Buy a bone-in ham, preferably when it’s on sale. Bake it with appropriate side dishes. After you’ve had that meal–
-Slice all the “large” slices off to make sandwiches. Wrap in smaller packages, freeze.
-Cut off the smaller, “unsliceable” chunks. Dice, package, freeze to make scalloped potatoes
-There should still be meat on the hambone. Throw the hambone in a stewpot with peeled and quartered potatoes and cabbage wedges. Boil until potatoes and cabbage are done.
That’s a lot of meals!
And then, there’s quiche. Despite the mystique, quiche is a peasant dish and nothing more than an omelet in a pie shell.
Quiche
- For the crust, combine 4 ounces of cream cheese, 4 ounces of butter or margarine, and just a little more than a cup of flour. Mix together with your hands until you have a dough. If you can’t get it off your fingers, add more flour.
- Pat the dough evenly into a pie plate. Put a piece of aluminum foil on the dough and weight it down with a handful or two of dried beas, peas or lentils. Stick it in the oven at about 325F.
- Scramble three eggs, add 1/2 of a small onion (chopped), a cup of milk, about 1/2 pound grated cheese (cheddar, swiss or monterey jack). Look in the fridge and throw in some leftover ham, bacon or chicken, chopped in small pieces. If you don’t have any, don’t worry about it. Add some chopped red or green pepper if you have it; again, if you don’t, don’t worry about it.
- Take the crust out of the oven, let it cool (remove the beans and aluminum foil, of course).
- Dump the scrambled egg mixture into the pie shell and bake at 325-350 until done.
Things to always keep on hand
- Eggs
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Rice
- Noodles or pasta
- Potatoes
- Margarine or butter
- Milk
- Cheese