Ham Fried Rice

Fried rice is my go-to for quick weeknight dinners. It's super duper easy, I always have the ingredients on hand, and it's pretty tasty. My fried rice is totally not the greasy Chinese take-out version, but I love it so much. I crave it. 

For the rice, you can either used leftover rice, you can throw some rice on to boil when you get home from work, or you can even pop into the takeout place on the way home and grab a little carton of cooked rice. Don't judge, but I have a secret. I'm in love with Trader Joe's microwavable frozen individual brown rice packets. It seems more like real food than some of those other pre-cooked rice packets. And I love the nutty flavor and toothsome chew of brown rice. I try to keep peas in the freezer at all times too. Not only are they perfect for tossing into rice, but also pasta! And I mean, got a black eye or sore muscle? Instant ice pack! Can I tell you another secret? I also keep un-cooked bacon in the freezer, and then when I make fried rice, I just cut off a few chunks from the frozen slab o' bacon and throw it in. Add an onion, garlic, egg, some soy sauce, and lots of black pepper… and that, my friends, is dinner.

With Easter just around the corner, I thought this would be the perfect time to talk about fried rice, since you can totally throw some of that leftover Easter ham in there. Yep, Easter-ham fried rice. It's a thing. At my house anyway. And if you bake your ham with brown sugar, oh man. That sticky sweet sugary ham is puh-erfect in fried rice. I would even go as far as to recommend stashing a hunk or two of ham from your guests just for this purpose. You'll thank me later. 

Ham Fried Rice

Serves 2-4

Unlike some fried rice recipes, I like to mix the raw egg in with the rice, so that it almost coats it and cooks all around it, versus having chunks of scrambled egg. Check out my 'technique' in the instructions. 

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 large yellow onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup cooked, diced ham

3 cups cooked rice

Fresh ground black pepper

Sriracha

In a small bowl, add eggs and soy sauce, and beat until combined. Set aside.

Heat a large non-stick skillet or wok over medium-high, and add coconut oil. Once the oil is shimmery, add the onion. Cook onion until just starting to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another couple of minutes minutes (don't let garlic burn). Add peas and ham, and cook for a minute or so, until warm. Add rice and stir so everything is combined and rice is warm. 

Push rice mixture to outer edges of the wok and pour the egg in the middle. Let it sit for a minute or so, so that it's starting to cook on the bottom but is mostly still liquid, then start stirring, mixing the cooked egg into the raw egg. Slowly start stirring the edges of the rice into the egg mixture, until eventually there's no longer a well in the middle of the wok. Stir until everything is combined. Then sort of flatten the rice out, let cook for a few minutes, and flip it (with a spatula). Flatten once more and cook for another minute or so. This ensures that the egg is cooked, and it makes a nice crispy crust. 

Season to taste with black pepper and sriracha. I love lots of black pepper in mine! 

Ham & Cheese Waffles

It's March! And it looks like spring out there! I've learned not to pack up my sweaters too soon, though. We've had snow in May. But, I'm definitely excited for spring to hurry up and get here, I'm ready for asparagus! In other news, here are some things I've been digging lately. 

• La Roux! I may be late to this discovery, but I've become completely obsessed with La Roux and lead singer Elly Jackson! Their music is really far from my typical taste, but I'm loving it so much right now. I pretty much watched every video on You Tube. Watch this one. And this one.   
• Speaking of music, on a totally other different end of the spectrum, I saw my friend Kimber's band Della Mae perform at Wintergrass bluegrass festival last night. Those ladies are incredible! 
• My grocery store started carrying Midnight Moon moonshine! I bought the apple pie flavor and I loooove it! I really want the blackberry next!
• Did you guys read this article about the guy who found a baby in a train station, adopted the baby, and now, 10 or so years later, got the judge who did the adoption to do the marriage of him and his partner? Gah, it's incredible. I cried a little bit.
• Shutterbean's fig balsamic dressing. OMG. I've made it like three times in the last week. I also used it on a really tasty roasted chicken salad I'll share with you soon! 
• Have you ever shopped at Zulily? I have a friend who works there, and the other day she posted that they were having a TOMS sale. I bought two pairs. Plus a laptop sleeve. Plus a hat. 
• Along with everyone else on the internet, I'm in love with Jennifer Lawrence right now. But, I fell in a love a little bit before that, when I read this article.
• Amanda brought me this can o' maple syrup from her recent trip to Montreal. It's so good (and how cute is that can!?). Perfect for ham and cheese waffles!

Ham and Cheese Waffles

This is the perfect breakfast for someone who can't choose between savory and sweet breakfast. The salty ham and cheese goes so well with the tangy waffles (from the sour cream!) and sweet maple syrup. 

Serves 2 (makes 4 thin waffles)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large egg

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1/2 cup diced ham

For serving:

Fried eggs

Warm or room temperature pure maple syrup

Combine flour through salt in a large bowl, and whisk together. In a glass measuring cup, combine the sour cream and water, and whisk until combine. Add to dry mixture, add egg, and stir until well blended. The batter will be a tad thicker than you may be used to for waffles. Gently fold in the cheese and ham. Preheat waffle maker, and add a fourth of the batter to the center, close, and cook until golden. Repeat until you have four crispy, cheesy waffles. Serve topped with syrup and fried egg. 

Wordless Wednesday: Easter Dinner

For Easter, Amanda and I made an amazingly delicious dinner inspired by some of our favorite recipes, food blogs, and food magazines. We gorged ourselves on shaved Brussels sprout salad with pineapple poppy seed vinaigrette, roasted radishes with lemon brown butter and fresh chopped radish tops, asparagus and cheeses tart with buttery homemade puff pastry, crispy pommes anna with herbes de provence, Amanda’s crazy-good brown sugar pulled ham, and individual pistachio meringues with vanilla whipped cream (using our vanilla beans from Moorea) and strawberries soaked in orange flower water.

Tummy Ache

Ugh. I woke up sick to my stomach this morning. And... I loathe the term ‘tummy ache’ when used by anyone over the age of five. It gives me said ache. When I was 17, too cool for school, and on a flight to Arizona with Mel and Amanda, I was terribly nauseated. Mel, loving mother that she is, asked the 20-something male flight attendant for extra crackers, because I had a ‘tummy ache.’ I. was. mortified. I’ve spent my teenage and adult life trying to convince people that I am, in fact, over the age of 12… a ‘tummy’ reference from my ‘mommy’ when I was a teenager totally derailed the train. Ever since then I cringe when I hear ‘tummy ache’. (Sorry Mel).

Which is too bad, because I have them regularly, and ‘tummy ache’ sounds way cuter and more charming and appropriate than ‘morning sickness.’ I’ve always been prone to morning sickness, long before that kind of morning sickness was even an option. Waking up nauseous has always been a standard occurrence in my world, often times for no particular reason at all. You probably wouldn’t peg a food lover such as myself for someone with a weak stomach, but I was always the kid that threw up at birthday parties from too much cake and sugar. My stomach is a wreck on vacations, I get nauseous and faint if I don’t eat regular meals, and sometimes I just get stomach aches from the silliest things, like taking vitamins.

This morning was one of those mornings. I was planning on telling you all about the delicious mussels and chicken sausage in tomato, basil, and garlic broth that I made for dinner last night, but after this morning, I don’t really want to think about shellfish for awhile. And don’t worry, it was by no means the seafood that made me sick… I can tell when it’s ‘just one of those mornings.’ Needless to say, I ended up working from home today, which gave me an opportunity to make one of my all-time favorite comforting childhood lunches. Ham and cheese quesadillas—easy on the stomach, quick, and delicious.

Quesadillas, whether simple or complex, are one of my favorite things ever. In college, I lived off of quesadillas—either with bbq sauce and black bean salsa or with a bowl of chili and sour cream. In high school, Amanda and I microwaved tortillas and American cheese for afterschool snacks. In elementary school on snow days, sick days, no-school days, and weekend days, Mel would pull out a cast iron skillet and make quesadillas on the stove top. We always got excited for the blackened charred bubbles on the tortillas, and the crispy edges where the cheese sizzled when it met the hot skillet…these were the ones that only Mel could make. And, when we were really good, we would get the special treat of ham and cheese ‘dillas.

And even now, there’s really nothing better than crisp but chewy tortillas, melted gooey cheddar cheese, and sweet, salty thin sliced deli ham… a sure fire cure for whatever ails ya… even tummy aches.

Ham and Cheese ‘Dillas
I don't think these 'dillas really require a recipe, but just in case...

2 flour tortillas (if you don’t have homemade, I like Guerrero brand)
5-6 slices cheddar cheese (maybe more, depending)
2 thin slices deli ham
Oil or cooking spray

Heat skillet to medium, and lightly coat with oil or spray. Lay one tortilla in skillet, and cover with a single layer of cheddar cheese and both slices of ham. Take remaining one or two slices of cheese, and break into small pieces and layer on top of ham—I don’t like it too cheesy, so this is essentially the glue that holds the ham to the second tortilla. Cook for a few minutes on each side (I like to brush the top half with oil or spray before flipping) until cheese is melted and tortilla is charred and bubbly, but not burnt.