Hello all you loyal bacon lovers! It’s me... the Pederson’s Natural Farms Cooking Cowboy back on the BLOG!

EASTER is upon us! What a beautiful time of year and time to remember Jesus Christ!

So, I brought home some hams for Stacy and Amy to take pictures of for our website and point of sale material with full intentions of then using these photo sample hams for our Easter family gatherings.  Great idea, I know!!! However, one small problem arose as well as one great idea! The small problem was the fact that I was unable to keep myself from opening the ham before Easter. No big deal really! I mean, the girls were hungry, and I saved the day!!! We have a few hams left over at the plant from Easter production so I should have no problem getting more before all the family's get together.

Now, let’s get to the great idea part which is, in my opinion, always more fun! Stacy and I were eating ham sandwiches and cutting up pieces of ham for the girls when we both realized we had a lot more ham than we could eat in a week which is about how long the ham will last once it has been opened. So, Stacy started making all the family little baggies of ham so we could get our excess distributed and hopefully eaten before the spoils hit. I had opened one of the spiral sliced boneless half hams first as it was the easiest to serve. One question did arise as we were making these little baggies of ham though. What were we going to do with the big chunks of ham left from the end of the ham where the slicer could not spiral slice? And what about the middle core that is left as the slicer spirals its way around? Ahhhhhh Haaaaaa!!!! Genius!!!!!!

Just so you know, I love cheese, and pimento cheese is one of my favorites.  It's easy to use and makes a great sandwich spread or chip/cracker dip! Well, I figured why not make some homemade pimento cheese with some chopped up ham incorporated into the recipe? I figured two great products put together should make another great product right!?! So I got started configuring my recipe and putting together the ingredients and cooking utensils I would need. Surprisingly enough, we had everything I needed in the fridge at that very moment. It always seems like you're missing something when one of these strokes of genius hits! The only little job I needed to get done was chopping up the ham so I could stir it into the pimento cheese and not have chunks that were too big. First, I cut the bigger pieces we didn’t know what to do with into small enough pieces to fit into my food processor. I put them in the processor and hit the button a couple times till everything was chopped up to what I thought would make a good ingredient size. Then, I got everything together in a big bowl, and, with a little elbow grease, I had “The Cooking Cowboy’s Pimento Cheese and Ham Delight!” Magnific!

We spread some on a couple crackers for my daughters, and they agreed! We had a savory, smoky, cheesy delight that they could enjoy with their mommy and daddy anytime!

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have had any cool or unique ideas for the pieces of ham I used to make “The Cooking Cowboy’s Pimento Cheese and Ham Delight”. I would be interested in hearing about what you came up with!

And, THIS? This is THE actual ham that became "The Cooking Cowboy's Pimento and Ham Delight". Exciting, right?

Later

The Cooking Cowboy