Leftover Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

After I made my first spiral ham in the crockpot, I was left with deliciously glazed pineapple chunks.  We could have eaten them as is, but I wanted to save them for some special stir-fried rice.  I could imagine the flavors of the stone ground mustard, pineapple and ham fried into some rice with red bell peppers and scrambled eggs.  It sounded like a great dinner!

Using a strainer, remove ham bits and pineapple from crockpot drippings after making the spiral ham

I had strained the pineapple and ham bits out of the crockpot drippings after making my spiral ham and stored it in a container.  A few days later I had my chance to make the rice.  I even had 4-5 cups of leftover rice from another meal.  This would be a dish made of leftovers from several meals!  I heated my largest nonstick skillet with a drizzle of oil and added some diced onion.

In a large skillet heat a drizzle of oil and fry the diced onions sprinkled with salt and pepper for several minutes, then add the diced sweet bell pepper and fry for another 4-5 minutes.

When the onion was beginning to turn translucent I added a handful of diced peppers I’d frozen for quick meal fixes.  I let the peppers and onion fry for a few more minutes then pushed them aside.

Push onion and pepper aside and scramble eggs in the same skillet. Break eggs into small pieces

I beat 4 eggs well, then poured them into my skillet.  I salt and peppered them lightly then scrambled them and broke them into small pieces.  I mixed the vegetables with the eggs and added some garlic powder.

Add pineapple and ham bits along with garlic powder and stir well to heat through.

Next I poured in the pineapple chunks and ham bits I’d drained from the juices on the bottom of the spiral ham’s crockpot.

Add frozen peas and heat through

I stirred well then added a cup of frozen peas.

Using your hand, work oil into the cold rice then add to the skillet.

While the peas were heating through I used my hand to work a tablespoon or so of oil throughout my cold rice.  This I’ve learned is the easiest way to separate the rice and make a successful stir fry with it.  I poured the rice into my skillet and stirred until all of the white rice clumps were gone.

Use a spatula or star tool to break up clumps of rice so they are evenly distributed.

I added about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce to my fried rice and stirred well.  If you have a salty soy sauce you might want to pull back on it because the ham and pineapple are fairly salty themselves.  If you’re using a new can of pineapple chunks and some diced ham, you might be safe with the 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.

Add soy sauce to taste and serve sprinkled with chopped green onions

I let my rice simmer for 10 minutes while I waited for my P.S. to come back to the castle for dinner.  He was going to be thrilled, he is a fried rice fan.

Leftover Ham and Pineapple Fried Rice

We were both thrilled with the taste of this fried rice! The baked ham flavor and pineapple roasted with the ham made this a fried rice to remember. Using the leftovers from the spiral ham was the best idea I’ve had in a long time!