Random Mondays

The song ‘Rainy days and Mondays get me down’ flitters across my thoughts.   I woke before my alarm and the brain cells were already humming with how to craft a narrative for work.  Perhaps it is just best to start work early and bank those hours to take off at a later day.   But I still have a few moments before I begin…enough time to make a special breakfast.   Why should that be reserved for Sundays?

I scanned the refrigerator for possible ingredients – bread, leftover fat-free ricotta cheese and cream cheese, half a can of sugar free cherry pie filling.   That pasta dish a week or so ago was great with the ricotta.  I had tried my sister’s French toast recipe and loved it.  Hmmm, oh yes, the leftover fat-free half and half from the chowder I made this weekend.  I hope Bea enjoyed the dish I brought her.  And eggs.  Of course, breakfast casserole.   I turn the oven to 350 and start cutting bread cubes.  Layer them into the dish and spread ricotta and cream cheese on the top.  Pour out the pie filling.  Top with more bread.  Pour on the beaten eggs and half-and-half with the spices.  It took less time than the oven pre-heat.  Place into oven and head to home office. 

Catch up on the email and start drafting that narrative.   The buzzer goes off.  Isn’t it funny how just about anything you create can be baked at 350 for 30 minutes or so?  I serve up a plate and indulge in a decadent breakfast at my desk.  And I confess it is a jammie morning.  Snuggled into a luxuriously soft sweater atop them.   Fresh mug of tea.  

The randomness of it makes it all the sweeter.  And I contemplate what I should do after work.   Should I take a steak out of the freezer and serve with baked potato for supper?   I do have those fresh asparagus I picked up at the market.  And lemon to drizzle over.  And I think some home-cooked squash from Thanksgiving is nestled in that freezer bin.   Why yes it is.  A feast day on a random Monday.  No need to get down. 

Hambone, Hambone

A couple weekends back I took a ham bone out of the freezer and placed it into the fridge.  I had picked up a bag of dried peas and was planning on making my family’s pea soup recipe.   But as the weekend went on, I just didn’t feel like it.   So, on Sunday afternoon, I pulled together the ingredients and made a ham broth / stock. 

That orange bowl is my cooking 'garbage bowl' in the style of Rachel Ray.  A few years ago I used to watch her cooking show on the Food Network.

I think a couple bay leaves are the secret ingredient in most soup bases.  I topped the ham bone with water and walked away.  I did use a lid.

I let it simmer for a couple of hours and then set it out to cool a bit while I pulled off the good bits of meat.  By the way, that meat makes the best ham salad sandwich that coincidentally was my reward for making the broth.  I don’t like to simmer the pot for five plus hours like some recipes call for because I like my broths to be a bit mild tasting. 

Steaming broth - still too hot for the fridge.

In case you haven't made broth before - you toss out all the ingredients in the pot except for pulled meat off the bones.  It's all there just to add flavor and nutrients to the broth.

Then I put the broth in the fridge and let it sit for a few days.  I skimmed off the fat so all in all it was fairly healthy looking.  I froze a few small cartons of it for later use.  And still that bag of peas was sitting on the counter by the bananas.  Sigh.  Just didn’t feel like making that soup.

Finally, I realized what was happening here.  I cooked a ham our last Christmas together.  And I had made a homemade pea soup the week after.  Robert loved my pea soup.  I always used the green peas like my grandmother did.  The last batch of my soup had come out great and he really enjoyed that dish of soup on that chilly afternoon.  In the months after he died, I had cartons of that soup in the freezer that I was moving around to make room for other things.  The memory is a bit fuzzy but I believe that I tossed them in the trash one day because I just couldn’t eat them. 

Aha!  So here I have ham broth still in the fridge.  And obviously I shall not be making pea soup.  Should I just toss it out?  Hmmm….I found a few wonderful ham and potato soup recipes online.  I made it on a Thursday evening so I had lots of homemade goodness to eat for the weekend.   I used some of the ham that is stashed in my freezer.  

I added one pat of butter to the olive oil while sautéing the onions.  It adds tons of flavor for relatively few added calories over a pot of soup.

With homemade broth - I chose to use about 3 cups broth to maximize the good flavor.    After veggies were tender, I  added one cup of skim milk with corn starch and let it simmer a few minutes to thicken the pot.  The fat free half and half and sour cream were just a touch at the end after warming the corn.  I used whatever corn was on hand but I plan on making this again when I have fresh, sweet New Hampshire corn in August.

Nirvana – it really was a great recipe.  Use the photos for your cooking pleasure.  Not a lot of  measurements – I always learned to just make it the way that looks best to me.   I had combined this process and ingredients from several online recipes.  And I dare you to try and keep the refrain from the song ‘hambone, hambone’ out of your mind.