Egg and Bacon Scramble Bake

This egg bake is a great recipe to have in your back pocket because it is as versatile as the omelet and is great for using up fresh herbs, vegetables or cheese that’s hanging around in your fridge.

I like to sauté the bacon with green peppers, onions, and mushrooms, if I have them. One time I made this dish using Velveeta, blue cheese, and mozzarella!  

From Helen

On The Farm, we usually keep it simple by only adding bacon, cheddar cheese, and chives. My variation is diced ham, onions, green/red peppers and tomatoes. It’s very good with fresh tomatoes. 

This recipe came from a guest. Grandma Toinie used to make it with cream of mushroom soup instead of cream cheese. A long time ago, it was highlighted in a country music magazine that did an article about country farm breakfasts. They liked this recipe but didn’t want cream of mushroom soup in it so their chef did some experiments and ended up substituting cream cheese and chives for the soup. We’ve done it that way ever since, and it’s better for it.

Jump to Recipe

STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

In these steps, we’re going to be making my favorite version of this recipe.

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut up 4 strips of bacon in a large cast iron frying pan over medium heat. This little trick saves you a cutting board and goes a lot quicker than with a knife.

2. Cook the bacon until it’s almost done and has released most of its grease, about 10 minutes. It should look like this.

3. Pour all the grease out into a heat safe mug except for about 1-2 tablespoons, shown below.

NOTE: It’s a good idea to have a paper towel ready to wipe the side of the pan. If the grease runs down the underside of your pan, it can start on fire when you put your pan back on the heat.

Keep the extra grease handy. You might need to add it later if your pan gets dry when you are sautéing your vegetables.

4. Add 1/2 cup diced onions and 1/2 cup diced red pepper to your pan.

Cook over medium heat until the onions become transparent and the peppers soften, about 10 minutes. If your vegetables are sticking, add a little of the bacon grease back into the pan. When your vegetables are ready, they should look like this:

5. While your vegetables are cooking, dice 1/4 cup tomatoes. For this recipe, choose a really dense, meaty tomato. Lay the diced tomato out on a paper towel to soak up the extra water. You can pat them a little if your tomatoes are extra runny.

6. It’s time to make the cream cheese sauce.

Soften 3 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese in microwave. If you are using regular cream cheese, do half this amount. Once the cream cheese is soft, add it to a bowl with 1 tablespoon chives, 2 tablespoons milk, and 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt.

7. With a whisk, beat together the mixture. It should be runny enough to be a sauce.

Taste it! Add more salt and chives if it needs more. If it’s too runny, add more cream cheese. If it’s not runny enough, add more milk.

8. Once the sauce is ready, it’s time to scramble the eggs. Break six eggs into a bowl.

Mix them together with about a tablespoon of either milk or water. Add enough liquid so that eggs take on a lemony color.

NOTE: Anna uses milk. Helen uses water. Whose team are you on?? 😉

9. Pan spray a large skillet or melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the pan.

Soft-scramble the eggs over medium-low heat.

It’s important that you don’t cook them all the way. They should look a little wet but be mostly done.

 As soon as you get them to the prefect amount of almost done, get the eggs out of the hot pan and onto a plate immediately, especially if you are using cast iron. Even if you turn the heat off, they will keep cooking from the heat of the pan.

10. Gather all your ingredients together along with a greased 2-quart square baking dish.

Place half of the eggs in a the dish. Top with half of the cream cheese mixture, half the bacon and vegetable mixture, half the tomatoes, and half of 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese.

Repeat the layers once more and top with extra chives, about 1 tablespoon.

11. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted. 

Helen’s Advice: You don’t want to heat this egg dish in the oven any longer than specified or your eggs are going to turn gray or green. It won’t be spoiled but the dish won’t look nice, and the eggs will taste dry. 

12. Serve with fresh fruit!

What veggie, herb, cheese or meat combinations will you come up with? Share!

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Egg and Bacon Scramble

Total Time45 minutes

Ingredients

Scramble Mix-ins

  • 4 strips bacon, pan-fried, drained, and crumbled
  • 1 cup sautéed vegetables of your choice optional
  • ¼ cup tomatoes or fresh herbs optional
  • ⅓ cup shredded cheddar cheese or cheese of your choice
  • 1 tbsp chives, dice, for topping

Cream Cheese Sauce

  • 2 tbsp chives, minced
  • 3 tbsp whipped cream cheese use half for regular cream cheese
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • ¼ tsp seasoned salt

Egg Mixture

  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tbsp milk or water
  • ½ tbsp butter or pan spray

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 250 degrees. 
  • Prepare the bacon and other vegetables. If you are using something with a lot of liquid, like tomatoes, try to remove as much liquid as possible.
  • Soften cream cheese in microwave. 
  • With a whisk, beat together the cream cheese, milk, chives and dash of seasoned salt. Make sure to reserve some chives to sprinkle on top when dish is complete.
  • Pan spray a large skillet or melt butter in pan. Soft-scramble the eggs so they are still a little wet but mostly done. 
  • Place half of the eggs in a greased 2-quart square baking dish. Top with half of the cream cheese mixture, half the bacon, half your other toppings, and half the cheddar cheese. Repeat once more. 
  • Top with extra chives.
  • Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes or till heated through and cheese is melted. 

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Grandma’s Cut-out Sugar Cookies

We make sugar cookies on The Farm at Christmas and Valentine’s Day, usually when I’m around to help frost and decorate them.

According to Helen, these cookies can be a little putzy, so she doesn’t make them as often as her other cookie recipes.

But I think they are the best! The secret is the almond extract in the frosting. The almond adds a different kind of sweet and compliments the vanilla in the cookie. Also, this recipe is a really old Palmquist family one.

from Helen

This recipe’s been around here forever. It’s written on a faded piece of paper in grandma Toinie’s handwriting (Jim’s mother). I have another older version written in great grandma’s handwriting. I think it’s good because it rolls out well, and the cream of tarter adds a tang that helps balance out all the sugar.

A note on Cream of Tarter

Cream of tarter is a strange ingredient. It’s actually a byproduct of fermenting grapes into wine, and a common ingredient in old recipes. If you are interested in the science behind how cream of tarter works, this blog post is a great resource.

If you don’t have Cream of Tarter on hand, Allrecipes says on the same blog post that you can “use 2 teaspoons lemon juice or vinegar to create the acidic effect of 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar in a recipe.”

The best part of making sugar cookies is buying the sprinkles!
Jump to Recipe

STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

1. To begin making the dough, in a mixer on high, cream 1 cup butter, 1 cup sugar, and 2 eggs together. We use the batter hook on our KitchenAid mixer. This should only take a few minutes and should look like this when it’s done.

2. Turn mixer to low. Then, add 1 teaspoon baking soda, 2 teaspoons cream of tartar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 4 tablespoons milk. Mix until well combined. I love vanilla, so I often double the amount.

3. Slowly add in the flour a little at a time until well combined.

4. Once the flour is mixed in, you’re going to have a pretty soft, sticky dough.

That’s why we chill the dough for 1 to 2 hours before attempting to roll these cookies out. Otherwise, as Helen says, you’ll have a mess. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in the fridge for 1 hour at least.

NOTE: You can make the dough the day before you want to bake these cookies. That’s often what we do at The Farm.

5. After your dough has chilled, it’s time to roll out the cookies. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.   

6. Sprinkle a clean, dry counter with a light dusting of flour.

Scoop out about a third of the dough and put the rest back in the refrigerator. If you leave it out on the counter, the butter in the dough will warm up too much, the dough will become very sticky, and be too difficult to roll out.

I like to work the ball of dough a little in my hands to smooth it out. But be careful not to mess around with it too much. Your hands will heat the dough up.

Helen has parchment paper she puts down on her cookie sheets. I have none, but the cookies still turned out great, even on my worn, ugly pans.

7. Roll out a handful of dough until it is an eighth- to a quarter-inch thick.

NOTE: Pictured above is my second roll out. The first roll out is almost always a disaster in that the dough sticks to the counter. I only got those two cookies before I gave up, balled the dough up, and rolled it out again. My theory is that the counter needs to get “seasoned” to the dough. After the first roll out, the dough leaves behind a butter residue. That mixes with the flour, and then you have the perfect surface, and the cookies stop sticking. The dough also picks up a little extra flour from the counter, and I think that helps as well.

If your dough is sticking too much, try cooling it back down again in the fridge, adding more flour, or rolling out the dough so that it’s thicker.

The thinner the dough, the crispier the cookies will be. If you like them to be chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside, roll the dough thicker. 

This is a teaspoon to show you the thickness I go for. I like my cookies pretty thick because they are easier to cut out. Thickness is a preference, but just make sure you are sticking with the same thickness on one cookie sheet or the cookies on a single pan will have different bake times. You’ll run into trouble with some burning before the thicker ones are done.

NOTE: To test thickness of my roll out, I run my hand over the surface of the dough to feel how thick it is.

8. Cut out cookies in desired shapes. Use a spatula to help get them off the counter if they aren’t sticking to your cookie cutters.

9. Bake cookies for about 9-12 minutes or until cookies are lightly brown.

10. Let the cookies cool completely on a rack before attempting to frost them or you’ll have a mess!

Butter Cream Frosting

11. While the cookies are cooling, it’s time to make the frosting!

NOTE FROM HELEN: This is a good, straight forward frosting recipe I got out of a newspaper. It keeps well in the refrigerator too if you want to make it ahead of time or use it on something else. Also, if you’d like to make this frosting chocolate flavored, add 1/3 cup cocoa with the powdered sugar.  

1. In a mixer on high, beat 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter until it’s fluffy, about 5 minutes. It should look like this when it’s ready.

NOTE: Grab your favorite rubber spatula because you’re constantly going to need to scrape the frosting from the sides of the bowl and push it back down to where the beater can mix it.

2. Beat in 4 cups powdered sugar, a little at a time. Be prepared for a storm of powdered sugar to fly everywhere, unless you’re really patient and only do like a tablespoon at a time.

When all the powdered sugar is combined, the frosting will be really thick and almost crumbly. Make sure you do a better job of scraping the bowl than I did.

3. Add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons almond extract while still mixing.

4. Add between 2 to 4 tablespoons of half n’ half a little at a time while still beating the frosting on high. Do this until desired fluffiness is achieved. It should look smooth and creamy with small peaks. 

At this stage, taste the frosting. If it has a gritty texture from the powdered sugar, that means you need more half n’ half. Add half n’ half a little at a time until the texture is smooth and creamy when you taste it. At this stage, you can also add more almond extract if you think it needs more almond flavor.

5. Add food coloring of your choice and get decorating! Yum!

potato salad
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Helen’s Czech Potato Salad

A tangy, delicious potato salad that is great for any summer event
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time1 hour
Total Time2 hours
Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

  • 3 lb Russet potatoes, cubed into 1/2 inch pieces
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 medium white onion, diced
  • 3 celery ribs, diced
  • 1 cup dill pickles, diced
  • 1-2 cups Miracle whip or whipped salad dressing
  • 2-4 tbsp yellow mustard
  • 1/2-3/4 cup white sugar
  • 2-4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 2-3 tp salt
  • 1/2-1 tp pepper
  • paprika

Instructions

  • Fill a medium pot with water and add about 1 tp salt. Boil over high heat for the potatoes.
  • Fill a 3-quart sauce pan with water. Boiling over high heat for the eggs.
  • Wash and peel the potatoes. Chop into 1/2 inch pieces.
  • Dice the onion, celery, and pickles into small pieces.
  • Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes to the medium pot and add your eggs to the sauce pan. Boil both for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, drain your eggs and refill the pot with cold water. The most important thing with potato salad is to get your eggs and potatoes cooled down fast. Set them aside.
  • At 10 minutes, check your potatoes. You want them to be firm but not crunchy. When they are firm, cool them down by pouring the potatoes into a colander or strainer from the pot and running cold water over them. Put the potatoes back in the empty pot and cover with cold water. Set aside for 5 minutes. Repeat these steps a second time after 5 minutes and then set aside for 10-15 minutes. Be gentle with them throughout these steps.
  • In a medium bowl, mix together 1 cup Miracle Whip or whipped salad dressing, 2 tablespoons yellow mustard, 1/2 cup white sugar, and 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. It should be tangy and sweet.
  • Once your eggs are cool, dice your eggs into even pieces.
  • Drain the potatoes and put them in a large cake pan. This will help the potatoes cool down even faster, and the salad will be easier to mix without mushing your potatoes.
  • Sprinkle potatoes with about 1 tp salt and 1/2 tp pepper.
  • Gently mix in the onions, celery, and pickles until evenly combined.
  • Gently mix in the dressing until well combined.
  • Gently mix in eggs until well combined.
  • Now it’s time to taste it! The flavor should be tangy, a little sweet, and salty. The texture should be creamy and crunchy with the vegetables. If the flavor is weak or you taste mainly plain potato, mix another batch of dressing. You don’t have to make the same amount and adjust it for the flavors you are going for. You can also sprinkle the salad with more salt and pepper if that’s what it needs. 
  • Once you get it tasting the way you want, pop your salad into the fringe to finish cooling down and to let the flavors bled. This salad is usually better the second day, so it’s never a bad idea to make it ahead of time. 
  • Serve in your favorite bowl with a sprinkle of paprika on top! 

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Cranberry Cake with Hot Butter Sauce

Here’s another much-requested recipe. It’s so simple you don’t need the step-by-steps. Also, that means you can have the recipe quicker, and you don’t have to wait for me to make it and photograph it!

This butter sauce is ALSO amazing on ice cream, which is how my dad Jim prefers to enjoy this dessert. Once, he was sneaking some ice cream in the middle of the day.

He went into Helen’s industrial size fridge (that is organized in a special manner only understood by her) and took out a jar with a yellow buttery-looking sauce. He heated some of the sauce up and poured it over a huge bowl of ice cream. Pretty satisfied that he had navigated the fridge successfully, he took a huge bite…

And immeditaly spit it out.

He had doused his ice cream in a garlic butter sauce Helen uses on her dill potatoes.

From Helen

He’s not supposed to be having ice cream before breakfast…

Anyway 🙂

Here is another recipe I cut out of the farm newspaper we subscribe to. This is a farm guest favorite. We even had a hunter once who flew in on his own airplane from the east coast. He said it was the best dessert he had ever had. 

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Cranberry Cake with Hot Butter Sauce

Total Time1 hour
Servings: 16 people

Ingredients

Cake

  • 2 tbsp butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups sifted flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup whole raw cranberries

Butter Sauce

  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup half n' half

Instructions

Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
  • In a medium bowl, whip the butter and sugar together until creamed.
  • Add vanilla and mix in.
  • In another medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
  • Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture while also adding milk. Stir until combined.
  • Gently fold in cranberries. You don’t want to over mix this batter or the cake will get heavy or tough. 
  • Pour batter into either an angel food cake pan or a bunt cake pan that is greased. It will only fill a quarter of the pan. 
  • Bake for 35 to 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean.

Butter Sauce

  • Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
  • Whisk in sugar.
  • Add half n’ half.
  • Simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring continuously. Don’t rush this step or you’ll have hard candy. I have to pay attention to this one. 
  • Serve hot over a piece of cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

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Flank Steak with Horseradish Sauce

This flank steak recipe, with a brown sugar marinade, is pretty much a Saturday night staple at The Farm. And paired with the horseradish sauce, it’s just the best!

If you’ve stayed at The Farm, then maybe you’ve heard my dad, Jim, say in a serious voice, “I’ve been up since early this morning and cooking all day long.” You’ll see him smile a little then and dart his eyes toward my mom Helen, who is now pounding the bread dough into the counter a little harder than need be. I think he does it just to get a rise out of her, but when it comes to this dish, my dad does pitch in with grilling and slicing. 

This steak is the best when grilled, which is the reason Jim volunteered for the job. He likes cooking outside. There is also a trick to slicing it right, so he’s also in charge of that. This recipe is the only one we all have a part in. Helen gets the meat ready. Jim grills and cuts it, and after he cuts it, I pick up the slices and place them in the serving dish.  

Why this Cut of Beef?

Helen uses this cut of beef based on a recommendation from her food salesman. She needed something that was like a round roast but could be made for anywhere from 4 to 50 people. The salesman recommended flank steak. It’s the best parts of a steak combined with the best parts of a roast. When we can, we serve our own flank steak from the beef cow herd we raise on our farm.

About the Horseradish Sauce

In the cookbook, we pair this beef recipe with a mushroom gravy. But if you come for dinner on The Farm now, we do a horseradish sauce instead.

About 3 or 4 years ago, Helen was looking for a prime rib recipe, and she stumbled upon a horseradish sauce recipe that sounded interesting to her.

My mom loves horseradish, and being 100% Czech, she grew up with it. I remember her parents (my grandparents) preparing the horseradish root for canning. They did this outside and used a huge, red grinder. As a kid, I couldn’t get within a city block from their operation without my eyes and nose starting on fire.

Because of her love of horseradish, Helen adapted the recipe she found to her liking and replaced the mushroom gravy with it. It’s a nice nod to her (and my) Czech heritage!

buying horseradish

For this recipe, you’ll need to find a prepared horseradish. You don’t want a sauce that has eggs, etc in it. The ingredients will be primarily grated horseradish root, vinegar, and salt. I’d never bought this before, so I had a hard time locating it. I had to call my mom, and she said that it’s usually found in the meat section of your grocery store in a refrigerated case. And that’s where I found it!

Jump to Recipe

STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

1. Place a 2 pound flank stake in a shallow pan or plate.

2. To make the marinade, in a medium bowl, whisk together 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons garlic, 1 teaspoon seasoned salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 2 tablespoons brown sugar.

3. Pour the mixture over the steak.

4. Flip the steak over a few times to make sure the marinade has fully covered both sides of the steak.

5. Let the steak sit in the marinade for 10 to 15 minutes, flipping a few times.

NOTE: If you are short on time or you are going to pan-fry your steak, you can do a dry rub instead of a marinade. Helen is a little worried the soy sauce will make it hard to brown the flank steak in the pan.

To make the dry rub, mix together 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Rub this spice mixture in both sides of the stake with your hand, working the spices into the meat. Immediately cook.  

6. While the steak is marinating, make the horseradish sauce.

In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup sour cream, 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt, and 3 tablespoons of minced chives or green onions.

7. Go ahead and taste it. If it needs more of anything to your liking, add more! But if you find you added too much of something, you can try adding more sour cream to chill out those intense flavors.

8. After the meat is done marinating, place it on a hot grill or in a hot cast iron frying pan.

If grilling, sear the steak on high for 5 minutes on each side. Then turn the grill down to medium and continue to cook for 10 minutes on each side or until desired doneness. 

If you can’t use a grill, heat a cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet on medium. Add about 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Brown the flank steak 2 to 3 minutes per side.  Then, place the skillet in a 325 degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until desired doneness.

NOTE: If you aren’t sure about the doneness, check the steak with a meat thermometer. For best results, the temperature should be between 140 to 150 degrees. 

9. Once the meat is cooked, let it rest for about 10 minutes or all the juices will run out. Cover it with foil to keep it warm. This particular cut of beef will be too tough if you don’t slice it correctly. You want to cut it into thin slices at a 45-degree angle across the grain. 

The salesman who tipped us off to flank steak had to teach Jim how to cut it. Here he is slicing beef this past holiday season.

Photo curtesy of one of our guests!

Serve beef with horseradish sauce! Enjoy 🙂

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Flank Steak with Horseradish Sauce

Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time25 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

Flank Steak

  • 2 pounds flank steak
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil (if pan frying)

Marinade for Grilling

  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar

Dry Rub for Pan Frying

  • ¼ tsp seasoned salt
  • ¼ tsp black pepper
  • ½ tsp garlic powder
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp brown sugar

Horseradish Sauce

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 3 tbsp prepared horseradish
  • 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • ½ tsp seasoned salt
  • 3 tbsp fresh or died chives or green onions

Instructions

Flank Steak

  • Place flank steak in a shallow pan or plate.
  • If grilling, in a medium bowl, whisk together soy sauce, garlic, seasoned salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Pour the mixture over the steak. Flip the steak over a few times to make sure the marinade has fully covered both sides of the steak. Let the steak sit in the marinade for 10 to 15 minutes, flipping a few times.
  • If pan frying, use a dry rub: to make the dry rub, mix together 1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon brown sugar. Rub this spice mixture in both sides of the stake with your hand, working the spices into the meat. Immediately cook.  
  • Grilling: After the meat is done marinating, place it on a hot grill or under broiler on high. Sear the steak on high for 5 minutes on each side. Then turn the grill down to medium and continue to cook for 10 minutes on each side or until desired doneness.
  • Cast Iron Pan: heat a cast iron skillet or other heavy skillet on medium. Add about a tbsp of vegetable oil.  Brown flank steak 2-3 minutes per side.  Then place the skillet in a 325° oven for 10-15 minutes or until desired doneness.
  • For best results, the internal temperature should be between 140° to 150°.
  • Once the meat is cooked, let it rest for about 10 minutes or all the juices will run out. Cover it with foil to keep it warm. This particular cut of beef will be too tough if you don’t slice it correctly. You want to cut it into thin slices at a 45-degree angle across the grain. 

Horseradish Sauce

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, prepared horseradish, balsamic vinegar, seasoned salt, and minced chives or green onions. Season to taste!

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Homemade German Mustard

I don’t even like mustard that much, and I LOVE this mustard. It’s sort of like a more interesting Grey Poupon or Dijon.

From Helen

Helen making mustard!

“Grandma Toinie found this recipe in the Country Today newspaper. This is serious mustard. It has a lot of spices in it, which makes it taste a little bit hot and also a little bit sweet. It’s very tasty in a sandwich and in my chicken cordon blue recipe. There are no preservatives, and it’s pretty basic to make.”  

It pairs great with Helen’s Citrus Ham, so I’m going to drop the recipe here.

But you’re not getting step-by-step pictures because I’m not going to make this mustard. Like a lot of you out in the world who are going through COVID-19, I am self-isolated at home, and making this mustard is like setting off a vinegar bomb. Helen actually said if you have spring allergies, it’ll clear you right up.

It smells so strong that we joked once with a friend, who had a skunk spray under her cabin, that Helen should go there and make mustard to cover up the skunk smell.

Ok, haha, it’s not that bad, but maybe wait for a warm day, so you can open the windows. Also, the smell doesn’t last once you’re done.

OK, if anyone is left who is brave enough to try this, here it is:

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Homemade German Mustard

Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time30 minutes

Ingredients

  • ⅓ cup whole mustard seeds
  • ⅔ cup boiling water
  • ⅓ cup powdered mustard
  • 1 cup cider vinegar
  • 2 tbsps brown sugar
  • ½ tp salt
  • 1 tp onion powder
  • ½ tp garlic powder
  • ¼ tp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tp ground allspice
  • ⅛ tp ground cloves
  • 3 tbsps maple syrup

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, combine ⅓ cup of the boiling water and the mustard seeds. Mix well, and set aside.
  • In another small bowl, mix the powdered mustard with ⅓ cup boiling water. Whisk until powder dissolves. Set aside for 10 minutes so the flavor can develop. 
  • In a small saucepan, add vinegar, brown sugar, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and maple syrup. Mix together and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. 
  • Mix in both mustard mixtures from step 1 and 2 to the vinegar mixture
  • Pour mixture into blender and blend on high until mustard seeds are crushed. 
  • Pour mustard into container with a tight fitting lid and refrigerate.

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Roasted Citrus Ham with Cheesy Potatoes and Green Beans

Because of the world pandemic we are all living through, Easter is going to be very different this year. While there is immense grief in not being able to gather and be with our faith communities and family, we still have food.

We can still fill our individual kitchens with the smells of Easter and celebration, and, in my case, learn how to make ham from my mother Helen, which wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t separated right now.

TIP: If you can’t be with the people who usually cook the family meal for this Holy week, ask them for their recipes. When else than in this moment in history would we have the time to learn recipes that are important to our family traditions!

Jump to Recipe

A note on soda

A vintage American ad. The Coca-Cola Company

As any typical Millennial who’s into the all-natural, local food movement and terrified of high-fructose corn syrup, I was real dubious when Helen told me that the ham glaze recipe called for either Coke or 7-up. I suspected that Coke was in this recipe because it had been written by the marketing department at Coca Cola.

So I looked it up, and it turns out, there is a solid reason for using soda in cooking. There are flavors used in soda that are hard to replicate and, apparently, Coke is a fantastic meat tenderizer. Helen said it would be fine to use an all-natural soda made with cane sugar. “What you want,” she said, “is the fizz and the sweetness, and if you have that, it’ll turn out just fine.”

A note on canned cream of chicken soup

Another 1960’s-church-basement staple shows up in the Cheesy Potatoes recipe: cream of chicken soup. For some of you, this will be wonderful and nostalgic. For others, you’ll want to skip this recipe because it has canned soup. While I am as nostalgic as they come, I have to admit to being guilty for giving a hard pass to any recipe that calls for cream-of-anything from a can.

But instead of continuing to be a bit picky, I researched why this is a thing. I discovered that canned soup in recipes is just a shorthand or time saver for adding the ingredients in the soup to your recipe. If you don’t want to use packaged food, you can easily add all those things to the recipe from scratch if thats your thing.

I opted for buying Amy’s Cream of Mushroom Soup for this recipe (they were out of Cream of Chicken) because they don’t add MSG to their soup.

Jump to Recipe

STEPS: EXPLAINED, WITH TIDBITS AND ADVICE

This recipe is for a 5-7 pound ham labeled “Fully Cooked” or “Ready to Eat.”

NOTE: If you have a ham that’s labeled “Cook Before Eating,” the cooking time will be a little different, and the internal temperature needs to get up to 160 degrees.

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. The low heat keeps the ham from drying out. Place your ham in a roasting pan or a 9×13 cake pan on a rack. It’s important that the ham is raised up off the surface of the pan to cook properly.

2. Cover your ham with a lid or foil if your ham is in a cake pan. Place on the middle rack of your oven. Set your timer for 20 minutes.

NOTE: Cooking time will depend on the size of your ham. Here is a guide: allow 18 to 24 minutes per pound. The ham will be ready when the internal temperature reaches 140°F. 

3. Now, we’ll prepare the ham glaze. In a medium sauce pan, combine 1 can (12 oz.) Coke, 7-up, or your favorite soda of choice, 1 cup orange juice, and 1/4 cup brown sugar. Stir to combine. Make sure you don’t stir away your carbonation.

Bring the glaze to a boil.

Once your glaze is simmering, taste it. If it’s too sweet, you can add water to dilute it a bit or if you want it more tangy, add some more orange juice. It will pick up lots of salt from the ham juices, so don’t worry if it’s mostly just sweet.

4. Once your ham timer goes off, pour the glaze over the ham, and return it to the oven.

NOTE: It’s best if the ham and the pan is heated up before you add the glaze. My ham was small, so I added the glaze after it had baked for 20 minutes, but if your ham is larger, it might take longer to heat up enough to put the glaze over it. Helen said that you should bake the ham with the glaze for at least an hour.

Once you add the glaze, you want to start basting your ham about every 15 minutes, so set another timer for that amount of time.

5. While your ham is cooking, we’ll start on the Cheesy Potatoes. The original recipe actually came from my mother-in-law, Joyce, from Iowa, though we’ve altered it slightly, like we do. 🙂

Chop up about 1/4 cup of onions into a very fine dice, pretty small so that they disappear into the dish.

6. Saute the onions with 4 tablespoons of butter in a large cast iron frying pan or any large pan over medium heat until the onions soften and become transparent.

7. Once your onions are ready, add 1 1/4 cup sour cream and 1 can of Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom soup to your pan. If you are using your own soup, add about 10-11 fluid oz.

Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. This should take about 5 minutes.

At this point, your 15-minute ham timer probably went off. Take your ham out of the oven and baste it with the juice from the bottom of the pan. I don’t have a baster, so it was a little tricky with the rack in there. I tried this brush, but it was too annoying. What I ended up doing is tipping the pan so the juices ran to one side, and then I used a measuring cup to scoop up the glaze and pour it over the ham.

Cover the ham and put it back in the oven. Repeat this step every 15 minutes until the ham reaches an internal temp of 140-150 degrees. Since my ham was 3 pounds, I knew it was going to take somewhere around 1 to 1.5 hours, so once I hit the one hour mark, I started checking the temperature every time I took it out of the oven to baste it.

NOTE from Helen: “If it gets a little crazy in your kitchen like it does in mine and you forget to baste it a few times, the ham will still turn out fine! Don’t worry too much about it.”

8. Back to the cheese sauce! Once your sauce is bubbling like this, it’s time to add the cheese.

Whisk in 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese. If you want to get creative with your cheese choices, go for it!

9. Once your cheese is nicely combined into the sauce, it’s time to add the spices. Go easy on the salt at first in case your cheese or soup is on the salty side. I started with 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder.

Once you mix in your spices, give it a taste. Adjust the salt, cheese, pepper, and garlic level to your taste. If you want more tang, add more sour cream. Once you like the way it tastes, check the consistency. If the sauce is too thick, it will be hard to combine with the potatoes. It should be like a thicker gravy, which I’m hoping you can kind of see from this picture of how it pours off this spoon.

Mine was a little thick, so I added about 3 tablespoons of milk.

Then it was just right!

10. Dump 2 pounds of hash brown potatoes in a large bowl. If you bought them frozen, make sure they are thawed out. Then, dump the cheese sauce over the hash browns.

Mix them gently until all the potatoes are coated evenly with the sauce.

11. Coat a 9×13 cake pan with cooking spray or your favorite oil on a paper towel if you are out of cooking spray like I am.

12. Spread the potatoes evenly in the cake pan. Try not to pack them down too much. I shook the pan back and forth to get them even, sort of like you do with brownie mix.

13. Cover the potatoes with foil and put them in the oven with your ham.

Normally, these potatoes would be baked in a 350 degree oven, but they will do fine with the ham at 325. Bake them for about an hour or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

14. Now, it’s time to make the green beans.

NOTE from Helen:  “You often see these beans in the upper Midwest at any banquet meal. Plain green beans aren’t great unless they are right from the garden. There is nothing more boring than plain old ugly canned green beans, so I use frozen when I can’t get them fresh and add almonds and onions to add more flavor and color. These green beans are great with BBQ ribs, ham, or any of my fish dishes, which I think are complemented well by the green color.”

Clean your beans well and snap off the stems and any other dark spots. Fill a large pot with water and a dash of salt. Set it over high heat to boil.

15. In a small frying pan, sauté 1/2 cup diced onions and 1/4 cup almonds in 1 tablespoon olive oil until they are soft and translucent. 

16. Once the onions are soft, add 2 tablespoons butter and stir until melted. The butter is added later, so it doesn’t burn or disappear. We want there to be enough butter to coat the beans.

Once the butter is melted, take the pan off the heat, and set aside.

17. Once your water is boiling, add the beans. For frozen, bring them back to a boil and let them cook for 3 minutes. For fresh beans, boil for 5 minutes. 

18. Once your beans are done, drain them and add your almond, butter, and onion mixture plus 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder and 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt.

Mix until well combined and serve!

By now, your ham should be pretty close to being done. Once it’s at an internal temperature between 140-150 degrees, it’s ready to come out of the oven.

Let it rest on a cutting board, covered with foil, for 10 minutes before you cut it.

The absolutely best thing about this recipe is that you end up with all these yummy juices in the bottom of your pan, and unlike with a turkey or chicken, these juices are ready to serve as is. Though, you should taste it before you serve it, just in case something went wrong or it’s way too salty or something.

After your taste test, just pour the juices from the pan into a fussy little gravy boat like this one, because it’s Easter, and we’re celebrating!

Your potatoes should also be really close to done. Now is a good time, if you’d like, to take the foil off, and let them brown on top for about 15 minutes. Helen doesn’t do this, but I do! It’s your preference.

Once the potatoes temp at 160 or higher, they are done!

I had fresh parsley left over from the Chicken Soup recipe, so I chopped some up and sprinkled it on top for color. It’s ready to serve!

Once your ham has rested for about 10 minutes, it’s time to carve. My husband does that bit, so if you need carving tips, these people are smarter than me when it comes to ham carving!

Serve with some of the juices poured over the top and with our homemade mustard or apple sauce. Yum!

We at the farm wish you the best possible Easter during this strange time of seperation. We will get through this. Hang in there. Be well!

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Roasted Citrus Ham with Cheesy Potatoes and Green Beans

Cook Time3 hours
Total Time3 hours
Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

Citrus Ham

  • 5-7 pound ham, ready to eat
  • 1 can (12 oz.) Coke, 7-Up, or soda of your choice
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • mustard (optional for serving)
  • apple sauce (optional for serving)

Cheesy Potatoes

  • 2 pounds hash brown potatoes, fresh or thawed
  • 1 can cream of chicken or mushroom soup
  • ¼ cup onions, finely diced
  • 4 tbsps butter
  • 1¼ cup sour cream
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • ¼ cup milk
  • ½ tp seasoned salt
  • ¼ tp pepper
  • 1 tp garlic powder
  • parsley (optional)

Green Beans

  • 8 handfulls frozen or fresh whole green beans
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ cup diced onions
  • ¼ cup slivered almonds
  • 2 tbsps butter
  • ½ tp garlic powder
  • ½ tp seasoned salt

Instructions

Roasting the Ham

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place ham in a roasting pan or a 9×13 cake pan on a rack. Cover ham with a lid or foil if ham is in a cake pan. Place on the middle rack of your oven. Cooking time will depend on the size of your ham. Allow 18 to 24 minutes per pound. The ham will be ready when the internal temperature reaches 140°F to 150°F. 

Citrus Glaze

  • In a medium sauce pan, combine soda, orange juice, and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Make sure you don’t stir away your carbonation.
  • Bring the glaze to a boil.
  • Once glaze is simmering, taste it. If it’s too sweet, add water to dilute it. If it needs more tang, add orange juice. The glaze will pick up salt from the ham juices.
  • Take glaze off heat and set aside. Pour the glaze over the ham one hour before the ham is done roasting. Baste ham every 15 minutes with glaze until the ham is done.
  • Once the ham is done, let rest for 10 minutes before carving.
  • Pour glaze from pan into serving dish. Taste before serving. Glaze can be added at the table or sliced ham can be served in glaze.

Cheesy Potatoes

  • Saute the onions with butter in a large cast iron frying pan or any large pan over medium heat until the onions soften and become transparent.
  • Add sour cream and can of soup (10-11 fluid oz.) to your pan. Whisk to combine and bring to a simmer. This should take about 5 minutes.
  • Whisk in the shredded cheddar cheese until cheese is nicely combined into the sauce.
  • Whisk in the seasoned salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
  • Give it a taste. Adjust the salt, cheese, pepper, and garlic level to your taste. If you want more tang, add more sour cream.
  • Check the consistency. If the sauce is too thick, it will be hard to combine with the potatoes. It should be like a thicker gravy. If you think it's too thick, add 3 tablespoons of milk at a time until it's the right consistency.
  • Dump hash brown potatoes into a large bowl. Pour the cheese sauce over the hash browns. Mix them gently until all the potatoes are coated evenly with the sauce.
  • Coat a 9×13 cake pan with cooking spray or your favorite oil on a paper towel.
  • Spread the potatoes evenly in the cake pan.
  • Cover the potatoes with foil and bake in a 325-350° oven for 1 hour or until the temperature reaches 160°. If you'd like them more brown on top, remove the foil about 15 minutes before they are done baking.
  • Optional: add fresh or dried parsley to the top for color

Green Beans

  • Boil 2 cups of water in a medium saucepan with a dash of salt. Add the beans to the boiling water. For frozen, bring back to a boil and let cook for 3 minutes. For fresh beans, boil for 5 minutes. 
  • In a small frying pan, sauté the onions and almonds in the olive oil until they are soft and translucent. 
  • Add the butter to the pan and stir until melted. Take off the heat.
  • When beans are done, drain them. Add the butter mixture to the beans.  Then add the garlic and salt. Toss to evenly coat, and serve.

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