Leftover Ham, Continued

It's 5:30 a.m. and I have no business being up.  I'm sleepy, grumpy and dopey, that makes me three of the seven dwarfs.  Getting up because of someone else's schedule sucks.  But that doesn't help with leftover ham, does it?  At this point, I could just stand in the open refrigerator, cramming some ham in my face but that isn't very nice and doesn't feed anyone else.  Besides, my gastritis has flared up and I don't feel like eating anyway.  Now that I'm through complaining, I have a really great recipe for the rest of that leftover ham!

I saw this recipe on ricekernel.wordpress.com though I did not follow it faithfully.  I simply adapted the recipe to suit our taste.  This was super easy and I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, even the cabbage.  That is what a well stocked pantry will do for you; makes it easier to cook!  I admit I don't always have cabbage on hand; I happened to have cabbage from a meal plan that got changed slightly when someone else made cabbage and brought it to dinner.  I do try to keep onions on hand and a wide variety of canned goods like beans, corn, tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc.  So when I decided to ditch my original menu plan for the leftover ham in favor of this recipe, I didn't have to make a special trip to the store to do it.

NOW for those of you who think, "My family would never eat cabbage!", don't skip this!  My kids have learned to like cabbage when I learned to cook it better.  Cabbage is one of those vegetables that blends very nicely in dishes, to the point that you don't realize what it is.  I promise you that if you try this and don't tell everyone what is in here, they probably won't know.  My family scarfed this right down last night and would have eaten more.  The key is letting the vegetables and ham brown nicely.  Don't be afraid to brown vegetables; it brings out the most wonderful flavor!

Ham With Corn And Cabbage
2 cups chopped ham
2 cans no salt added whole kernel corn, drained or a bag of frozen corn thawed and drained
1 small head of cabbage, chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 to 2 tsp. garlic powder
Heat 2 or 3 Tbsp. of olive oil in a large nonstick pan.  Add onion and cabbage and cook, stirring only occasionally so it will begin to brown.  When the cabbage mixture starts to brown a good bit, add the ham, garlic powder and corn and mix well.  Let this continue to cook about 30 minutes, stirring only to prevent burning while you read the paper, help the kids with homework, whatever.  This dish is great because it cooks itself with little help.  When it has browned well, add a dash of pepper.  No salt needed as the ham is salty enough.

If your pantry is well stocked, open a can of tropical fruit to serve with dinner.  If you are really organized, make quick rolls by combining 1 cup Bisquick, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt or sour cream.  Grease a 6 cup muffin pan and divide dough.  Bake about 12 to 14 minutes in a 425 degree oven.

It was a fine dinner.