 t. cream of tarter
1/4 t. salt
3/4 C. sugar
1 1/2 t. vanilla
1/2 t. almond extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and move rack to lowest position. Sift together the flour and first amount of sugar and set aside. 

Using a large glass mixing bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tarter, and salt until foamy. Add second amount of sugar, 2 T. at a time, beating on high speed until the batter holds stiff peaks. Gently fold in the flavorings. Sprinkle the flour/sugar mixture, 1/4 C. at a time over meringue, folding in gently just until flour/sugar mixture disappears. Push the batter into an ungreased tube pan, 10x4
inches. Gently cut through the batter to remove air pockets.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with finger. Invert tube pan on a funnel or bottle. Let it hang upside down until cold. Using a long thin knife run it around the sides of the pan to remove the cake. Dust with powdered sugar of frost. We like to serve this with fresh or frozen berries.