Oo! Oo! A threefer!

To make amends for not posting in what, a month? I have three recipes for today. Well, two and a half.

Today we've got Wicked Good Twice Baked Taters, which can be made from leftovers of Crock Pot Ham'n'Green Beans, followed with Spam-Fry. Which is actually tastier than it sounds, as I hate spam, but love this.

First up, the Crock Pot Ham'n'Green Beans

You will need:

1 Crock Pot
1 Big whonkin' bag of frozen (whole) green beans. (Or 2 boxes, or a smaller bag & a half)
1 medium potato, peeled & diced
1 cryo-pack of diced ham (if you're lazy, like I was) or a ham steak, cubed, or leftover ham. About a cup or two.
1 can chicken broth
Celery seed, pepper, onion flakes (or the real thing), and the teensiest bit of salt to taste, if you are so inclined.

Spray your crock pot with cooking spray, or, if you're really lazy, use one of those plastic oven bags to line it. Then, layer in about half your beans, the potato, half the ham cubes, another layer of green beans, and the remaining ham. (or just dump it all together, it'll get stirred eventually. I like having the potatoes in the middle though, because I'm weird.) Add your seasonings, and pour on the can of chicken broth. Cook it on low until you get home from work, or high for 2-3 hours (till the beans are unfrozen, the potatoes are cooked, and the whole thing tastes swell) stirring occasionally, if you can.

Serve with baked potatoes (yes, I know, potato overload. But if you don't how can you make fun things out of the leftovers?)

Wicked Good Twiced Baked 'Taters

The quantity depends on how many leftover potatoes you have. Do this for however many taters you've got, or mouths to feed. If you only have one tater and two people, cut the tater in half, and each of you gets half.

Cut the top off your tater so it looks like a canoe, hollow it out carefully with a spoon- set the canoe aside, you'll get to it in a minute. In a bowl, mash up the scooped out (and cut off) tater bits with a fork. Dice up a few of the ham cubes, add a few green beans (if they're nice and mushy) and a little of the broth, and add a bit of cheese (swiss, cheddar, whiz- whatever's in the fridge). Mix that all together and nuke the mix in the microwave for about one minute.

Scoop the whole shebang (and yes, it will be more than you think the potato can handle. Fear not, the potato is sturdy) into the potato, packing it tightly, and mounding it up like a little 'tater Rushmore. Toss the potato canoe (gently, ever so gently) into your handy toaster oven for a few minutes (just till your potato canoe is warm, and the top gets a bit crusty-ish). If you don't have a toaster oven, just nuke it for another few seconds.

Tasty.

AND... Spam-Fry

This is one of those accidental recipes. I just kind of threw together what we had in the house, and it didn't turn out half bad. (And if you have a Costco membership, those frozen Kirkland stir fry vegetables are fucking AWESOME.)

1 can Spam (preferably the one with the Spamalot can, just because.)
4 cups frozen stir fry veggies
1-2 packages of ramen noodles, whatever flavor floats your boat. I've done it with chicken, and Roast Beef flavors.
Soy Sauce to taste
a little less than 1/4 cup cornstarch, and about a cup, cup and a third of water. (or whatever you use to make your stir fry sauce with)

Open the Spam (spam spam spam) (as it tastes like ass when it's still in the can) and slice the log-o-meat into about 6 thickish slices. Cook these in a frying pan (or your wok, if you're fancy-schmancy) until they're nice and crusty on both sides. (Not crusty like a longshoreman, but crusty like the caramelized yumminess.) Remove the Spam from the pan, and cut it into strips or chunks.

While the Spam (spam spam spam spam spam) is cooking, you can start the veggies- I put them in a pyrex measuring cup, cover it with saran-wrap, and nuke them for about 3-4 minutes, so that they don't take forever to cook in the pan. You can also be boiling the water for your ramen noodles. Hang onto the sauce packet(s) It/they will be handy in a few minutes.

Once the veggies are partially cooked, toss them in the pan you cooked the Spam (spam spam spam) in, get them goin' and slide that Spam (spam spam spam) back on into the pan. Heat them through, and put together your "sauce". Add the contents of the Ramen packet, a few good shots of soy sauce (lite, for the love of Elvis- or you're going to need a gallon of water to drink with this), and corn starch to the water (or vice versa). Stir vigorously, and pour onto the goodies in the pan. When the cornstarch mixture thickens, and looks clear(er), it's done.

Serve over the cooked Ramen noodles. Sure, it's totally trashy, but it's pretty damned tasty.