Lentil-Sage Soup with Ham

1 T butter (optional)
1 sweet onion, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 carrots thinly sliced
1 T tomato paste
1 28 ounce can whole tomatoes, crushed (or 28 oz of Hunts sauce and 14 oz of whole or diced)
4 c water
2 cups vegetable stock or broth or chicken broth
1 lb bag of dried lentils
1 ham bone, (with some meat on it)
1/4 cup minced fresh sage leaves (can use less)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
1 T parsley
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp Summer Savory
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fresh lemon (or lime juice) Optional
Sprinkle of crushed or ground red pepper (optional)

Melt 1 T butter in soup pot, saute onions, celery, carrots til onions are translucent.
Add garlic, tomato paste, stir saute a couple minutes.
Add canned tomatoes, water, broth, lentils, ham bone, herbs, pepper.
Simmer for 1 hour remove bone and let cool then shred/chop meat and add back to soup. Discard bone.

Great with corn bread.

Found original (vegetarian) recipe on Foodwine.com ( Lisa Ekus presents: Lentil-Sage soup- now in the archives ).
Choose whatever tomato products you have.  Some sauce and some pieces I think make the best combination.Today I didn't have any fresh sage so I just omitted it. I seldom use the whole 1/4 cup.
I never used to add the lemon, so that's optional, but now I like to add it if I have any on hand..
The more veggies the better.

Braised Cabbage with Ham

The braised cabbage recipe I usually make is with bacon, so in the interest of better health I made it with ham today. Well okay we didn't have any bacon but whatever, its still healthier. Trader Joe's had a spiral sliced unsmoked ham (nitate free) on sale a couple months ago and we had just eaten a ham so there were lots of leftovers and I froze them. This is a great strategy. We have been pulling out ham to make omelets, breakfast sandwiches, Hawaiian pizzas (as well as other pizzas), Sugie added some to her pork and beans the other day (very tasty) and now braised cabbage. 

 1 whole sweet onion, cut up 1 cup of ham (more or less) torn in bite size pieces 1 medium head of cabbage, chopped roughly into 1 inch pieces 4 cloves of garlic butter olive oil black pepper to taste 1 c chicken broth (optional) 3 T white wine Brown the ham in a little butter, remove. Add onion , saute in a little olive oil til tender. Put ham back in cook a few more minutes, then add cabbage. Stir and cook a few minutes. Add Chicken broth and garlic. Cook for about 15 minutes til cabbage reaches the tenderness you prefer. Add wine, stir and cook for another minute or two. Serve with a nice french or Italian bread. Notes: I like to cut the onions "chinese" style: cut in half vertically (thru the root)remove peel and cut off root. slice from one end to the other so you end up with little wedges. The original recipe called for 8 ounces of bacon. I never used that much. Usually about 4 slices, sometimes less. The original recipe used 1 clove of garlic, I like a little more :) I use much less than the original 2 T of butter and a little less than the 1 T olive oil called for. The chicken broth is my own addition since al dente vegetables are scorned here. It also gives it a little sauce which is good. As usual I omitted the salt. I didn't miss it at all, especially since the ham provides plenty on its own.