It's been a Christmas of Ham. Melanie actually received a spiral cut smoked ham as a gift. We re-heated it a while ago and now the remains are stewing in pot. This is the second gigantic pot of ham stew this season. The first was the remains of a leg of pork foisted on us be Melanie's grandmother after Christmas dinner. Thankfully I received a bread machine so now we can munch on fresh aromatic loaves of pumpernickel rye while slurping down bowl after bowl of boiled pig and vegetables. If you are like me and received a bread machine for Christmas but have no idea what to do with it, don't despair

Go to your local library and check out "Bread Machine Magic" by by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway. These are fantastic resources full of great recipes with clear and thorough guidance that covers an array of ingredients and machines. The best part- bread is cheap. Flour, whole grain cereal, water, vegetable oil, eggs, salt, yeast- all abundant, all cheap. I also recommend tracking down a pizza stone- one of those earthenware baking slabs. That's another gift that sits in a cupboard often underused. Ask a a friend, they probably have one lying around in it's original box. Combine it with a good pizza dough recipe for your bread machine and you're set- delicious pizza awaits you. lab notes: