Saturday, January 4, 2014

Cooking Groove - Ham and Potato Edition

For some reason, I can't seem to upload a picture right now so we are going to have to do without!  Today I cooked a few different things.  I found myself wanting to go to the grocery store and pick up something easy, but instead I just dug in and started cooking from what I had on hand to forget about running to the store. 
I started with ham and scalloped potatoes.  I make it in a 9x13 pan because it is shallow and does not need to bake as long as a deep casserole dish.  Turns out my sons had 2 friends over and they were going to be here when we ate so I made 2 pans.  It was served around 1 o'clock with a side of corn.  It was a good thing I made 2 pans because the boys were hungry.  The leftovers went into the fridge.  Son #2 had more around 7 when he returned from playing basketball and my husband takes leftovers to work for lunch. 
While the potatoes were baking I did a package of bacon in the oven on the other rack.  It takes about 25 minutes to get done to our liking.  I forgot to mention that I had also started dough in the bread machine for hoagie rolls.  When the bacon was done, I put in a tray of 10 hoagie rolls for tomorrow.  I then started on cheesy ham/bacon/corn chowder while the casseroles and bread were in the oven.  This soup is a great deal of work and very heavy on the calories, but it is one of my kid's favorite soups.  We only have it about twice a year because it should really be named heart attack in a bowl.  I made a big batch of this as I wanted to take some to my husband's aunt as it is also her favorite.  By the time the casseroles were done I had also finished the soup and rolls for tomorrow.  We will have the chowder and hot sausage sandwiches. 
Truth is, it would have been much easier to run to the store but this helped put a dent into what we already have on hand.  I will go to the store tomorrow because it is a big Sunday for coupons and I will also get some fresh produce and milk.  We will have grilled chicken salads on Monday after tomorrow's caloric fiasco!

2 comments:

  1. Your post made me super hungry! :-) I spent a bunch of time in the kitchen today, trying to deal with all of the produce we picked. It's a good problem to have, but time consuming. I made homemade hamburger buns for the first time, & they were crazy good!

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  2. It is 9:30 pm and I now want to go eat and cook!

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