Leftovers: Thanksgiving Bento

Wow, that's a cruddy picture. My phone determines of it's own free will how big a picture will be, and this one kinda got jipped.

Anyway, we have tons of leftovers, still, and so when I had to make my lunch for the third day, I decided to make it pretty. The balls are roasted garlic mashed potatoes, which would have had turkey inside if I'd had the time to pick it off the bones (so I've put that idea aside-- I want to fry them with turkey and gravy and maybe some cranberry inside), and the yellow square is AH's amazing creamed corn. Then two deviled eggs, a divider made of cream-cheese and roasted walnut-stuffed celery sticks, and then greenbeans.

The corn was made with frozen corn, since it's past fresh corn season around here, cooked up with bacon grease and butter, than topped off with a whole block of light cream cheese and the bacon cooked to get the grease. Salt and pepper. No measurements, just sort of throwing stuff together. It was great. The only thing I would change, is that I'd like there to have been more bacon flavor; the cream cheese mellowed it a little too well. But it's fantastic hot and fresh, and almost as fantastic the next day when it stands up under it's own thickness, and it's really good cold in a lunchbox.

The greenbeans were big fat Italian ones cooked in a crock pot all day with butter, salt, pepper and a smoked ham bone and whatever hammy bits were taken off the bone, until they were that soft olive color of well-cooked beans.

And even on the third day after thanksgiving, this deceptively-small amount of food lasted me all day.

Leftovers: Ham Salad

In leftover news, since I still don't have the pictures of the actual foods, I have this to offer: ham salad. Like turkey or chicken salad, but with ham.

We had a huge and lovely home-smoked ham, so that's what we started with, and the fact that it got a little dry in the fridge only helped it not be slushy. Chop up said ham and drop it in a food processor. Add mayo or, in this case, miracle whip. Add sweet relish, or, in this case, some dill relish and a few chopped sweet gherkins. Blenderize until it's a nice chunky spread for a sandwich, and eat it as such. You can add lettuce and tomato, maybe some onion if you have it, and I think a nice smoky cheese like gouda might be nice. Best on thick crusty wheat bread, which stands up to bold flavors and thicker consistencies better than white.

Usually, H makes this with regular deli ham, and it's good like that, too, but the smoked-ness of it being made from the leftovers added alot of depth of flavor and a really neat saltiness that's different from the pre-packaged saltiness of deli meats.

If you try this out, lemme know how you do it?

Coming Soon: Thanksgiving

Can't type. Hands too fat from twelve hours of eating. More later.

Above, clockwise: dressing, waldorf salad, bacony cream corn, home-smoked ham, candied yams, mac and cheese with Long Macaroni, and spinach caserole. Off to the side and not in this picture: brined turkey, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, southern green beans, yeast rolls, seasoned crackers, and four desserts.

EDIT: and deviled eggs, and toasted-walnut-and-creamcheese stuffed celery, and fire-roased chestnuts, and red and white wine, and sweet tea, a relish tray, and the four desserts were chocolate-peanut-butter cake, pumpkin cheesecake, peacan pie and troll pudding.