Onion & Ham Frittata

After Thanksgiving (and Christmas), I always have so many leftovers I don't know what to do with them all! I'm not the only one with that problem either, I bet. We have a tendency to cook excessively during the holidays. No one wants guests going hungry, right? But then the after holiday dilemma begins...

How do I use up all these leftovers in a new and interesting way?

I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and today I want to share one with you. I particularly like using my leftovers to create breakfast.

Onion and ham frittata

One of the easiest breakfasts around is frittata. Not only do I get to use my cast iron skillet, which I adore, but these recipes are quick and satisfying. Perfect for feeding those out of town guests, and using up a bit of your leftovers in an interesting way. Pair this with some potato pancakes (using your leftover mashed potatoes!), and you'll have a hit.

After this Thanksgiving, I used some of my leftover ham to create this Onion and Ham Frittata. Ready to make one yourself? Awesome! You can also use some of your leftover herbs in this, and any odds and ends that didn't get used in your holiday cooking. I had a block of cheese that didn't make it into any recipes, some cream, and an onion as well. Waste not, want not!

Ingredients

To get started, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl whisk together 8 eggs, ½ cup half-n-half, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Add in about a tablespoon of any fresh herbs you like, or a teaspoon of dried. I didn't have any fresh herbs left, but I used a bit of this mushroom blend I picked up at Target a while back:

To the egg mixture, stir in 1 cup of white cheddar cheese, or any other cheese of your choice. Always shred cheese fresh, my friends! Those bags of pre-shredded cheese usually contain cornstarch or other additives to prevent the cheese from sticking and to preserve them longer. You'll notice a difference with fresh grated cheese, I promise.

Enough of my soap box. Back to the recipe.

Set aside your egg mixture for now. Warm your 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, and melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the bottom. Add a diced onion to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes, then add 1 ½ cups of leftover ham (diced) and 2 cloves of minced garlic, if you have it on hand. Cook another few minutes, just until the ham is warmed through and the onion begins to brown.

Pour your egg mixture into the skillet, but do not stir. Let this cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, and then put your skillet into the oven for another 10-15 minutes. You want the center of your frittata to just set before removing it. Cool on the counter about 5 minutes before slicing the frittata. Serve with fresh fruit, and perhaps some potato pancakes.

Yum!

Hubs and I love frittata in the morning. You can individually wrap the slices and freeze them as well. To warm them up, cover with a damp paper towel and microwave for a minute or two. Delish!

What do you do with all your holiday leftovers? Comment below, peeps. And until next time, happy cooking!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Follow me on Facebook @ OurArmyLifeAccordingToTheWife
or on Instagram @ ArmyLifeFromTheWife

or on Pinterest, my newest obsession @ ArmyLifeFromTheWife

Email me: armylifefromthewife@gmail.com

The Standard Form:

Onion and Ham Frittata

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups leftover ham, diced

1 yellow onion, diced

8 large eggs

½ cup half-n-half

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon fresh herbs of your choice, or 1 teaspoon dried (suggestions: basil, tarragon, chives, mushroom blend)

1 cup white cheddar cheese, shredded (Or cheese of your choice. Suggestions: pepper jack, Monterey jack, Gouda)

1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk together the eggs, half-n-half, salt, pepper, and herbs of your choice. Stir in the cheese and set mixture aside.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onions to the skillet and cook for 5 minutes, then add the ham and minced garlic. Continue cooking until the ham is warmed through and the onions begin to brown. Pour the egg mixture over the top of the onions/ham. DO NOT STIR. Continue cooking over medium heat for 5 minutes.

Place the cast iron skillet in the preheated oven. Cook the frittata for 10-15 minutes, or until the c enter is set. Cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Bell Pepper and Potato Frittata

With the summer months heating up, I've become really interested in recipes I can make and then freeze in individual portions. For breakfast, frittatas are a great solution. The combinations are endless, providing plenty of variety. And they warm up easy in the microwave. You might remember I shared my Bacon, Basil, and Feta Frittata recipe a while back, yes? It's so yum.

This is my newest combo. The potato adds some heartiness for those mornings when you just want a little something more.

Bell Pepper and Potato Frittata

Ready to get started, peeps? Ok, here goes:

The ingredients

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then, in a large bowl, whisk together 8 eggs with ½ cup of half-n-half, 1 cup of pepper jack cheese and some salt and pepper (to taste). Set this mixture aside for now and pull out your cast iron skillet (10").

Warm the skillet over medium heat and add 8 slices of chopped bacon, like so:

* Note: I often prepare my filling the evening before, then cook the frittata in my cast iron the next morning. You can do this too if you want to save some time in the morning *

When the bacon is cooked through, remove it from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain. To the bacon grease left in the skillet, add 1 diced yellow onion, 1 diced bell pepper (any color or combination of colors), 2 cloves of minced garlic, and 1 grated potato (I used a yellow one, but I think a red potato would be awesome too). Potatoes grate easy using a regular cheese grater.

Cook this over medium heat until the potatoes are tender and browned, about 15 minutes. Then stir in an ⅛ cup of fresh parsley.

Pour your egg mixture over the potato mixture in the skillet.

Cook in the skillet over medium heat, without stirring, for 5 minutes. Sprinkle an extra ½ cup of pepper jack cheese over the top and then transfer your cast iron to the pre-heated oven for another 10 - 15 minutes,  or until the center of the frittata is set. Cool at least 5 minutes before slicing.

As always, the standard recipe is below. Until next time, happy cooking!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Follow me on Facebook @ OurArmyLifeAccordingToTheWife

or on Pinterest, my newest obsession @ ArmyLifeFromTheWife

Email me: armylifefromthewife@gmail.com

Bell Pepper and Potato Frittata

Ingredients:

8 eggs

½ cup half-n-half

1 small yellow onion, diced

8 slices bacon, cut into 1” pieces

1 ½ cups pepper Jack cheese, freshly grated

1 bell pepper (any color or combination), diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 cup chopped parsley

Black pepper and salt, to taste

1 small potato (either red or yellow), grated

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk together the eggs and the half-n-half in a large bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste, and 1 cup of the pepper Jack cheese. Set aside.

Cook the bacon pieces in a 10” cast iron skillet over medium heat until cooked through. Remove from the skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain. Add the onion, potato, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet with the bacon grease (if necessary you can add 1 tablespoon of butter to the skillet). Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are tender and browned, about 15 minutes. Stir in the parsley.

Pour the egg mixture into the skillet. Cook over medium heat, without stirring, for 5 minutes.  Sprinkle the remaining  ½ cup of pepper Jack cheese over the top of the egg mixture. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven.

Cook 10-15 minutes or until the center of the frittata is set. Cool 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Bacon, Feta, & Basil Frittata

I love breakfast food. I mean, like I could eat it for every meal and be totally happy. The Hubs on the other hand, he thinks breakfast is a turkey sandwich.

I've been trying to break him of this habit, but it's no easy task. You see, the Hubs grew up with what I like to call "food prejudice". Certain foods are simply not eaten, and others are disregarded even if they've never been tasted. He also has an annoying habit of claiming he doesn't like something, when in reality, he has no reason for this assumption. Or he doesn't like a particular item because once, many moons ago, someone (not me) made said item for him and did a bad job. 

Sometimes I think I live with a 10 year old. I love him like mad, though, I really do. 

Anyway, the Hubs is prejudiced against breakfast food for the variety of reasons named above. My mission for several years has been to prove him wrong. Slowly but surely, I've been changing his mind. We have breakfast on weekends, and he actually eats it. And enjoys it! We sometimes even have breakfast for dinner. 

My latest attempt to convert him resulted in this wickedly good fritatta, inspired by my pal Jen the Baker. 

Bacon, Basil, and Feta Frittata 

If you're wondering, the Hubs is a fan! I froze a few slices, but he ate the whole fritatta in a couple days. Since he's been telling me for years that he doesn't like eggs (?!?!?!?), this is a minor miracle. 

I love frittata because it's fancier than scrambled eggs, but really doesn't take any time at all to whip up. Plus, this can be made in advance and then frozen. The wedges thaw and heat quickly in the microwave (about 2 minutes), so this is great when guests are visiting too, or for a grab and go breakfast. 

Ready to make your own? Let's do this! 

The ingredients,
but ignore the Parmesan! 

Sorry about the Parmesan in the picture above. I thought I might use some in the dish, but it turns out the frittata didn't need it. You could always add a little if you want, but I didn't. 

To get started, slice 8 pieces of bacon into 1" pieces. Cook in a skillet until done (you can make this entire recipe in your cast iron skillet and have only one pan to cleanup!). I prefer my bacon to be less chewy and more crispy. Remove the cooked bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the grease. Why? Because everything is better with bacon and/or bacon grease.

Add a diced yellow onion to the skillet with that last tablespoon of bacon grease. Trust me peeps, this makes the onion delicious. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are tender and begin to caramelize, about 10-12 minutes. 

At this point, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together 8 eggs, ½ cup half-n-half, ½ teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper. Once combined, stir in the bacon and onion, along with 10-12 large basil leaves cut in chiffonade style. Also add about 3 ounces of crumbled feta cheese. 

Now, if you weren't already using it, pull out your cast iron skillet (10 inch) and warm up a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom. 

Swirl the oil around so it coats the bottom of the pan. Then, simply pour the egg mixture in.

This is very important… do NOT stir. Leave your skillet over medium-low heat for 5 or 6 minutes without stirring. This gives the bottom of your frittata time to set before we move it into the oven.  

Transfer the skillet to your preheated oven, and let cook an additional 10-12 minutes. If your skillet is smaller or larger, adjust your cook time to reflect that difference. Smaller skillets will require more time, larger skillets less. 

The frittata is done when the center is set and no longer jiggles. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes before slicing into wedges. 

If you'd like to freeze the wedges, the process is simple. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap, then freeze in the container of your choice. To thaw and warm up, remove from the plastic wrap and cover with a damp paper towel. Heat in microwave 2-4 minutes, until hot. 

Easy peasy, right? 

The Hubs liked this frittata so much, we have plans to make it again this weekend. I'm so excited we can finally share breakfast together.

That's all for now, but I'll be back again soon. As always, the standard recipe is below. Until next time, happy cooking! 

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Follow me on Facebook @ OurArmyLifeAccordingToTheWife

or on Pinterest, my newest obsession @ ArmyLifeFromTheWife

Email me: armylifefromthewife@gmail.com

The Standard Form:

Bacon, Basil, & Feta Frittata

Ingredients:

8 slices bacon, sliced into 1” pieces

1 small yellow onion, diced

10-12 large basil leaves, cut chiffonade

8 eggs

½ cup half-n-half

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

3 ounces crumbled feta cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Cook the bacon in a skillet until done. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain. Remove all but 1 tablespoon of grease from the skillet. Add the diced onion to the reserved bacon fat in the skillet. Sauté over medium heat until the onions are tender and begin to caramelize, about 10-12 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the eggs, half-n-half, salt, and pepper. To this, add the cooked bacon, basil, onions, and the feta cheese.

Warm the olive oil in a 10” cast iron skillet over medium–low heat. Pour the egg mixture into the skillet and let cook, without stirring, for 5 minutes, to set the bottom of the frittata. Transfer the skillet to the pre-heated oven, and cook an additional 10-12 minutes, or until the center is set. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing in wedges.

Note: This recipe freezes quite well. Wrap each individual wedge with plastic wrap, then freeze in the container of your choice. To warm, remove plastic wrap and cover with a damp paper towel. Heat in microwave 2-4 minutes, until hot.