WHY NOT TRY POOR MAN'S HAM SALAD?

Yep, that's what my Mama called it  "Poor Man's Ham Salad".  We were just country folk in my little hometown.  We never went hungry...but we were far from fancy,  but you'd never know it.  Mama made the finest linens for her table,  she made curtains for our windows,  and she made aprons for every occassion and you can bet the HOLIDAY ones were starched stiff and laden down with RIC-RAC and ribbon,  and at least one was trimmed in velvet.  She made them all on her old singer treadle machine from scraps of material she would find at the Salvation Army and neighborhood yard sales.  You would never think us poor because Mama made all my fancy Church dresses with ribbons and bows and they were beautiful.

When it came to food my Mama and Daddy raised most everything we ate or Daddy worked for neighbors who payed him in fresh kills of meat like beef and pork products.  The one thing Mama would never waste was food.  In her eyes those meats were for Sunday dinner.  She would never have made HAM salad...but she did...or at least people thought she did.  The church always asked mama  to make Ham Salad for thier dinners, just as a tie -me- over, or if someone was getting married and wanted a sandwich food  they'd call for Mama's Ham Salad.  As I got older and Mama made Ham Salad I asked her if she was ever going to tell her unsuspecting church members about her secret.  She would just laugh and say "Of course not...it's ham salad...poor man's ham salad."  That means it is made with BOLOGNA.  That's what we called everyday ham LOL.

Down through the years I have made this same dish and people will say"  that's the best Ham Salad I've ever tasted."  Yea I must admit...I don't tell them either.  Just like my Mama I smile and say "I'm glad you like it."

Well my secret is out because I have recieved e-mails from my friends back home asking for my Ham Salad recipe for the Hoilidays...so I thought I'd post it here for your enjoyment.  It makes for a great appetizer....before the real food gets here.

                                       POOR MAN'S HAM SALAD

NO,  I do not buy expensive store brands and this is not a recipe for anyone who eats nothing but BEEF products...because I buy Sav-alot brand of ROLL bologna red package. (Back home it would have been nothing but CAVALIER brand).

1/2 roll of bologna  ( I  always hand ground  mine with the old grinder...I have just recently used one of those pulse grinders...it cut my time in half) .  I grind each item until small consistency.    I use a big bowl and just drop all the ingredients in together,  I use a particular order just for messes sake it helps keep your project running smoothly. Grind 1 Large onion and  1small,   grind 6 boiled eggs (SHELLED  of course).  grind 1 large  block package of  American cheese. grind  7 large dill pickles.  Add Mayonaise or Salad dressing (the mayonaise looking kind not the salad kind of dressing (when Mama said salad dressing I made mine with ranch  it was  horrible but Mama got a kick out of that,  then she laughed and said she thought I knew..I didn't)  The Mayonaise or salad dressing should be added slowly ...too much makes it nasty and waterery when it sets.  There should be enough Mayonaise to make it moist and tasty.  That's always the key to any southern dish...taste it.! Add salt and pepper.  I store mine for about 20 minutes in an air tight container. It makes about 16 sandwhiches cut in half.  I bought store made Ham salad one year for Christmas (Because I was lazy) and while everyone else was enjoying the get together I was in the kitchen making Ham Salad...because they were looking forward to for weeks..  Won't make that mistake again.  Oh yea and it is great on crackers           MMMMMM