Helen's Spam Fried Rice

What can I say about SPAM that hasn't already been said... probably not much. I can honestly say that I had never tried SPAM until pretty recently, and the following recipe is currently the only way that I choose to enjoy it, but wow... I never knew what I was missing. I'm still not brave enough to try the SPAM burger, which the can is usually enticing me with, but I could definitely see myself enjoying it in a variety of breakfast applications.

Christie's family was lucky enough to spent a couple years in Hawaii when she was very little and this is where my mother-in-law picked up this recipe. SPAM seems to be revered in Hawaii for some reason, it's found in all kinds of dishes there, so it's only natural that it be paired with the other thing that Hawaiians eat large amounts of... rice. I'm pretty sure you're able to get a side of rice at McDonalds' in the Aloha State.

Rice is always something that I make too much of, so making a smaller portion of this recipe would be a great way to use up any extras that you find yourself with. Also, as a note, this recipe works just as well without the SPAM... although, you'll probably want to add some vegetables (see below).

3 cups white rice (cooked)
1 can SPAM, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
2 eggs, beaten with a little water
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
Vegetable Oil

Optional:
Green onions
1/2 cup frozen Peas and Carrots Mix

Cook SPAM over medium high heat in a large heavy skillet for 5 to 10 minutes until browned. Remove from skillet and add eggs, cooking until scrambled. Remove from pan, add some vegetable oil if necessary and add cooked rice. Once rice is evenly distributed around skillet, add soy sauce and stir until uniform in color adding slightly more soy sauce if needed. Stir in SPAM and eggs, and peas and carrots, and cook until all ingredients are warmed through. Top with thinly sliced green onions if desired and serve.

Serves 6-8

Coming Soon: Weight Watchers Hearty Turkey Chili

Stir Together Cake

In Sweden, heart decorations are traditionally used around Christmas... this really throws the wife off every once in a while causing her to ask whether something is actually meant for Christmas or if it would be better to hold off on it and put it out for Valentine's Day instead. My usual response is to tell her that she can put things out for Christmas and then just leave them out until February, but this suggestion, like many of mine, is then greeted with some funny looks and a shake of the head.

I bring all this up because this recipe was shown made in a heart shaped pan in the lovely Swedish magazine that my mother found it in, which led me to believe that it was meant for Christmas. I happened to have a similar baking dish, which is what you see below, and thought that this would be a nice recipe to share on Valentine's Day.

The beauty of this dessert is how simple it is to prepare... you literally just stir everything together and pour it into a baking dish. As a side note, this made me realize just how much I love Nutella... it's not for everyone, but my inner dutch came through when I licked the spoon... I had it on my toast the next morning. Good stuff!

100 g butter
2 dl sugar
2 eggs
1 dl vanilla yoghurt
2 dl all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 dl Nutella

Melt butter in a small pan and let cool. Stir in sugar, eggs, yogurt and flour mixed with baking powder. Drop nutella into batter in 3 to 4 drops and stir with a spatula twice around the pan so the nutella is marbled throughout the batter. Pour batter into a buttered and floured baking dish, around 20 cm in diameter. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees in the bottom part of the oven until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Adapted from: My Mom's Swedish Magazine, (unknown)

Coming Soon: Helen's Spam Fried Rice