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By Penny, January 26, 2010 5:37 am

Here's the final product in the pan.

Eating from the pantry, a la LifeasMom, does not need to be a misadventure in taste.  As far as I know, I just created this recipe.  We had leftover ham and a lot of whole wheat lasagna noodles.  I decided to try a ham and cheese lasagna.  Here’s the recipe:

Ham and Cheese Lasagna

Cheese Sauce (see below)

1 to 2 cups of ham pieces

1 to 2 cups of peas

1 cup of shredded cheese, cheddar or Monterey Jack.

10-12 cooked lasagna noodles

breadcrumbs (optional)

To the sauce, add ham pieces and peas. Layer three or four lasagna noodles on the bottom of your 9×13 pan. Cover with a layer of the ham and cheese mixture. Repeat layers until the pan is full.  Cover the top with the cheese and then sprinkle breadcrumbs over that, if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees until everything is hot and the cheese is melted. 

Sauce:

1/2 cup of fat (I used 1/4 cup butter and a 1/4 cup lard)

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 onion, chopped

4 cups of milk

1 cup of cheddar or Monterey Jack, shredded

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

In a large saucepan, melt the fat at medium heat.  Sauté the onions and garlic until soft.  Stir in the flour until a thick paste is created.  Add the milk, stirring constantly.  Add the cheese, salt and pepper.  Keep stirring until cheese is completely melted.

This recipe can be quite flexible and even made under financial or other emergency,  using powdered milk and canned versions of the veggies. I imagine that this recipe would be just as tasty if you used bacon instead of ham. Then, you could call it a Loaded, Baked Potato Lasagna.  It’s all about good publicity, you know.

I probably should have waited to cut it to make a better picture, but look at that! Who could have waited?!?

Comments (1)

By Penny, January 10, 2010 3:38 am

Being as we have ten ducks who lay eggs, we have an abundance of eggs. Not many people have been buying them, so I have to figure out what to do with them. I bake frequently, but with only a few eggs used per dessert, I was not keeping up. A friend asked if I could make her pickled eggs, something I had not considered. Considering that my husband loves them, I am surprised I hadn’t thought of it. I found a recipe in Self Reliance: Recession-Proof Your Pantry from Backwoods Home Magazine. I tweaked the recipe quite a bit though, as I didn’t have pre-mixed pickling spices.

First, I hard-boiled twenty eggs. To hardboil eggs, I bring the water to a boil, then turn off the heat and let the eggs sit for at least twenty minutes. After that, I peel the eggs, using a spoon to work the peel free.

While I peeled the eggs, I put the pickling brine on to boil. In a pot, I put a cup of white vinegar, a cup of apple cider vinegar, a quart and half of water, and two tsps of salt. After that, I veered away from the recipe. My friend remembered her mom adding onions to her recipe, so I chopped up a purple onion.

After that, I added a tsp of whole cloves, a tsp of mustard seeds, a tsp of all spice, 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of chile powder, and a 1/4 cup of sugar.  I then had the brine come to a boil.  After it came to a boil, I added the eggs.

 After the brine came to a boil with the eggs and onions, I packed them into hot, sterilized jars.  I hot water bathed them for ten minutes. Don’t they look pretty?