Baked Ham Balls

Many many years ago, I was a horribly fussy eater. I didn't even like meatballs. How could I not like meatballs? Well, I had a deep fear of my mom trying to sneak mushrooms, or God forbid... cream of mushroom soup into anything I would eat. It was absolutely forbidden for any mushroom fragment to touch my food. If anything was suspicious, I would do a full dissection on it until I knew for a fact that they were not trying to pull one over on me!

But, when Mom would make her Baked Ham Balls, it was my absolute favorite! There were no mushrooms to worry about in this dish! She made these on special occasions, or when there was company coming. It makes a big batch, so I was always extra excited because I knew that we always had leftovers! I did downsize this recipe, or we would have enough meatballs to last us until we have a 6 month summer! These are such a lovely variation to a traditional meatball. A special treat for guests, or just to treat yourself!

Baked Ham Balls

Meatballs

1 lb. ground ham

1 lb. ground pork

1/2 lb ground beef

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 eggs

1 cup milk 

Sauce

1 can tomato soup

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tsp dry mustard

1/3 cup vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pan with foil (I needed two pans).  In large mixing bowl, combine ham, pork, beef, cracker crumbs, eggs, and half of the milk. Add remainder of milk, slowly, only as needed. You don't want so much milk that you can't roll the mixture into balls.  When all ingredients are combined, roll into balls using about 1/3 cup per meatball. Place meatballs in pan.

In medium bowl, combine soup, brown sugar, mustard and vinegar. Whisk until mixed well. Pour sauce over meatballs.  Bake for one hour, basting after 30 minutes, and again 15 minutes later.

Enjoy!!

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Baked Ham Loaf

I love that I promised you all a series of posts out of Mary Swanson's Big Hearted Cookbook. It was an intro to the fund raiser and sharing a little bit with you about the lady whose memory these funds are being raised for, and about my friends training efforts for the bike ride. But you know what else, what a great way this has been to get me to try new recipes! It's really been fun.

The days are counting down. . . . . . We have one week left before the bake sale and raffle start. I am so excited! We have a great line up of bloggers who are donating to the bake sale. You will be excited too!

The days are also counting down for when my friend, Stacey, leaves for Utah to go on her bike ride. She is still training hard, but the weather is not cooperating or being her friend. Several of their last training bike rides have been cancelled due to snow. The pictures she has sent me of these recent snow falls have been completely uncalled for in April! They have made me really appreciate the fact that I do not live in Minnesota any longer!

On to today's recipe! This is a Baked Ham Loaf. In the cookbook, right below the recipe title, are parentheses (A Church Lady Favorite). I am not sure if this has a specific family meaning to it, but I know that Mary was very active with her church, so in my mind, this was a favorite for her to make for her family and friends to enjoy after Sunday church!

Baked Ham Loaf
1 lb. ground ham
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. ground beef
2 c. whole wheat flake cereal (I used Wheaties), crushed
2 eggs
3 T. peanut butter
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. prepared mustard
1/4 c. vinegar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl combine ground ham, ground pork, and ground beef.  Add your peanut butter to a small bowl and microwave for 10 seconds, just to soften it a little bit.  Mix the cereal, eggs, peanut butter, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to the meat mixture.  Mix until all ingredients are combined. Shape into a loaf, and place in a roasting pan. Set aside.

In small bowl, combine brown sugar, mustard and vinegar. Stir well.  Baste loaf with sauce. Bake loaf in preheated oven for 1 hour. Baste the loaf every 15 - 20 minutes with more of the sauce.

Enjoy :)

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Wild Rice Soup

It's hard to explain, to people that aren't from the St. Paul/Minneapolis area, how my favorite soup comes from a grocery store! Byerly's was always that higher end grocery store that had foods that were just a step above the rest.  Of course, they had all the normal foods as well, but they had the super yummy ones that you just craved. Waaaayyy back in the day, when my friend Stacey and I had our first apartment, we were in walking distance to Byerly's so we were fortunate enough to do a lot of shopping there.  In more recent years, I would love stopping there on my way home from work and picking up special meats for grilling.  Now, it is just a treat to stop at when I am in the cities, and get their pasta sauces, bakery treats, soups....  this list goes on, but you get the idea.  I guess they don't go by the same name anymore, I think they were bought out by the store from the other side of town. I believe their name is Lunds now.  Ahhhh....  the memories!

One of the best soups found at Byerlys', locally famous, is their Wild Rice Soup.  You could order it in their restaurant or purchase several different size containers in the store.  I would always try to have a container on stand by.  Feel a cold coming on?  Wild Rice Soup. Bad day at work?  Wild Rice Soup. Raining out? Wild Rice Soup.  See how I am?  I got even more spoiled the year that my mom bought the Byerly's cookbook.  Oh, life was good! Mom would always make a big batch so she had enough to share with me.  She still makes it often, and she usually serves it for Christmas Eve when we celebrate at their house.  

When making this, you can use Half and Half in place of the milk for the most indulgent version of this recipe. Just to lighten it up a bit, I use milk. 

Wild Rice Soup (Adapted from Byerly's)

1/2 c. finely diced onion

6 T. butter

1/2 c. flour

4 c. chicken broth

2 cups cooked wild rice

1/2 c. finely grated carrots

1 c. minced ham

3 T. chopped slivered almonds

1/2 t. salt

 1 c. whole milk (Half and Half is the rich way to go)

In saucepan, melt butter; add onion and saute till tender.  Blend in flour; Cook for two minutes.  Gradually add broth.  Cook, stirring constantly until mixture comes to boil.  Boil while stirring, for 1 minute.  Stir in rice, carrots, ham, almonds, and salt.  Simmer 5 minutes.  Blend in milk.  Heat thoroughly.  

Serve with crust bread and enjoy :)