Isn’t that plum gorgeous?!!! My boss has a plum tree right next to her house. The property the tree is on actually belongs to a little old lady in her eighties. Last summer, I’d often see her on her knees, gathering up fallen plums to try and prevent future trees from sprouting (which I saw springing up all over the place!). Each time I saw her, she begged me to take as many plums as I wanted whenever I wanted. Well, pretty much the only fruit I’d refuse would be cantaloupe, so I always assured I’d take as much as I possibly could. Italian prune plums are pretty heavily producing trees, and I pick a good 10-15 pounds a week! Read more

Do you remember in my post on Friday I promised you my secret to using up acorn squash seeds?  Here’s the secret…roast them and then toss with Tiki Spice!  I first discovered Tiki Spice when I was searching for some Hawaiian salts online.  My supply is running low and I wanted some more before I ran out.  I use Hawaiian salts on everything!  Steak, chicken, salmon, vegetable shish kebabs, mushrooms, edamame.  But then I stumbled across Chef Michael’s site where he sells guava wood smoked Hawaiian Sea Salt.

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Every month Foodbuzz asks its featured publishers to submit proposals for an event for 24, 24, 24.  I have been wanting to throw an authentic luau or pa’ina since moving from Hawaii to Washington, so a little over 3 years now.  But it’s expensive to do!  So this month, I decided to submit it as a proposal and was absolutely thrilled when they chose me.  Then I realized that we would be getting back from vacation three days before the required party date, which left me only two days to get everything ready.  I began making tons of lists of recipes, ingredients, stores, music and more to prepare.  Thankfully, the party was a huge success, with a great mix of family and friends, some of whom are also from Hawaii and were excited to get some ono grindz (good food!).  We even got to wear our super cute matching touristy outfits that people on the mainland don’t know are touristy!  Here’s my original proposal to Foodbuzz.

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In Hawaii I grew up learning how to eat all sorts of tropical fruit in different ways; pineapple, lychee, passion fruit, mango, papaya, avocado, grapefruit, lemons, limes.  If it grew in Hawaii, I ate it.  How I ate or prepared it depended on where I was and what it was for.  If I came across a papaya tree hiking I’d use my knife or a sharp rock to cut the fruit in half, scoop out the seeds with my fingers, and just gnaw it out of the peel.  If we were ravenously pulling lychee off the tree in our church parking lot between Sunday School and the service, I’d just rip the peels off with my fingernails.  But if you’re serving fruit to other people, or at home with kitchen tools, you might want to do it a little neater.  So here’s several different ways, a step by step tutorial, on how to cut a mango.

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SPAM, Eggs, and Rice is very popular in Hawaii and is great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack! When Eric and I first started dating, he took me grocery shopping (I broke my arm on our first date and couldn’t drive) and as we walked in the store I shouted “SPAM!” My first reaction to the SPAM display was sticker shock, I remember it being much cheaper in Hawaii. My second reaction was “If that’s the sale price I’m getting 6 now!’ Eric laughed but quickly realized I was serious as I began using my good arm to drop cans on SPAM into the cart. He asked what on earth I would make with SPAM, and though I have lots of dishes I make with it, the first thing out of my mouth was “SPAM, Eggs and Rice!”

Every morning at Moanalua High School, I’d go down to our gym where the coach was cooking breakfast in the concession stand. I’d smell the fried SPAM and plunk down $1.50 to get a scoop of rice, a scrambled egg, and a slice of fried SPAM. (Sometimes, if I didn’t have money, I’d just get rice for 50 cents). Whenever I was heading to go surf, or making a long car trip (long is relative when you live on an island) I’d stop by a Loco Moco restaurant and get a big plate of SPAM, eggs and rice. So not only does this dish taste good, but I associate a lot of memories with it. It’s also really easy to make and Eric often chooses it if he’s the one cooking dinner.

Perhaps you’re wondering, “What is SPAM?” It’s a canned precooked meat, and yes it is pork so I can’t eat it more than a little once or twice a week, and while it’s perfectly safe to eat out of the can, to me it doesn’t taste good unless cooked. Although it’s high in protein, the recommended serving size contains 28% of your daily saturated fat and 1/3 of your daily sodium, so I never use as much as the recommend serving size. By combining it with other ingredients I’m able to stretch it to last longer (one can of SPAM makes 4 different meals for us) and be healthier. SPAM is a staple in Hawaii, it started during World War II when fresh meat was difficult to obtain. You’ll find SPAM, eggs and rice on the breakfast menu at many fast food restaurants in Hawaii like McDonald’s and Burger King. There are a lot of things you can make with SPAM including musubi, somen salad, and fried rice. I know it can be a little scary at first, but play around with this versatile cheap meat. Your wallet will thank you and so will your family (just maybe don’t tell them it’s SPAM until after they eat it, I do that to dinner guests all the time!) For more SPAM fun, check out Jaden’s Ode To SPAM!

SPAM, Eggs, and Rice
serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup Aloha shoyu (soy sauce)
1 TBS sugar
1 TBS fish sauce
2 TBS rice vinegar
2 slices SPAM 1/2 inch thick
2 eggs
2 TBS milk
salt and pepper

Instructions

Start your rice cooking first, I make 3/4 cup pre-cooked in my rice maker which takes 20 minutes, it’s the slowest part of this dish and yields 1 1/2 cups cooked rice.

Mix shoyu, sugar, fish sauce and rice vinegar in a bowl. Cut your slices of SPAM into 1/2 inch cubes and marinate in shoyu mixture. When rice has about 10 minutes to go, whisk eggs with milk, salt, and pepper.

Heat a skillet on medium high and pour eggs in. Scramble them and then put onto a plate. Place plate in the microwave to keep warm. Using a fork or slotted spoon, remove SPAM from marinade and cook in same skillet until a golden brown crust forms on the cubes. (Don’t dump marinade in, or as Eric discovered, it’s really salty!)

Scoop rice onto a plate and top with eggs and SPAM.

Approximate cost per serving: 1 Slice SPAM 15 cents, 1/2 cup cooked rice 15 cents, almost 1 egg 14 cents, marinade 2 cents TOTAL: 46 cents!