The ham that never ends...

Each year for Thanksgiving my family comes down from Virginia with a ham. It's their main contribution besides great company. My husband and I plan, prep, and cook our favorites each year. It is something we love to do and look forward to. We take time to plan our menu and this year we knew we needed to cut back. There are always so many leftovers . Guilt set in when we looked at our slated menu and heard that some of our usual guests wouldn't come this year. We knew what that meant. Our REALLY long list of casseroles, sides, accoutrements, appetizer plans (add random yummy things here) had to be skimmed down.
With grimacing faces and lots of "Are you sure?" We drew lines threw some of our favorites old and new. Grandma's Macaroni and Cheese casserole, out. Salmon plater, moved to Black Friday snack. Cranberry and orange relish, safe. We even tried to get a smaller heritage breed turkey. BUT the ham made the cut. 1) It is something my parents bring, so it required no work form us and 2) the leftovers go on forever. Hence...this post!
So far with the leftover Thanksgiving ham we have had...

• Ham sandwiches
• Fried ham with eggs
• Western omlettes
• 15 bean soup (using the bone) which we then froze half of
• Nachos (kind of random, I know)
• Macaroni and Cheese w/ ham roll ups

AND today I am using 2 cups of the ham diced in a Split Pea Soup.
I based my Split Pea Soup off this recipe:
Crock Pot Split Pea Soup

I only did a few things different like: omitted the potatoes (didn't have any), sautéed mirepoix before putting it in the crockpot, and used turkey stock instead of chicken.

It smells great. Now I just have to think of some more ham recipes because believe it or not, there is still more in the freezer. Ideas?

Potty Training: To MnM or Not to MnM

V goes to the potty at home, just not consistently. We've tried lots of little tricks and have had success for short burst with almost everything we tried; however, nothing works all of the time, everyday except going without (and we all know that just isn't practical or appropriate all the time). So I started reading and asking around and some of friends used mini M-n-M's as a special treat. Do you remember those? They are TINY.  Most of the time V goes and she forgets to even ask for one, but every now and again she says, "I want a blue one." It reinforces colors right?!?!  Can you tell I feel guilty? Should I continue this with a natural treat sans food coloring etc?

I don't mention it often or pressure her because sometimes she shocks me and will go all day long, and other days she always says, "I'm okay" when I ask her.

Big girl panties have helped, we use some cloth pull up trainers but she can't wear those to school and they are kind of hard for her to pull up and down herself. I can tell she knows when she has gone potty in them because she ASKS for a fresh. This totally reinforces that she is ready for toilet training. So we have explored some disposable training pants to send to school and use when she can't run around au-natural.

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