Ham, Beans, and Cornbread: Easter Leftovers the Sequal

In thinking about what to do with my leftover Easter ham I can't believe ham and beans didn't cross my mind until a co-worker brought some to lunch.  It felt like a forehead slap moment.  Derp!  How could I not have thought of this especially since I have a pantry full of beans I need to use.  I used pinto beans instead of the more traditional navy bean.  I was a little concerned that the pinto beans would become too creamy and have almost a refried bean texture, but they worked about perfectly.  The beans were soft and tender, creamy, but not mushy.  The best part of all was that I put everything in the crock pot this morning before I left for work and came home to perfectly cooked beans.  I don't think I'll ever cook beans on the stove again.  I always get impatient and take them off too soon which results in crunchy beans.

I also made a batch of cornbread, which turned out really well.  I used this recipe.  It is a Southern cornbread, so it's not very sweet.  Next time I think I'll add a bit more sugar because I guess I like more of a "Yankee" cornbread.  I did bake this in my cast iron pan, and I will continue to cook cornbread this way.  The cornbread mixed up very quickly and baked up with a delicious texture.

When I cook beans I always lay them out on a cookie sheet and check them before they soak.  This prevents any stones from making it's way into my final product.  Please don't skip this step!  It only takes a minute and is completely worth it.

 Soaking beans reading to go into the fridge overnight

 Cornbread batter in the skillet

 fluffy cornbread

 Finished product

I didn't get any pictures of the ham and beans because I couldn't get a flattering picture.

Easter Leftovers

I cooked quite a bit of food during this Easter break, including making breakfast for my church congregation.  I'm told that not every church has breakfast after Easter services, and this is unthinkable to me.  Anyway, I didn't really take any pictures.  I guess I was a little stressed out during cooking because the oven was not baking evenly, and even though I pre-cooked the potatoes for my breakfast casserole twice, they still didn't cook all the way through.  Not my best cooking performance.  (the sausage gravy was delicious)

I hesitated to post about Easter leftovers because they seemed a little bit obvious.  However, I read things on blogs all the time that I'm cursing myself for not thinking of, so I thought maybe some of you wouldn't have thought of this either.  If you have, then just look at my pictures and smile smugly because you had already thought of this.

The first picture is of a grilled ham, egg, and cheese sandwich.  I was looking for a way to use up ham and eggs, and thought of this sandwich.  Yes, it's very simple, but so good.  For the record, I'm freezing most of the ham in small portions because my husband doesn't really like ham and I can't eat it all myself.  Sorry about the mediocre pictures tonight, for some reason I took a lot of pictures, but none of them turned out well.

This second dish used up leftover cooked potatoes (for the breakfast casserole) and other odds and ends.  I made a veggie chili with onion, green pepper, shredded red cabbage, black-eyed peas (cooked and in the freezer), a can of tomatoes, cumin, and chili seasoning.  I used the chili as a topper for the baked potato and then loaded on the siracha.  This is a great lunch to take to work.  It could also be topped with some cheese and sour cream.