What to do with leftover boiled dinner!

     Other than making a soup, as I mentioned in my last post, you can do something else that's super easy and very tasty with your leftover boiled dinner meat and veg. You can make what is known 'round here as red flannel hash! I'm assuming its called that for the simple reason that loggers often made boiled dinners (after all, you don't need to be an experienced cook to make an excellent boiled dinner) and would then eat the leftovers the next day in this tasty "hash", more often than not for breakfast with fried eggs and piping hot biscuits. Seeing as how the traditional loggers garb included an almost mandatory sturdy red and black flannel shirt, this is one way it got its name. (BTW, here in Maine, most real Maine men still proudly sport their flannel shirts, especially during hunting season, along with the obligatory scruffy beard!) Another reason for the name is the color the dish takes with the shredded red corned beef mixed in.

     Its a bit too rich and heavy for our modern tummies to take first thing in the morning for breakfast.After all, we will not be headed into the cold damp woods to fell mighty pine and cedar! Instead we'll be having this hearty hash for dinner! I like making it, I feel connected to my roots seeing as my paternal relatives of old were stout Scottish loggers who were some of the first to brave the wild Maine woods and clear land for the more delicate colonists to settle! *why yes, that would be pride you here in my voice*
     OK, so lets get to cooking,

   First, preheat your trusty, giant and super heavy cast iron skillet with a good gob of butter in it,
   Meanwhile, chop all your cooked veggies and meat to bite size-ish pieces,

   Now dump your stuff in the sizzling pan, level out and cook on medium heat, stirring and turning occasionally, until the liquid is absorbed, season to taste with salt and LOTS of pepper,
   Now feed it to your husband (maybe even with some homemade biscuits), and don't forget to compliment his manliness, 'cause all men are mighty loggers, even if they don't all cut down trees:)