Italian Rice and Peas (Risi e Bisi)

This is a dish I'd been meaning to try for a while, and it was additionally a good use of leftover Thanksgiving ham.

Verdict: Homey, comforting, and not hard to make though it was a bit time consuming. If I had the ingredients on hand I'd make it again.

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RECIPE: Risi e Bisi (Hank Shaw, Simply Recipes)

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

Made because we had leftover ham still kicking around from Thanksgiving and a bunch of potatoes to use up. My mom sometimes made this dish when I was a kid, but I did not like hers because there was cream of mushroom soup in it. I went looking for one that was more my style and found one with a homemade white sauce and Cheddar cheese.

Verdict: This tasted fine, but it took a pretty long time to make. I don't think I'd go out of my way to make it again unless someone really wanted me to, but it was good to use things up.

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RECIPE: Scalloped Potatoes with Ham (Food Network)

Ham and Potato Soup

I made this soup to use up a bunch of things in my fridge and also because I happened to have a lot of ham and potatoes. Most ham soups have beans in them but my partner doesn't really like beans, and seeing as we've decided to prepare all our own food since we're staying at home due to a pandemic, I wanted to make something he would eat too.

Notes:

• I used a pork bone instead of ham bone. Same type of meat so I figured it would be OK.
• I only had fully cooked boneless ham. I cubed it and cooked it in the soup for the entire hour and would probably not do that again because it loses some flavor, though it wasn't terrible.
• I don't have an immersion blender so I scooped out half the soup and put it in the blender and I think it worked better. I like the contrast between fully blended and not blended, versus the sort of blended bits you get with an immersion blender (plus they're hard to clean...)

Verdict: I wouldn't go out of my way to make it again but it exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was.

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RECIPE: Ham and Potato Soup