Green Beans and Ham

I'll list the ingredients exactly like I made this for dinner tonight. You can vary the amounts of everything to suit your family needs.

Ingredients:

• 1 (4 lb.) ham
• 2 lbs. fresh green beans, stem end trimmed off, broken in half
• 4 medium large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• water
• ham flavored bouillon

Quick Pickles:

• 1 large tomato, in small wedges
• 1 small onion, cut in half and sliced
• 1 cucumber, peeled (if you like it that way) and cut in thin slices
• 1 handful green grapes
• 1 handful red grapes
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 - 2/3 cup water
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. basil
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• fresh pepper

Directions:

Put the ham in a roasting pan and add water to come about half-way up on it. Roast it at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours. Check the water periodically to make sure it's not cooking dry. You may have to add a little more water, but don't add too much because you want the richest broth you can get.

While it is roasting, prepare the quick pickles. You can use any veggies you like. Sliced peppers taste good and yellow peppers make the pickles even prettier. Hot peppers add a little zing, and are especially good with the grapes (grapes add a really nice note - vinegary vegetables, then the sweet crunch of the grapes. Adding them is the only thing I change from Mom's meal).

Cut them into bite size pieces. Put them in a bowl. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a jar with a tight lid. Shake them until the sugar dissolves, then pour over the veggies. Stir them from time to time to make sure they all get time in the marinade.

When the ham is done, take it out of the broth and wrap it in aluminum foil. This will keep it nice and hot until you serve it. Put the prepared green beans in the broth, and add water to come close to covering the beans. Taste it, and add enough ham bouillon to make it taste really good. I never add salt to this - the ham and the bouillon are salty enough. (If you haven't tried ham bouillon, you should. It is really good to have on hand for flavoring bean soups, vegetables, and all sorts of things).

On the stove top, put the pot on medium heat and bring the beans to a nice simmer. Peel and cut the potatoes, and add them to the pot. Put the biscuits or rolls in the oven. The beans, potatoes, and biscuits should be done at the same time, but if the biscuits are done first, take them out of the oven and cover them with foil or a clean dish towel to keep them hot.

While everything is finishing, drain the marinade off the veggies and put them in a nice serving bowl. In such a short time, they will have a nice pickly taste, but still have their own fresh taste, and be nice and crunchy.