Sweet Ham & Swiss Sliders

If you frequent food blogs, I'm sure you've seen these a gazillion times. I was thinking... hmmm... should I even post these?? But then I thought... a lot of my family and friends who don't frequent food blogs might enjoy them and not have heard of them at all.

So if you've seen a hundred versions of this, here's one more... or I'm sure it's probably almost exactly the same as tons of them. You'll have to keep reading to find out.

If you haven't seen them. Check them out!! They're pretty tasty!



Ham & Swiss Sliders
24 King's Hawaiian Sweet Rolls, sliced in half (2 packages)
24 slices of smokey ham
12 slices of swiss cheese
1/4 C mayo
1 1/2 TBLS Dijon mustard
8 TBLS butter
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp worcestershire sauce
1/4 C brown sugar

Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Place the bottom half of rolls on the baking sheet and spread each with some mayo.
Fold one slice of ham to fit on each roll.
Then add half a slice of swiss to each.
Top with roll tops.
In a sauce pan, melt butter, Dijon, onion powder, worcestershire sauce and brown sugar.
Pour butter mixture evenly over buns.
Loosely cover with foil and refrigerate 2 - 4 hours or overnight.
Bake at 350F, covered for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 or 10 more minutes until tops are golden and cheese is melty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Assemble sliders.



Pour sweet buttery sauce over them.


Bake at 350F, covered for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 or 10 more minutes until tops are golden and cheese is melty.


When I first saw these I instantly wanted them. I couldn't stop thinking about them until I actually made them.

These were really tasty! Everyone liked them. I even liked the leftovers cold the next day. Jon wasn't a huge fan of the cold leftovers. He thought the butter sauce was too greasy. Plus he's not a such a fan of cold ham sandwiches in general.

Anyway. These were tasty! Give them a try!

Islay's BBQ Ham Sammies

So the guys at work give me a hard time because I often complain about Pittsburgh. Don't get me wrong, I love living here, but it's definitely my #2 choice. I grew up in the Boston area and then lived near San Diego for quite a few years. By far Boston is my favorite! San Diego is a good place to vacation. But if you love rain and snow and changing of the seasons, it's definitely not someplace you want to live.

Most of my complaining is missing regional foods. I miss all the food in Boston. Pizza, Italian food, Seafood, even the Chinese food is different... try getting chicken fingers anywhere in Pittsburgh. I know you're thinking you can... but that's because you don't know what they're like from a Chinese restaurant in Boston... deep fried in that fluffy batter... so good... even cold outta the fridge the next day... oops... I'm getting off track here... and of course I miss the Mexican food of SoCal!

Anyway... I always say if I left Pittsburgh, there's no food I'd really miss. I would miss MadMex's Insane San Francisco Wings... and Mike & Tony's gyros... but really... that's about it for food.

They wanted me to try something uniquely Pittsburgh and suggested the Isaly's BBQ Chipped Chopped Ham Sandwich.

I decided it was time to give it a try.

First to get a little more info about it, I consulted my friend the internet.

There I discovered that Isaly's Chipped Chopped Ham is "hammier". Yup... that's right "hammier". I'm not sure what it's supposed to be more hammier than. It's definitely hammier than ice cream or roast beef or broccoli... but if it's supposed to be hammier than other ham... well... I don't get it.

hammy(er)


You're supposed to heat the Chipped Chopped Ham with Isaly's BBQ sauce. I found the BBQ at the deli of my local Giant Eagle. I had planned to get Original flavor and Spicy flavor. Unfortunately they only had original. So original it was!



I smelled the BBQ sauce when I opened it... and instantly it reminded me of Spaghetti-O's sauce, which I think is revolting. I was describing the smell to Jon, saying it smelled like sweet tomato sauce... he picked up the other jar and started to read the ingredients... The first two ingredients... Tomato Puree & High Fructose Corn Syrup... to be followed by more corn syrup a couple ingredients down. Well... at least it smells like what's in it!

I took a little taste... and it was WAY too sweet for my liking. I was thinking this might turn out to be a pizza night... even though the best pizza is at Wakefield House of Pizza on Tuttle St in Wakefield... unless you want Sicilian.. then you have to go to Morena's on Broadway in Wakefield... oh... sorry... getting side-tracked by the foods that I miss again!!

So I tossed the Isaly's Chipped Chopped Ham into a skillet. Then added the sauce. The salty ham did improve the taste of the BBQ sauce, but not really enough that I'd actually want to eat it. So then I poured in a big dollop of Jack Daniel's Honey Smokehouse BBQ sauce in an attempt to make it more edible.



That made it much better!


Yay! Dinner, while not authentically Pittsburgh, was at least not a fail.


It turned out to be pretty yummy.


So there's still not really much food I'd miss if I left here. Even though this turned out yummy, it's unlikely I'd make it again. I prefer my ham smoked and slathered with mustard!

Quiche for Co-Workers or Real Men DO Eat Quiche

So not too long ago I was really surprised to find out that one of the guys in my office had never eaten quiche. When I asked him about it, of course he said, "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche".

Remember that book from the 80s? I had that and Real Women Don't Pump Gas.


I can remember my dad, defiantly eating his quiche, while proclaiming that "Real Guys DO Eat Quiche!" Also, my sister and I weren't allowed to get our drivers licenses until we could not only pump gas, but also change a tire and change our oil!

So... silly stereotypes never applied in our house!

I decided that I needed to show my co-worker, that in fact, Real Men DO Eat Quiche.

It took me a few weeks to actually get around to it, but that is precisely what I did today!

Last night I was going to make Mexican food for dinner again (3rd time this week!) I LOVE Mexican food and could easily eat it every day. But Tawny, while she does like it, would probably like it a whole lot better if I only served it once or twice a month.

She read my facebook status of "is thinking about making taquitos for dinner" to which she replied, "can you like not make mexican anythingg??"

So I figured if I made Taquitos for dinner, while also making a Quiche for work... Quiche that she wouldn't get a piece of, things would be pretty cranky at Casa de Spryte. So in the interest of keeping a salubrious atmosphere at home, I made a Quiche for dinner last night... and one for work this morning.

(Ya know... I made the taquitos too... and she had one! What the heck?!?!)

Anyway... A pretty standard quiche. Mostly based on my sister's recipe, Jeannie's Little Quiches, but I made a big one instead of little ones.

Ham & Broccoli & Swiss Quiche
1 pie crust, unbaked
1 TBLS butter, melted

4 eggs
1 C half & half
onion powder
garlic powder
salt & pepper

1/4 - 1/3 lb ham, diced or shredded
1 C broccoli florets, cut very small
1/2 C diced Velveeta
1 C shredded swiss cheese

Pre-heat oven to 425F
Brush pie crust with melted butter and refrigerate while prepping filling.
Chop ham, broccoli and Velveeta. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, half & half, onion & garlic powders, salt & pepper.
Evenly spread ham, broccoli and both cheeses in pie crust.
Then evenly pour egg mixture over fillings.
Bake at 425F for 10 minutes. Then turn the oven temp down to 325F and bake 25 minutes longer, or until crust is golden and filling is set.
Allow to cool 5 - 10 minutes before cutting.

Do you have any idea how long it takes to find a pastry brush in this drawer?


A very LONG time!!!

Brush the pie crust with melted butter.


You can make your own pie dough. I 'can' make dough, and it's pretty good; but I HATE working with dough. So more often than not, I buy one of the boxes of pie dough that you just unroll into your pie plate.

But I crimp it myself.

Pretty nice crimping huh?

Ok... so stick that in the fridge and get to your fillings.

Chop ham, broccoli & Velveeta.

Yes, I know it's processed cheese... but it's really really good in this!



Also, this is the ONLY time that I use broccoli florets... and by florets, I really mean 'just' the tops. Most of my family hates broccoli stems.

I love them! They taste like broccoli (go figure). So typically I trim broccoli pretty short and Tawny & I munch on raw broccoli stems while I do whatever I'm doing to the broccoli. Ya know... they 'do' like broccoli slaw... what do think that's made of??

Anyway... get that stuff ready. And shred your swiss. I cheated and bought it already shredded.

Whisk up your eggs, half & half, onion powder, garlic powder, salt & pepper.


I didn't really measure the onion powder & garlic powder, I just sprinkled in a little of each.

Grab your pie crust from the fridge and put in all of your fillings.


Pour the egg mixture evenly over the whole thing.


Now pop that into an oven preheated to 425F for 10 minutes.

Then turn it down to 325F and continue baking for 25 minutes or until crust is golden and filling is set.

So while it was in the oven... somehow Tawny or I started singing a song from Grease. So that prompted her to run to her room and grab her Grease soundtrack CD. We had 25 minutes of quiche baking time... plus I was making Taquitos that she supposedly didn't want (but still totally ate anyway!!). So we were singing Grease songs pretty loud. Neither of us is a very good singer and that drove Jon out of the kitchen pretty quick. There might have been a little dancing involved too...


We'll get some overhead lifters and some four barrel quads oh yeah
(Keep talking whoa keep talking)

A fuel injection cutoff and chrome plated rods oh yeah
(I'll get the money I'll kill to get the money)

With a four speed on the floor they'll be waiting at the door

You know that ain't no shit we'll be getting lots of tit

In Grease Lightning

Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go

I could only tell you that because I'm pretty sure none of Tawny's friends read my blog... it probably wouldn't be "cool" to be singing and dancing in the kitchen with her mom... come to think of it... Tawny probably doesn't read my blog either. Well... now that I keep thinking about her... I'm sure her friends probably wouldn't be surprised.

Anyway...

So here's last night's quiche.


Don't mind the pumpkin pie recipe in the bottom of the pie plate...


Bob came into the kitchen and took a look at this.


He hadn't asked what was for dinner. If he had, and I'd told him we were having quiche, he would have opted to make himself something more to his liking. I know. We've played this game with quiche before.

But last night, with no questions, he came in and saw me taking pictures. He said, "There's ham & cheese in that? Can I have some?" "Dude! Of course you can!!"

I've told him over and over that he would love quiche. It's made entirely of things he loves. But no. Even after bites, no dice. I don't know what was different last night, but unsolicited, he asked for some, ate it and enjoyed it. He was a little disappointed that the green stuff was broccoli and not spinach. But it didn't slow him down. He just asked if I could put spinach in next time. Again I said, "Of course!".

Lilly however remains a quiche hold-out. Who knows, maybe next time will be her turn!

Now for the Co-Worker Quiche...

Recipe is the same. I cut everything last night, so I just had to throw it together this morning.

The only thing I did differently was during the baking.

I started off the same... bake in oven preheated to 425F for 10 minutes.

But then I only baked it for 15 minutes.

It sat on the counter for about 20 minutes while I finished getting ready for work. Then I covered it with foil and wrapped in a towel and brought it to work to finish baking.

There's a cool little kitchen at work that even has a stove & oven.


Isn't that cute... that's a little fridge on the right.

So I finished baking it for about 10 - 15 minutes in a 350F oven.

And here's the work Quiche


Now since Ed (the guy who said 'Real men don't eat quiche') was joking that maybe he shouldn't shave, so he'd be more manly eating quiche, I was thinking... maybe I should "man-up" the quiche a little... maybe serve it with steak? Hmmm... I'm not made of money... nah... Maybe bring a 6 pack of Iron City? Beer for breakfast! That's manly right? But my bosses might frown on that.

I decided to just serve it with fruit! Real men DO eat quiche! It doesn't matter what I serve it with!

My little prep area...

Freshly washed fruit... plates, forks, napkins...




Co-worker Quiche!


Everyone really liked it!!

I also found out Bill, one of the other guys I work with, had never eaten quiche either. He even asked for the recipe and sounded a little surprised at how easy it is to make.

Now both can attest that Real Men DO Eat Quiche!

Wow! I rambled on and on and on! Sorry about that!

Have a great weekend!

Mum's Easter Ham

Growing up, Easter was always celebrated at our house. The whole family came over. It was a TON of people! I really miss the huge extended family celebrations.

We always had ham and Mum always made it like this.



You'll need a ham (already cooked) I think Mum uses a canned ham and has the butcher at the grocery store slice it REALLY thin and tie it together.

I haven't had much success with that. The last time I tried, the butcher turned a big ham into a big pile of chipped ham. So I no longer try to have it sliced. I just slice it myself after it's cooked to serve. Mine isn't as good as Mum's because having it pre-sliced, all those yummy juices get all over every single slice. Ya know... next time I will try to have it sliced!!

Anyway!

You'll need:

Ham (however big you need to feed your family... don't forget to get a little extra for ham sammies with the leftovers!!)
Cherry Brandy
Pineapple Slices in juice
Maraschino Cherries



That's all.

Place the ham in a baking dish.


Arrange pineapple slices to cover ham.


Fill in all the spaces with cherries.


Pour about half a cup of cherry brandy over the ham & fruit.
(more or less depending on how big your ham is)


(oops... it's a little blurry... hard to pour stuff and photograph it at the same time!)

Pour on a some of the pineapple juice.


Now bake it according to the directions that came with your cooked ham.


Baste it a few times during cooking to get that yummy juice everywhere.


That's it!

Ham Salad Sandwich

I love Ham Salad. It's one of those sandwich salads, that I like smooth. No chunks!

I make this when I have leftover ham but often I'll buy some ham just to make Ham Salad.

You'll need:
Ham
Mustard
Mayo
Salt & Pepper
Bread

Put the ham into the food processor and pulse until it's ground.
If you don't have a food processor, you can just mince it really fine.


Add enough mayo & mustard to hold it together and salt & pepper.
That kinda looks like an egg... but it's mustard on top of mayo.


If you like it wetter add more... dryer add less... I like it just held together and mustardy. So I use more mustard.
You can use whatever kind of mustard you want. I like yellow for Ham Salad.


That's it.


Lunch time!


You could add onions or pickles or lettuce & tomato, whatever you like!

I like mine pretty basic.