Ham & Cheese Omelet Roll

I have occasionally listed omelet roll in my breakfast menu. I thought you might enjoy some step by step photos to see how I do that with ease.

Here's the recipe I use-

12 large eggs

3/4 cup whole milk

4 oz cream cheese 

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt 

Yellow mustard

2 cups shredded cheese

2 cups diced ham

Preheat the oven to 350° and line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

Put the first five ingredients in the blender pitcher and blend smooth. Pour into the pan

I use the butt end of a table knife to get the corners to square up in the pan. Put it in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Check to see if it's puffed and done. If so, remove it. If not, bake a little longer- not longer than ten more minutes.

I use any cut of ham. Sometimes I can find cubed or julienne cuts of ham at our thrift food store. Or I'll dice up leftover ham. Here's what I used this time. (You could use sausage or another meat if you wish.)

Cut the ham and shred the cheese while the eggs bake (if necessary.)

There! It's baked.

Squirt the desired amount of mustard over the top.

Sprinkle the ham over the top.

Then the cheese.

Starting on the short end, roll it up using the paper to help you.

There it is. Bake it a few minutes longer, then slice and enjoy.

One nice thing about this roll is that it can be made ahead and reheated in the morning.

Counting Blessings

There is a challenge going on at Frugal Family Food. It's "low spend month" where we are challenged to use from pantry, fridge and freezer instead of getting as much from the grocery store. (Subscribe to their newsletter here.)

When the challenge was announced I thought there would be no way for me to participate. This is the time of year when my canned and frozen food is nearly depleted. Out with the old, time for some new.

But then I began to realize how much I had. One day I took pictures of things I was given and that came from our own farm. It has happened more than once that I decide to not buy as much and then God begins to shower me with food from sources I never thought of.

Peas and strawberries from the garden.

 20 lb bag of potatoes for $4.

 Milk from the cow.

Free cheese from my bro-in-law, who drives a food truck.

 Green things from our garden.

 Shucked peas (from our garden).

 Carrots from our friends' garden.

 Honey from our friends' bees.

 Eggs from our chickens.

 Blueberries from friends.

 Black raspberries from our orchard.

 Blueberries from our orchard.

Homemade butter.

Basil from the garden.

It is good to count one's blessings!

For a bonus here's a video of our youngest son mowing the yard. He has been bugging us for awhile to be allowed to do it. Our oldest was mowing with this same machine at 8 yrs of age. Why are we reluctant to allow the nearly 13 yr old youngest one to do it?

Southwest Pizza

For something different we enjoy a Southwest version of pizza. Make your favorite pizza crust.

This one isn't my favorite but it's grain free, made for me. I made a regular yeast dough with spelt for the rest of the family. They ate some of mine too.

Put a good layer of salsa over it. Medium was my choice. Use what you like.

Add a layer of burger. I like to use chicken or turkey burger but only had one pound of chicken burger so I added a pound of ground beef.

Next put on the onions and peppers.

Top it off with a good layer of Colby cheese. (Mine was free- from my bro-in-law who drives a food truck. We get rejected cheese and it's pretty good!)

The ooey-gooey goodness. Make one for yourself!

True story-
On Sunday we were baby-sitting a young family's children. The oldest is 9, the next is 5 or 6 and the youngest is 3. I remarked to the middle one that they could appear to be our own, stair-stepped down from Christopher. The youngest, who is fairly new to speaking, was listening and he surprised me by asking, "Do you want me?" 

Cheesy Chicken Chowder Recipe (Gluten Free)

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken
4 cups chicken broth
4 cups milk
2 cups peeled potatoes, cubed
2 cups peeled carrots, cubed
2 cups diced celery
2 cups cheese (I use American)
1/3 cup cornstarch
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Cook vegetables in chicken broth until tender. Add 3 cups of milk. Heat to nearly boiling while you dissolve cornstarch in the remaining cup of milk. Add cornstarch mixture to vegetables and stir until it returns to a gentle boil. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese until it melts. Add salt, pepper and chicken. Serve.

Did you notice how many ingredients begin with the letter C?

Chicken soups are so nourishing, especially if you make your own broth from bone-in chicken.