Ham and bean soup in crock pot

This makes a lot. We had a good bowl and was able to put up some in the freezer for another cold night. This had a great flavor and smelled great cooking.
The only problem we had is needed to cook longer than 8 hours for our beans to get cooked. Now these were dried beans soaked overnight and then just put in the crock pot. We saw at about 6 hours the beans were hard so we kicked it up on high and that did the trick. So I'd say the first hour if you can cook for one hour on high then turn down and still count on 8 hours with 9 hours altogether.
1 lb dried great northern beans soaked overnight and rinsed and drained.
3 cloves garlic sliced
1 large sweet onion (I just used half of a huge yellow onion)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 Tablespoon parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
a few baby carrots
6 cups water or broth (we used 4 cups chicken broth and the rest water)
1 ham bone
1 to 2 cups ham (we had a honey ham left over and saved the bone and a few chunks not sure how much it was but it was enough.)
Place beans in crock pot with onion,salt,pepper,parsley,cloves,carrots,ham and broth and water.
Cover and cook on low till beans are tender and creamy _ we needed longer
skim any excess fat if necessary before serving.

Asparagus and Ham roll ups

My wife made this for me before we were married and it may be the first time I remember really eating asparagus. I grew up in the country and if we didn't grow it we didn't eat it.

Glad my views have changed as I love asparagus and a whole lot of other foods now. I just read an article on how our taste has changed and I know I can eat more spicy and hot stuff (thanks to wife) than I did 20 years ago. Any way this is a really easy and impressive dish.

She can't remember where she got the recipe and she tore the house up looking for it but it was easy to remember. You can make as many or as few as you want. We used the last of the lasagna noodles we had from the lasagna the other night.

Lasagna noodles cooked to directions on pkg

heat oven to 350.

sliced deli ham

asparagus steamed or cooked till tender about 3 to 4 per role

Swiss cheese slices.

We also had some ricotta cheese we used but its not necessary.

hollandaise sauce.

salt and pepper to taste

Take one noodle and smooth layer of ricotta cheese place slice of swiss cheese, ham slices and 3 to 4 spears of asparagus role up and place in baking dish. seam side down.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes covered.

Cook hollandise sauce. We cheated and used Knorr pkg mix.

Place roll up on dish and pour sauce over and serve.

Swiss Ham and Potato Soup

Well we were in the deep freeze last week and we fixed several soups this is one that turned out good. For us here in the south to get down to 15 at night with the wind blowing is not very common and looking at the news of other areas I just can not imagine living in an area with the temp below 0. So I hope every one was warm. we were worried for outside cats we rescued and feed so the wife got up several times in the night to turn on the dryer so they would get some warm air for a while. The vent blower was under the house.
2 med potatoes peeled and diced. (we used red potatoes.)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1/2 yellow onion or one small
2 to 3 cups milk
4 slices Swiss cheese
2 cups cooked ham
salt and pepper to taste
can add garlic
and we used crumbled bacon for garnish
Cook diced potatoes when tender drain and save liquid. and set aside
in separate pan saute onion and garlic and set aside.
In large sauce pan add flour to butter till incorporated keep stirring to golden brown (this is known as a roux)
Now add 2 cups of milk and 1 cup potato liquid and whisk until smooth and no lumps
Bring to a boil .
Add ham,cooked onion and Swiss cheese stir till cheese is melted
Add salt and pepper
if soup is too thick can add the other cup of milk.
garnish with bacon.
Be sure too have some bread to go with it. Ummm Good.

Have posted this before.

Swiss, Ham,Cauliflower and Potato soup

Last Friday was a really dreary day with rain and damp and generally feeling like we need to be building an ark around here. For the month of October we have more rain than normal. This recipe did not have cauliflower in it but since we had half a head of one to use up we threw it in and no one would even know it was there as it blended in so well. So as the rain came down wife and I enjoyed this soup. By Susie on Zaar

2 med potatoes peeled and diced.
1/2 cup margarine (we use smart balance)
1/2 cup flour
2 green onions chopped or 1/2 yellow onion (we used yellow onion)
2-3 cups milk
4 slices swiss cheese
2 cups diced cooked ham
salt and pepper to taste
we also added a little garlic--- every thing can use some garlic
and we had some cooked bacon in the frig that we used as garnish.

Cook potatoes in saucepan in just enough water to cover, when tender drain and set aside and save liquid.
melt margarine, saute green onions or yellow onion until tender (we add garlic here). Remove onion and set aside.
Add flour to melted margin and stir until incorporated. Stir till the flour turns a golden brown (this is called a roux.)
Using a whisk stir in 2 cups of milk and 1 cup of saved potato liquid. Whisk until smooth and no lumps are seen.
Bring to a boil or until soup thickens.

Add diced ham, cooked onion(and garlic), swiss cheese (and cauliflower) Stir till cheese is melted.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

If soup is too thick add 3rd cup of milk if needed.

Garnish with bacon.

Pasta with Ham, Asparagus and Asiago Cheese

I know everyone out there is tired of turkey right about now so for those who have left over ham here is a very good and quick recipe.
This was good but next time we will add some red pepper flakes we felt it needed a little more kick.
I must say we used a bottle of SPY VALLEY Sauvignon Blanc. 2006.That was just great with this.
We were in the wine store the other day to see if we could find another bottle. (Ms. Does not allow you to buy wine on line and when you do find a good one, it is not guaranteed it will be there the next time you go to get a bottle.) We did find a 2007 that was given a high rating by one of the magazines so we hope it is as good.

1lb bow tie pasta (could use other but the bow ties made a pretty presentation and held the sauce nicely).
1-2 lb thin asparagus
1 ½ dry white wine
1 cup whipping cream
1cup shredded Asiago cheese
1 cup thinly sliced green onion.
2 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste.

Cook pasta in salted boiling water for 10 min.
Add asparagus and boil until crisp-tender stirring occasionally about 3 min longer. Both should be tender but still a little firm. Drain pasta and asparagus in colander.
Will pasta is cooking in large heated skillet add ham and cook just brown stirring frequently about two min.
Add wine boil until reduced by half about 2 min.
Add cream bring to simmer, stir in cheese and 3/4 cup of the green onions.
Add pasta and asparagus and toss with sauce to coat.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Garnish with remaining green onions.