You know, I love Costco, Sam's Club, all the big box stores. They've got such great stuff. And the samples are so enticing. I mean, why else would I have bought 2 giant jars of pickled artichoke spears? Or hundreds of frozen meatballs? Or enough cornbread mix to feed the neighborhood? Or 48 hamburger buns? And then there's the lunch meat. Oh my. Wouldn't it be nice and very economical to have a freshly made sandwich for lunch? A freshly made ham sandwich, on toasted bread with sliced tomatoes, lettuce, swiss, avocado, the works. Of course that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, the sliced ham comes in a package that weighs nearly 5 lbs. That's a lotta pork. And once you open the package it must be eaten within 7 days. That's the bummer part right there. One of my sons won't eat cold meat. Period. One of my sons won't eat a ham sandwich with anything on it but bread and meat. And that's a once per week maximum. Then there's myself and Dan. We'd be hard-pressed to eat our way through 5 lbs of ham in a week.
I've decided to: 1) never buy this much ham again; 2) to make a list of all the ways to power through the ham in a week.
- Denver omelette (36 newly purchased eggs)
- Ham, potato, corn chowder (got a whole flat of corn niblets)
- Ham & swiss quiche (got a couple pounds of swiss in the freezer)
- Ham wrapped around pickled asparagus (adults only)
- Chopped ham stirred into cornbread (iffy - maybe not)
- Chopped ham stirred into crockpot of pinto beans (50 lb bag I bought 2 yrs ago)
- Chopped ham mixed with bbq sauce served on a hamburger bun (only if we're desperate)
- Chicken cordon bleu (yeah right)
I've made it to ham, potato, corn chowder. I've got to admit - it's pretty good. Could go on the permanent menu around here (if there was one). I'm going to try out the quiche for dinner tonight. I've got a pie crust (multi-pack of 8) ready to go.
Here's a picture of Dan's lunch serving of soup - yes, I always make him use a placemat, coordinating napkin, silverware and ceramic mug (in my dreams and for photo ops, otherwise it's disposable everything).