Ham Pockets

I could not wait to try this recipe and it definitely lived up to expectations! Simple ingredients and a neat trick with refrigerated crescent rolls are the secret behind this speedy all-in-one dinner. No one will ever know you whipped it up in less than half an hour...


[Prep: 10min / Cook: 15min]

Ingredients

- 1 tube of large refrigerated croissant/crescent roll dough (usually 6 or 8 rolls)
- 1 1/2 cups of cubed, cooked ham (about 200-300 grams)
- 3-5 oz plain cream cheese (1 package)
- 1 Tbs mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup shredded cheese of choice
- 1 small can (4 oz) of mixed peas and corn
[or 1/2 of a 4oz can of each]

Steps

1. Preheat your oven to 375F (190C) and unroll the croissant dough. Separate the dough into rectangles (do not split into individual triangles) and place on a baking sheet.
2. Soften the cream cheese if necessary and mix in a large bowl with the mayonnaise and cheese. Add the ham, peas and corn and stir until evenly coated with the cheese mixture.
3. Spoon the mixture evenly into the center of each rectangle of dough.
4. Fold the edges of the dough into the center and seal. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
5. Ready to eat!

[Serves 2]

Recipe adapted from Taste of Home: Simple and Delicious, 

Corny Ham Bundles

Note

• Don't worry about how you fold up the dough, just generally close them up. It looks ugly going in the oven, but quite presentable coming out. I was really pleasantly surprised by how pretty mine turned out...almost too pretty for my ugly/messy food blog!

Variations

• The original recipe called for a bit of ground mustard and celery seed to be stirred in with the cheese mixture. These are somewhat "odd" spices for me, so I skipped them. I'm sure they add a bit of punch, but we didn't miss them at my dinner table.
• The original recipe also only used corn for veggies, but I really wanted this to be a meal, so I added peas and carrots. The peas helped in adding flavor in place of the spices I skipped, but the carrots added a somewhat unpleasant texture since they didn't cook much. If you want to add some chopped carrots, I recommend quickly cooking them (boil, pan-fry or even microwave) so that they're nice and soft. Note this will add quite a bit of cooking time, though.
• Finally, the original version topped the dough with a bit of melted butter and crushed corn chips. Really not fond of unnecessary carbs, so I substituted grated parmesan cheese instead. Neither are actually necessary.

Quiche Lorraine

My mother's quiche is one of the foods I look forward to most when I go home.  So incredibly easy to make, though, I figured it was about time I got her recipe and started making them myself!  This is another French breakfast, a delightfully fluffy and cheesy egg pie that you can add all sorts of meats, veggies and seasonings to and fix up any way you'd like.  Below is probably the most common, the "Lorraine" which uses swiss cheese, onions and bacon/ham.  Quiche also keeps quite well, so you could bake up a couple one night or weekend and reheat a slice or two in the morning before work!

Oh, and if you think you're one of those "real" men out there that just doesn't eat quiche, just remember: French men eat quiche, and the ladies seem to like them ;)


[Prep: 10-20min/ Bake: 30-45min]

- 2 ready-made frozen pie shells (defrosted)
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups whipping cream or half&half
- 1/2 cup crumbled bacon/bacon bits or cubed ham/chopped up ham slices
- 1 cup shredded, cubed or cut-up slices Swiss cheese
- chopped onion (as desired)
- dash salt, pepper and cayenne pepper/chili powder


1.  If necessary, cook or prepare bacon/ham, cut-up the cheese & chop the onion.
2.  [optional] Place the pastry shells in the oven covered with a piece of aluminium foil and bake at 400F for about 5-10 minutes to help the shell cook.
3.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat eggs, cream and seasonings.
4.  Remove the pie shells from the oven and sprinkle the meat, cheese and onion evenly into the shells.  Pour the egg mixture on top and bake for 30-45 minutes until you can insert a knife in the center and it comes out clean.
5.  Let stand for about 10 minutes and ready to eat!


Notes

• Almost no matter what you do, the upper crust will burn a bit.  It's never really bothered me, but many recipes advise you to wrap aluminium foil around the edge of the crust while the pie is baking to keep it from burning.  A bit more trouble, but may be worth it.
• There is something just so incredibly fluffy about a restaurant quiche that is hard to replicate at home, but I finally uncovered the secret.  When you beat the eggs, separate the yolks from the whites and beat the whites first.  Whisk or beat the daylights out of them until they get really bubbly and foamy, then whisk/beat in the cream.  Finally gently mix up the yolks and swirl them into the mixture.  Just did this- it works!

Variations

Crustless "frittata" version with tomatoes and mushrooms

• As I said, you can add all sorts of things to your quiche.  Veggies like spinach, mushrooms and spinach are a good place to start.  You can also try swapping out different cheeses for slightly different flavors.
• From there you can try any assortment of things.  Some popular ones include:
• crabmeat or other seafood
• olives, anchovies & tomatoes
• ground beef & taco seasonings
• An important potential issue you may have is a lack of ready-made pie crust and a strong desire not to bake your own.  Here are some quick ways to make do without the frozen crust:
• Go crustless:
• You can just make it in a pie pan or casserole dish without a crust, but you can also add a bit (like 1/2-3/4 cup) of flour, biscuit mix or some crushed up saltine crackers to the mix to give it some substance.
• Make mini muffin quiches by just spraying a muffin tin with cooking spray and baking.  (might benefit from some flour/biscuit mix mixed in)
• Bake it frittata-style by either cooking the mix in an oven-safe skillet in the oven or by cooking it on the stovetop until it's heated through.  They say to cook it on the stovetop, just periodically lift the egg away from the edges and let the uncooked egg flow down, but I tried this yesterday without much luck.  It will cook through this way, but it takes a lot of attention, and just didn't taste very quiche-like to me in the end.
• I read a crazy recipe that claims you can make a quiche/frittata in the microwave by using a 2qt microwave-safe dish and running it on 70% power, stirring every 2 minutes until the egg is set (about 6-10 minutes total).  
• Substitue a quick crust:
• Layer the bottom of a casserole dish with refrigerated crescent dough before adding the filling on top.
• Flatten and layer plain bread slices across the bottom of a casserole dish (and maybe coat with a little melted butter).  Or flatten the slices of bread, cut into half or fourths and shove into a muffin tin to make mini quiches.
• If you feel like almost-baking, crush up 1 cup's worth of saltine crackers, add about 1/4 cup of melted butter/margarine and a splash of water.  Mix and then press into the bottom of a casserole dish or pie pan.

Holiday Ham and Cheesy Spinach Potatoes

One of my big guilty pleasures in life- ranking right up there with a mild soap opera addiction -is a deep fondness for the blue box, good old Kraft macaroni and cheese.  On those rare occasions when I find myself cooking for one, it's what I nearly always turn to.  What meat to pair with that lovely dish was always the challenge, though, until one evening I made a miraculous discovery at Singapore's Cold Storage: fully cooked "ham ends" in the pizza topping section [!?] in 400-500 gram packages for only about $2.  I threw those chunks of ham in a skillet and heated it up with a some honey, white & black pepper and a bit of soy sauce and WOW.



People may frown at serving chopped "ham ends" and macaroni and cheese for Christmas dinner, so I've adapted and tested the recipe on a whole ham and paired it with some cheesy spinach potatoes for the Holidays.  Though if you ever get the chance (or find yourself with left-over ham at some point), I do strongly recommend preparing it the original way...



Megan's Holiday Ham

- a squeeze bottle of honey
- about 1/4-1/2 cup of soy sauce
- lots of black and white pepper
- one fully-cooked ham for two* (preferably spiral cut!)
*small hams are hard to find and it's nearly impossible to get one that's less than a pound.  so be prepared for this meal to serve 4, or have plenty of left-overs for 2!

1.  If you have time, marinade the ham for a few hours or over night in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.  Put the ham and soy sauce in the bag and squeeze as much air as possible out of the bag.
2.  Preheat the oven to 350F and place the ham on a large piece of aluminum foil inside a baking dish.  If the ham is not spiral cut, cut a deep diamond pattern all over the ham, about 1/4" thick.
3.  Fold up the sides of the foil to form a bowl.  If you have a fully-cooked ham, pour the soy sauce from the marinade bag back over the ham (otherwise, throw out the marinade and use fresh soy sauce).
4.  Sprinkle the ham liberally with both peppers then squeeze honey on top.  Spread out the honey to coat the ham with a brush or spoon and be sure to get BOTH the honey and pepper into the individual spiral slices or cuts.
5.  Close the foil over the top of the ham and bake for 45min-1hr.  Every 15 minutes or so, open the foil and spoon some soy sauce juice back over the ham to baste it.  You may also want to add more honey and pepper halfway through cooking.
6.  Ready to eat!

Notes

• The standard rule-of-thumb for ham baking times is 20 minutes/pound.  However, for the sake of cooking in the flavor, I usually cook even tiny hams for an hour.
• If you have time and your ham will fit, slow cooking it for about 4-6 hours is a great way to really cook in flavors to your ham. 

Variations
There are countless great ways to flavor a ham.  A classic Holiday ham usually involves poking cloves into the diamond cuts on the ham, but here are some great baste/glaze combinations to try:

• baste: apple cider / glaze: brown sugar & honey
• baste: beer / glaze: pineapple juice & brown sugar
• baste: balsamic vinaigrette / glaze: honey or dijon mustard
• baste: orange juice and bourbon or whiskey / glaze: molasses & honey
• baste: root beer or Dr Pepper / glaze: brown sugar, ketchup & steak/Worcestershire sauce

Cheesy Spinach Scalloped Potatoes

- 2-3 red/new potatoes
- about 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1 cup shredded cheddar-based cheese blend
- 1/2 cup of milk
- half an onion
- bacon bits
- butter/margarine



1.  Preheat oven to 350F and melt a little butter in a small/medium skillet.
2.  Slice the onion and heat in the skillet until soft and just starting to carmalize.
3.  Wash the potatoes and cut into thin slices. Line the bottom of a small casserole/baking dish with 1/3 of the potato slices.  Layer with spinach and top with 1/3 of the cheese, onions and bacon bits.  Repeat for 2 more layers.
4.  Pour the milk over the top of the casserole and bake for 45min-1hr.
5.  Ready to eat!

[Serves 2]

Notes

• You can heat the milk with some butter in the skillet before pouring it over the pan or substitute buttermilk, full cream, whipping cream or softened sour cream for the milk.
• I've made this dish twice over the past week and have finally made a decision on fresh vs. frozen spinach.  Frozen spinach is a mess!  And a whole lot of trouble.  When I used fresh spinach on these the first time around, it stacked pretty high at first, but the spinach cooked down and the top layer had a nice crispiness to it.  It fresh spinach for me from now on...

Recipe adapted from Spinach Potatoes by erinsanders on Allrecipes.com