Tonight’s dinner had me pretty concerned. Remember that ham I talked about? Well, it was time to use it up, so I decided to improvise. I was skeptical about my choices until my first bite, but it turned out really delicious! All the tasty goodness of pot pie and surprisingly quick to make.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 cups of chopped ham (I suspect chicken would work just as well!)
• 1 cup chopped baby carrots
• 1 chopped green pepper
• 1 chopped whole onion
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 can Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
• 1 can water
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used swiss… yum!)
• Butter or olive oil
• 1 can Reduced Fat Buttermilk Biscuits (1 can of Grands size, 2 cans of smallish biscuits would work)

About a month ago we got a great deal on a whole ham in the discount meat bin. $7 for a TON of ham. The up side? A lot of really good smoked ham. The downside? That’s a lot of ham, and for us, ham is a sometimes food, which means getting creative. I’ve been wanting to try making scalloped potatoes for some time and this was a good opportunity. I combined a few different recipes to come up with this one.

It turned out PERFECT. Rich, delicious, with a sauce that made me lick the bowl. Seriously, I licked the bowl.

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 small yellow gold potatoes, sliced thin
• 1 medium white onion, sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1.5 cups half & half
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 1 cup chopped ham

Preheat oven to 400º.  In a saucepan, melt the butter with pepper (again I’ll sing the praises of Penzey’s Shallot Pepper) and Garlic Salt to taste. Add the flour, then when it’s all melted, add the half & half. Stir this until the sauce starts to thicken. Remove from heat.

Sauté the onions in olive oil (butter works too) until cooked through. In a separate bowl toss potatoes, onions, ham, cheese and sauce. Spread in a baking pan and bake for 45 minutes.