Tag Archives: ham

Kick’n Chive Ham & Cheddar Scones

My husband and I were lucky enough to travel to Hawaii this past May. One of the things we enjoyed most was drinking coffee on Kona, the Island of coffee. We drank so much coffee on Kona one night, I could not even fall asleep. There were so many coffee shops and coffee farms on Kona, I think at one point I got “coffeed out” if that is even such a thing. Ask my family they will vouch for me on that. This sign in this picture below somes it up.

There was one special spot we liked to go in Kona called Daylight Mind. It was a hidden gem the locals loved. Our tour guide, Katie, from Hawaiian Outdoor Guides for the National Volcano Park told us that you can almost guarantee to see Dolphins in the morning while you are enjoying your coffee. And of course we did

This restaurant/coffee shop is a true coffee cafe! We adored this place! The location is perfect! Right on the water with beautiful views of the ocean (picture below). I love the top deck seating area.

The coffee is so good and the service is stellar. Honestly we wish we could have went there every day. They even offer yoga in the mornings which I wish I would have had time to attend class.

They offer coffee classes and also have beautiful baked goods from mango macadamia nut sourdough bread to sweet blueberry scones and savory cheddar and chive scones.

This place made me want to go home and open a coffee shop. I love the vibes of this place and it truly is the perfect place to start your day! Especially when you are on vacation.

These scones pictured above inspired me to make these scones in the recipe below. It was one of the bucket list of recipes I wanted to make after our trip to Hawaii. I must say posting this recipe makes me want to plan another trip to Hawaii.

Yields: 16 mini scones Prep Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 cups of Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 Tablespoon of honey

1/2 teaspoon of roasted garlic powder (from Penzey’s one of my new favorite spices)

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, cubed

3/4 cup of Non Fat Buttermilk

1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce

1/3 heaping cup of diced finely lean ham

1 cup shredded 2% mild cheddar cheese

1/4 cup of fresh chives, chopped

Essential tools for the job & prework:

Mini Scone Pan; sprayed with cooking spray
Oven preheated to 425 degrees

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, garlic powder and salt. Add cold butter, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles wet sand appearance.
Stir in hot sauce, buttermilk, cheese, ham and chives until all ingredients appear wet.
Evenly divide the batter into the prepared mini scone pan. Place the scone dish into the center rack of oven and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until firm to the touch and lightly browned.
Allow the pan to cool on wire rack for 5 minutes and remove the scones on the pan and allow to cool on wire rack or serve right way.
Enjoy!

Muffuletta Pizza

One of my husband and I’s favorite vacations we went on was New Orleans in 2011. The culture in NOLA is very unique and welcoming. The food is amazing and like no other. We even attending a one of a kind cooking class at the New Orleans Experience to advance our skill-set on Creole Cooking.When we stayed in NOLA, we stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called Ashtons. In the morning we had an elegant breakfasts and the hostesses even prepared vegetarian entrees for me. For the rest of the day we would scout out local restaurants to eat. One of my husband’s favorite new foods he consumed on the trip was a muffuletta sandwich. The ingredients on a muffuletta vary from where you purchase one; however, one element says the same there is always a marinated olive salad spread topping off the sandwich. There is also some type of pork (ham, prosciutto, mortadella), beef (salami), & a cheese (provolone, swiss, mozzarella) on the sandwich.

Fridays are generally Pizza day at our home (homemade). Growing up Pizza Friday Night was always something I looked forward to as a kid. My mom would get us our favorite pizza and we would go next door to First Row Video and return a movie. It was the only day of the week we were permitted to have pop (and the way it should be), eat in the living room and watch TV at the same time. My husband’s family had a similar tradition with Pizza on Fridays, several years later, my husband and I still practice the tradition and look forward to the occasion.

I have made several variations of muffuletta dishes from pasta to the traditional sandwich, maybe even some muffins. This is a new favorite and a way to honor the tradition of Pizza Friday and take my husband I back to NOLA without a plane ticket.

This pizza recipe yields six slices

Ingredients:

1 lb Pizza Dough, Fresh (link attached my our recipe) or store bought for $1-2 at the deli of the grocery store (If you are using frozen dough make sure to let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight). If using dough that has been in the refrigerator allow the dough to come to room temperature an hour before placing in the preheated oven.

2/3 cup of Jarred Muffuletta Mix

1 Cup of precooked diced ham

1/3 cup of Reduced Fat Feta Cheese, Crumbled

1/3 cup of Italian Blend Shredded Cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
Form the dough to fit a deep dish pizza stone. I like to roll my dough out and then press the dough into the dish. Once the dough is rolled out, gently place fork marks randomly to allow the steam to escape during the baking process. If you skip this step large bubbles may appear during the baking process.
Once the dough is ready, place the muffuletta spread evenly on the dough leaving 3/4 of an inch boarder of the dough around the rim for the crust.
Sporadically add the diced ham on top of the muffuletta spread. Place the pizza in the oven and allow it to bake at 500 degrees for 20 minutes.
Remove the dish with oven mitts from the oven. Sprinkle both of the cheeses on-top of the pizza evenly. Return the dish back into the oven to bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted. Remove from the pizza from the oven place on cutting board and cut pizza to your portion liking and serve.

Ham, Swiss Cheese, Bell Pepper Quiche

I had some extra pie dough leftover from my rhubarb pie that I made yesterday for the family reunion and instead of tossing it I made this quiche for breakfast! I try to be resourceful whenever possbile. We had leftover bell peppers from the black-eyed pea salad so I threw those in the dish. My husband loves the combo of swiss cheese and ham so I tossed that in the mix as well. This is a good dish to clean out the refrigerator!

This recipe yields 8 servings:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup fat free half and half

1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 -2 oz of Swiss cheese (I cubed it but should have shredded it)

3/4 cup chopped Pell peppers (I had red, orange and green)

3/4 cup chopped yellow onion

1 TB fresh chives

1/2 to 3/4 tsp freshly ground pepper

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup diced ham

4 eggs and 1 egg white

1 tsp sriracha sauce

1 premade pie crust dough (homemade or store bought) homemade is just as easy as unwrapping the store bought)

Directions:

1. Whisk together eggs, sriracha sauce, salt, pepper in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Roll out you dough to fit a 9 inch pie dish. Place in pie pan. Add bell pepper, ham and onion on top the pastry. Mix to spread everything evenly.

3. Top with both cheeses and fresh chives. Pour liquid egg mix over top veggies and the proteins.

4. Bake on 350 degrees for 1 hour or until knief comes out clean.

Horseradish ham cheddar and egg biscuits

Breakfast on Sundays at the Ulam’s is always warm. This is something quick you can make in a few minutes. It is not 100 % homemade, I did cheat a little with Pilsbury small biscuits but they could be made easily with homemade biscuits.

This recipe yields 10 muffins.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Ingredients:

One container of small biscuits (Pillsbury) <10 per container>

Three large eggs and 4 egg whites

One large piece of ham about 2- 3 ounces (diced)

1 tablespoon of homemade horseradish (my grandma’s is the best & homegrown)

half a cup of cheddar cheese

1 to 2 tablespoons of chives

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Place eggs, egg whites, horseradish and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk to incorporate. Set aside.

Cooking spray 10 muffin tins to prepare the dish for the oven. Take the biscuits and flatten slightly to press into the tin.

Evenly destribute the ham (scant TB) on top of the flatten biscuit.

Add the cheese next, about heaping TB.

Add the egg mixture, make sure to divide evenly. Each tin takes about 2.5 tbs of mixture each.

Sprinkle with chives. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Enjoy!

Hot Mess Eggs and Ham Crescents Pops

We had another sleepover this weekend to continue the birthday celebration. We kicked off the weekend by going to the Garth Brooks show. My parents stayed the night and in the morning I didn’t have enough time to make something entirely from scratch. I found a recipe from another blog and modified the ingredients and made some changes. Well these were a Pinterest mess. The Blogger had incomplete directions and clearly used quail eggs. But needless to say overall tasted good. Next time I will make changes (changes to make noted below).

1 roll of fat reduced crescent rolls
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 cup hash browns
4 chicken eggs (I used 6 but had some overspill; see pic below)
1/2 tsp season salt (tastefully simple)
1/2 tsp salt free seasoning (tastefully simple)
2 green onions chopped
1/2 cup of chopped ham
Cooking sprays
Salt and pepper to taste

Yields 8

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cooking spray muffin tin 8 Cups.

Place frozen hash browns in a medium hot sauté pan with cooking spray to coat pan. Season with salt and pepper. Heat until lightly brown.

In the meantime place the crescent rolls folded into a square into muffin tins. Press the dough firmly down into pan (this is one step the blogger forgot to mention and I think will help prevent over spill).

Portion out a heaping TB of ham and hash browns on top of dough.

Set aside. In a separate medium bowl whisk eggs and seasoned salt and salt free seasoning. Pour into measuring cup with spout (this makes for easier pouring into the tins.)

Fill tins about 2/3 full ( don’t follow my pics).

Top with Tb of cheese.

Top with green onion about a heaping 1-2 tsp.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Picture right out of the oven. They look like they have little skirts.

Eggs Benedict Casserole

I got my taste of home magazine a few weeks back and I have been dying to make the Eggs Benedict Casserole recipe on page 55. One of my husband’s favorite breakfasts is Egg’s Benedict. The original recipe made enough for 12 people so I cut it down to 1/3 of the original. Here is the original if you’d like to view it Eggs Benedict Casserole . I also tried to cut down the calories as well by using skim milk, whole wheat bread, & egg substitute.

Ingredients:
4 to 5 slices of toasted or stale wheat bread ( cut into 1″ pieces)
1/2 tsp paprika
3/4 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup skim milk
Pepper to taste
1 cup chopped ham
1/2 tsp onion powder

Hollandaise sauce
3 egg yolks
1 tsp lemon juice
1 TB melted butter
1/8 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup fat free half and half
1 tsp Dijon mustard

Spray an 8 by 8 glass baking dish with Cooking Spray.

Place 1/2 cup of ham on the bottom of the dish. I browned my ham up in the skillet for a few minutes (my ham was frozen). So adding this step helped crisp up the ham.

Now add the toasted/stale bread to the ham.

Pour milk mixture evenly over the bread and let rest for overnight or at least an hour.

Take out of refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before placing in preheated 375 degree oven. Sprinkle with paprika and pepper before placing into oven.

Bake covered for 30 minutes.