Have you  noticed that recipes in the media have grown more complicated during this pandemic?  I guess they’re thinking that  people have more time to fiddle around with unusual ingredients and longer prep time.  But now,  you want nostalgic dishes that remind you of happier times.  Pandemic stress calls for comfort food , made without canned soup. 

High on the list of comfort foods in the USA are soups and casseroles.  What’s wrong with that?  Nothing, if you make them with natural ingredients   But here’s a list of additives you get in canned soups that really don’t give you that taste of home:  Sodium phosphate, whey, soy protein concentrate, yeast extract, potassium chloride, lactic acid, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate and beta carotene. That’s just a few of the ingredients listed on the label of one can of store-bought Cream of Chicken soup.  

 One of my favorite comfort foods  is Ham Potato Casserole.  Remember when they served it at your school cafeteria?  I can’t think of many restaurants that have  it on their menu.  Your mom may not have made it, but I’ll bet your granny did.  At one time, it was a way of using up the left overs from a baked ham. That was when frugal people didn’t waste a smidgen of meat left on a bone.   Not many of us bake a whole ham nowadays.  But you can buy packaged, diced ham, which greatly simplifies things.  

When you go on the net looking for Ham Potato Casserole recipes, you’ll find that many of them call for canned soup.  But it’s so much easier to make it the old fashioned way, starting with a simple white sauce.  You don’t really have to follow a recipe after that.  Just throw in some cubed, cooked potatoes, cheese, diced ham, and  green beans.  Mix it altogether in a casserole dish, and bake, covered for 30 minutes.  Your family will want seconds, I promise.  So make plenty.  

If you feel more comfortable following a recipe, here’s one that serves 4: 

Milk: 1  1/2 cups

Butter: 3 Tablespoons 

Flour:  3 tablespoons 

Onion finely chopped: 2 tablespoons

Idaho potatoes, boiled for half an hour, then peeled & cubed:    2

Fresh green beans, trimmed and cooked while boiling the potatoes:  1 cup

Packaged diced ham:   1 cup

Shredded Cheddar cheese:  1 cup 

Directions:

In saucepan, saute onion in butter. Stir in the flour, until blended. .  Gradually whisk in milk until mixture has thickened.  Turn off heat. Add cheese.  Arrange potatoes, ham, and green beans in a baking dish and cover with the white sauce/cheese mixture. .  Cover with foil. Heat in 350 oven for half an hour, or until bubbly..  

Notice, I don’t add seasoning  to the white sauce..  The cheese and ham are plenty salty and some people are allergic to pepper.  Provide salt and pepper shakers for those who want it. .  You can leave out the green beans, or serve another vegetable  as a side dish.  

Enjoy!