I baked a whole bone in ham in Sunday.  Slow cooked ham is always good, with any side dish you add to it , in my opinion.

Problem is, there is always lots of left over ham.  I freeze some of the slices for sandwiches later on, and it also gives me plenty of extra meat to make my homemade ham salad for quick lunches, and snacks.

Here is the easy recipe.  I have been making it this way for 5 years, and my family loves it.  Hope you give it a try.

It has a smoky flavor, with tang from the pickles, and a little sweetness to finish.

Chop the meat with a knife into small pieces.  (I remove most of the fat, and the skin from the baked ham.) You will need about 2 Cups chopped.

 Chop about 1 Cup hamburger dill slices finely, and add to the meat.

Add 1/8 tsp. liquid smoke, 1/4 tsp of the pickle juice from the jar, 1 Heaping TB Hellman's Mayonnaise, and 1 Heaping TB Miracle Whip Salad Dressing.  You can't see the liquid smoke, or pickle juice; but it is in here.

Mix to coat the meat, and pickles with the dressing using a fork.  If it seems a little dry, you can add a few more drops of the pickle juice.

Hope your family likes this as well as mine does.  It gets eaten pretty quickly.

Summer Flag Dessert

 I wanted to contribute a dessert pizza to the meal today.  Wanted to, that was; until I had an epic fail.

Finished Dessert

I haven't made one in a long time (in fact my husband can't ever remember having one, it's been that long).

I forgot that cookie dough enlarges and flattens as it bakes.  OOPS.

The sugar cookie dough I rolled flat for the crust baked past the edges of my baking stone, and flowed over to the oven bottom.

I tried (without success ) to transfer it to a larger pizza pan, upside down; with my husband's help.  I put in back in the oven, but it cracked, and fell apart.

Now what to do with these ingredients?

purchased roll of sugar cookie dough
2 bricks cream cheese
1 cup powered sugar
2 TB vanilla, divided
1/2 pint blueberries- washed
1 pint strawberries- washed and stems removed

Fresh Berries

Lay dough out of refrigerator and allow to warm slightly.  Roll out onto a cookie sheet, leaving at least 3" on the outside edges.

Bake according to directions.

Bake until crumbly, but not too dry, and browning is not necessary. 

When cool, crumble the cookie into a mixing bowl.

With a fork, mash one of the blocks of cream cheese into the mixture, and stir in 1 TB vanilla, until well blended, but still has large crumb pieces remaining.  Add the mixture to a 9" x 9 " square baking dish.

Cookie Cream Cheese Layer

I halved the strawberries, and added the blueberries to the left top corner, and the strawberries in lines all across the pan on top of the cookie mixture.

Berry Layer

    

You could stop here, and serve with whipped cream.  Just omit the powdered sugar, and additional vanilla and cream cheese, but I always go all in.  I made an icing from the remaining cheese, sugar, and other TB vanilla.  I whipped it up with a fork, so you do not even have to get the mixer out.

Icing

I added the icing to a zip sandwich bag, a couple of tablespoons at a time, and sealed the top.  Cut a small snip in one corner, and use it like a piping bag to add some sweetness to the top layer.  I dotted on the "stars", and squeezed the stripes in a line on top of the berries.

Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before cutting into squares, and spooning out.

Let me know if you like this one.  When life give you lemons.....