Eating My Words...Part 1 and Cheesy Country Ham Dip

There are many things that I love to eat...my words, however, are not one of them.

As you recall, I was recently not very sympathetic to my husband's aches, pains and ailments.  I may have even been a little mean.  Okay, let's be honest, I sent my compassion out on vacation for a few weeks.

Well, there's one thing that I always tell my daughters, be careful what you do and say because karma will come back and get you.

For a few months my shoulder and upper chest area was hurting.  I thought I just slept on it wrong or one of the dogs gave it too hard of a tug during one of our walks.  It was sore for a few days, then for a few weeks.  It got to the point if I sneezed, I had to grab my upper shoulder because it hurt so bad...bad to the point I had to break down and go see my doctor.

The first thing they did was hook me up to an EKG to check my heart (didn't see that coming)...breast exam was fine.  She finally said to lift my arm and I thought I was going to pass out.  She said, "I think you may have a torn rotator cuff."  A what??...definitely did not see that one coming.  "You need to see an orthopedic specialist".

Well, to make a long story short, after x-rays, MRI, yes...I do have a torn rotator cuff, with a side order of tendinitis and some degeneration.  After all that, we are starting with cortisone shots and physical therapy.  Stay tuned...I guess I should be a little nicer to my family from now on.

When I'm not eating my words, I did really enjoy eating this dip.  We had a lot of leftover Easter ham, some pecans in the freezer and plenty of the other ingredients on hand.  Warning though, once you start eating this, you can't stop!

Cheesy Country Ham Dip
Courtesy of Trisha Yearwood

One 10-ounce package sliced country ham
two 8-ounce blocks cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 large shallot, grated (about 1/3 cup)
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 Tbl unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
butter crackers, corn tortilla chips or sliced celery, for serving

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Place the ham slices on a microwave safe dish lined with paper towels.  Cover the ham with a damp paper towel and microwave on low heat until the ham is slightly crisp on the edges, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the ham from the microwave and discard the paper towels.  Using two forks, shred the ham into small bite size pieces.  Place the ham in a large mixing bowl.

Add the cream cheese, cheddar, sour cream, garlic powder, shallot and t teaspoon black pepper to the mixing bowl and stir to combine.  Spread the ham and cheese mixture in a 9-inch pie plate.  Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the pecans, butter and Worcestershire sauce.  Sprinkle the seasoned pecans over the ham and cheese dip.

Bake the dip until hot and bubbly around the edges, 25 to 30 minutes.  Serve warm with butter crackers, corn tortilla chips and celery.

One Year Ago: Nicoise Salad
Two Years Ago: Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken
Three Years Ago: Spicy Asian Beef
Four Years Ago: Priceless

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken and Personal Genetic Service

As I have another birthday waiting for me around the corner, I am realizing in my ripe old age that there is only one thing that you really need...family.  

You can have everything that money can buy...but what happens when those things are no longer there, or you have lost them, then what do you really have?  Nothing.   Family is the only thing that you cannot purchase, but it will always be there for you.

Quite a few years ago, our nieces were working on a family tree project for school.  As my husband is the youngest of 9 children, with now 19 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren...if I am remembering correctly...and within all of those family members, there are three sets of twins.  So you can imagine, we're not talking a family tree the size of a bonsai...more like the size of a cypress tree.

At any rate, the nieces hit a road block when it came to their Nana (my mother-in-law) and her family.  It wasn't long after Nana passed away that we all learned she had been adopted...and she never knew it.

It breaks my heart that she went her entire life and never knew who her real family was.  My sense is that's why she was blessed her whole life with such a large family, because she really didn't know her true family growing up.  

We can only speculate, but here is my theory...  She was born around the time of the Great Depression.  My feeling is that she was born a twin (as there is no other family history of twins anywhere in the family or extended family...yet we have three sets of twins).  Given the difficult economical times back then, I think that the twins were separated and given up for adoption.  I guess now, only she and God know the truth.  In an case, whatever the truth is...I think my version would make for a wonderful Hallmark Channel movie, don't you?

For my husband's monumental birthday, this past December I really struggled what to get him....as this was before I purchased Alexa.  We kept seeing ads for the 23 and me DNA service.  Every time he saw the ad, he would say "I really want to do that".  So, it's not a sexy gift, but definitely an interesting one.  Given what he learned about his adopted mom, he is really curious about his family ancestry.  Stay tuned.....

Like my husband's gift, this dish is not sexy, but really, really good and comforting.  During one of our family dinner nights, we made homemade wood fired naan pizzas and had a good amount of leftover ingredients...so, I re-purposed and made a round 2 dinner with everything.

Creamy Penne Pesto Chicken

cooked, penne pasta
sauteed mushrooms
cooked chicken breast
1/2 container, Barilla pesto sauce
1/2 container, Barilla alfredo sauce
fresh mozzarella ball, cut in slices

In a saucepan, combine the pesto and alfredo sauces until warm and well blended. Toss with the cooked penne pasta.

Plate the pasta and add the chicken breast, a slice of mozzarella cheese and sauteed mushrooms.  Enjoy!

One Year Ago: Champagne Margaritas
Two Years Ago: The Birthday Flirtini
Three Years Ago: Raspberry-Lemon Dump Cake
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Layered Pudding

Our beautiful wood fired pizzas before they got re-purposed.