I first tried ham balls when I did a dinner exchange with some friends. I was not very excited to receive ham balls as a meal, I thought they sounded disgusting. Well let me tell you, they are wonderful! They remind me of bacon a little bit. So, don’t let the name gross you out! You will need to grind the ham yourself at home in a meat grinder or if you have a great meat department in your grocery store like I do, they might grind it for you for free! It’s much easier if they do it so I would ask them first.
**This recipe makes quite a bit, so you can easily get 3 to 4 meals out of one batch.**

Ham Balls:
2 1/2 lbs ground ham
1 lb ground pork
2 lbs ground beef
3 eggs
2 c. milk
3 c. graham cracker crumbs

Sauce:
2 Cans tomato soup (make one can “zesty tomato” if you can.)
2 tsp. dry mustard
3/4 c. Vinegar (recommend apple cider)
2 1/2 c. brown sugar

Mix the first six ingredients for Ham Balls together. Shape into about 1 inch balls and place in greased 9×13 pan. Mix together the sauce mixture and pour over the Ham Balls. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for one hour.
**I usually place about 18 hamballs in a 9×13 pan at a time. You can either freeze them uncooked with the sauce covering them or you could also cook them half way through and freeze them.**

I like this recipe, it’s easy to throw together and is not healthy but it does have veggies in it!

6-8 chicken breasts cooked and diced up
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 10 oz can of tomatoes and green chilies (drained)
6 oz plain Doritos (I never measure this out but just crush some up until it looks good to me.)
1/2 c chopped green pepper
3/4 c chopped onion
1/2 c milk
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 lb grated sharp cheddar cheese

Crush up the Doritos and place in the bottom of a 9×13 dish. Mix the soups, milk, chili powder, green pepper, onion and chicken all together and pour over the Doritos. Place cheese over the chicken mixture and then top with the tomatoes and green chilies. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.

For those of you who don’t know what pasties are, check out this link to find out more. Growing up in Upper Michigan my husband and I both ate pasties in our homes. I have my mom’s pasty crust recipe below but usually for the sake of time and my sanity, I just use refrigerated pie crusts.

Pasty Recipe
This makes 4 large pasties and serves maybe 6-8 people
2 boxes of refrigerated pie crust (each box contains 2 pie crusts)
8-10 medium russet potatoes peeled and cubed
1 lb ground beef (preferably not lean)
1 medium yellow onion diced
*1-2  large carrots peeled with a peeler

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out the refrigerated pie crusts on a cookie sheet.

 Peel and cube 8 to 10 medium size russet potatoes and then dice one medium yellow onion.

 Crumble one pound raw ground beef into bowl with potatoes and onions, then generously salt and pepper the mixture.  I usually let this sit in a bowl and meld together in the refrigerator for a few hours.

If you are using a refrigerated crust, just unroll the crust onto a cookie sheet.

                                                                                                                             
Place the pasty mixture onto half of the unrolled crust.

Fold over the pie crust and pinch up the edges to seal the pasty shut.  I cut a few slits in the top with a knife as well.  Repeat the above steps until you are out of pasty filling or pie crusts. 

Place pasties in the oven to bake for one hour, they are done when the potatoes are tender and the ground beef is no longer pink. 

 * I don’t like carrot in my pasty but many people do.  You can also add rutabaga as well.

Homemade Crust Mixture:
1 1/3 c flour
1/2 tsbp salt
1/2 c lard (crumbly)
1/3 c cold water
Mix flour, salt and lard together, add a little bit of water at a time as you might not use all of it. Mix until well blended.  Roll out the crust in oval shapes.  You can make your pasties as big or small as you like.

Join me over at Mommy’s Kitchen for a Sunday Potluck of recipes and Beauty and Bedlam  for Tasty Tuesday Parade of Food! 

Tator Tot Casserole
Grandma Lorraine

1 lb ground beef
2 cans green beans drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag of frozen tator tots

Brown ground beef and drain grease.  Add the ground beef to a 9×13 baking dish, stir in the two cans of beans and the can of cream of mushroom soup and mix all together with the ground beef.  Spread the mixture into a 9×13 pan.

Top with frozen tator tots, bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes or until tator tots are cooked.

This dish isn’t the most beautiful thing to look at but it tastes good, is easy to put together, is economical and my kids really like. This is one of those go to meals when you don’t have a lot of time to make something.

I’m linking up here: