Happy New Year and Ham Stock

I took a bit of a break from posting the past few weeks. Well, not so much of a break, but I just didn't post 4 days a week like a normally do. If I felt like posting I did and if i was uber lazy, I didn't. Now that it's a new year I'm getting back into my old routine. It feels weird. For example, I had to think really hard about what time I needed to leave to drop Blockette off for school. How do I forget that in only two weeks??? Must be old age and senility setting in.

I made this recipe for Ham stock over a month ago. My best friend had a fancy ham dinner and, to my surprise, she asked me if I wanted the ham bone. You bet I did! I snatched that bad boy up and stuck it in the freezer until I ate up some of the leftovers in there. Once the freezer had some free space I made some ham stock.

I've made chicken stock loads of time in the crock pot, but I wasn't quite sure if ham stock would work as well. I found some ham stock recipes on Kalyn's Kitchen, 101 things every cook should cook, and Recipes and Reviews to use as guidelines.

Ultimately, I basically followed the same recipe as the chicken stock.

I used:
1 medium size ham bone with a small amount of meat and fat still on it
2 carrots cut into 3 pieces
2 ribs of celery cut into 3 pieces
4 cloves of garlic
2 small onions cut in half
10 pepper corns
1 bay leaf
5 sage leaves
2 sprigs of thyme
1 sprig of parsley
1 tsp cumin
a pinch of red pepper flakes

Dump all those ingredients in the slow cooker over night. In the morning, drain, strain and skim off the fat.

See wasn't that super easy? A perfect recipe for those of you like me who are having difficulty getting back into the swing of things.