I am always on the lookout for good ways to use up leftover holiday ham. Jeff and I take advantage of the Easter and Christmas ham sales every year to stock up on at least two or three to freeze and then smoke. But, even when we have extended family over for a holiday dinner, we end up with leftovers. We all love ham. But, I am very budget conscience with most of our meals, so I try to use up leftover meat in actual meals — instead of just tossing the leftover ham into egg scrambles and omelettes.
Our tasty slow cooker ham and bean soup and our equally tasty split pea soup are great ways to use up ham. However, both dishes call for such a small amount, that we still end up with enough ham to stretch in to one or two additional whole meals.
I stumbled upon this fabulous Taste of Home recipe late last year, when anticipating leftover Christmas ham. I did skinny it down quite a bit by substituting leaner ingredients and tested it out on the kids. The dish was a hit — bit time. There were no leftovers. And it didn’t taste even remotely “diet”.
Jeff just smoked our last frozen Easter ham a couple weeks ago, so I am already planning to make this for the kids next week.
- ¼ cup dry bread crumbs
- ¼ teaspoon dried parsley flakes
- 3 tablespoons light margarine, divided (I use Brummel and Brown)
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 cups 1% milk
- 1-1/2 cups (6 ounces) reduced cheddar cheese, shredded
- 2 cups cubed fully cooked ham, trimmed of all visible fat
- 1-1/2 cups cooked no-yolk egg noodles (5 ounces dry)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- In a small skillet, cook bread crumbs and parsley in 1 tablespoon margarine over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan; set aside.
- In a large skillet, melt the remaining margarine. Stir in flour until smooth; gradually add the milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in cheese; cook 2-3 minutes longer or until melted. Stir in the ham, fettuccine and peas.
- Transfer to a greased 11-in. x 7-in. baking dish; sprinkle with bread crumb mixture.
- Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Uncover; bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly.
Skip step 1. Mince one slice onion and sauté with butter before add flour. Follow recipe. Then mix bread crumbs w 2 tbsp grated parm and sprinkle on top and spray w olive oil misto. Perfect! Thank you for a great recipe!