The Easter Leftover Dinner Doldrums.

I do hope that your Easter weekend is turning out as you wished. Whatever your beliefs and plans, I am sure that one of your challenges in the next day or two is that of leftovers. I don’t mean leftover chocolate of course, because there is no such thing, only chocolate put aside for later eating – postponed chocolate, if you like.

I am not going too far back historically speaking, for today’s story - a mere half century is all. I give you a short article on the ‘leftover dinner doldrums’ from New York Amsterdam News of April 20, 1957, and wish you inspiration for whatever is in your own refrigerator.

Ham and Egg Loaf Solves the Easter Monday Menu Leftover Dinner Doldrums.

Three out of every four families will enjoy the traditional Easter Sunday baked ham on the dinner menu at home or in the restaurant.

But for the homemaker, Easter Monday leftovers pose a problem. There is the leftover baked ham, and there are the leftover hard-cooked eggs which were used to fancy-up the Easter baskets.

Boon or Bore.

At this point, your Easter leftovers can be turned into either a boon or a bore – depending upon how they make their second appearance at the table. But with added ingredients and a change in form, they can add exciting variety to the family dining table. This is especially true of large cuts of meats – like your Easter ham – often bought in bulk and thus not eaten all at one time.

In order to do a two-fold job at one time, we’ve planned an excellent way to dish up the next day Easter ham and the hard-boiled eggs.

Glazed Ham and Egg Loaf.

1 cup milk

2 cups minced cooked ham

⅛ teaspoon thyme

¼ teaspoon sage

1 egg, lightly beaten

28 Premium Saltine Crackers rolled to coarse crumbs (about 1 ½ cups)

⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

4 hard-cooked eggs

Combine all ingredients except hard-cooked eggs. Mix thoroughly. Put half of mixture in bottom of greased (5” x 8”) baking dish. Lay peeled, hard-cooked eggs lengthwise in center of mixture, press down firmly. Bake in moderate (375 degrees F.) oven twenty minutes. Spread glaze on top of loaf and bake another fifteen minutes. When cut, there’s a slice of egg in the center of each piece.

Glaze: Combine ¼ cup cider vinegar wit ¼ cup water and 1 cup brown sugar. Boil until mixture is a thin syrup (about ten minutes.) Drizzle over loaf and serve remainder as sauce for slices.a