Ham, Cheese, & Veggie Frittata

My mom, me and Abbie, and my dad on-board Kiss Me Kate

My parents' 28th anniversary was Saturday, September 1, 2012.  On the night of Sunday, September 2, 2012, they invited their friends Dr. Sam, Melynda, and me to have dinner with them at the Fort Worth Boat Club.  We had a little happy hour with wine and boiled shrimp at Cabana #3 before walking up to the club for dinner.  The Boat Club recently hired a new chef, and my parents have been raving about her culinary skills for the past couple of weeks.  Dr. Sam was wanting to apply for membership, so we thought it was a perfect culmination of reasons to have dinner at the club.

This was me... not having any idea what was going on.

I had peppercorn tuna, and it was absolutely amazing! It was cooked just right- not too well done, and not too raw for my liking.  It was atop a spread of green pepper hash, which I'd never had before, but my mouth is watering just thinking back at it.  Everything was delicious, and it is a HUGE improvement from the Boat Club's more recent meals.

When my dad told us the news, my mom had to sit down and I was puzzled...
we weren't sure if we believed him!

After we ate dinner, my dad started acting super weird.  He was hopping around and saying, "Just follow me, let's go see what we find, come on!"  He walked down towards the boat ramp where there are about 30 covered boat slips and started trying to jimmy the locks open.  All I could think was that security was going to show up at any minute and arrest us for attempted trespassing.  My dad couldn't open any of the doors, so back to Cabana #3 we went... but he didn't stop there. 

My dad looked like a kid on Christmas morning

He went inside and got a key that he said was "to the tuff shed" out back.  "Maybe this will open one of the doors!" he said with a crazy, goofy look in his eye.  'Maybe his fish wasn't cooked all the way... or he'd had more wine than I realized,' I thought.  He loaded us up in the car- Sam, Melynda, my mom, me, and my dog, Abbie.  'Oh great, back to the whole getting arrested plan.'

The (very 80's'ed out) interior of Kiss Me Kate

Well we got back to the boat slips and my dad unlocked the door.  "Let's look at this one!" he said.  My mom rolled my eyes and said, "This is the one his friend told him about that's for sale.  He keeps talking about it."  Suddenly we heard an "Aha!" come from my dad as he opened the hatch to go inside.  'OH MY GOSH, what is WRONG with him?!' I thought.  I seriously thought he'd lost it.  He starts looking around the boat, smiling, laughing like a loony person, and saying, "Well, what do ya think?" 

Kiss Me Kate!

"About what?" I asked.  "What do you think... about the fact that I bought this boat?! Welcome aboard the Kiss Me Kate!"  My mom sat down on the steps, trying to process, and I just looked around puzzled.  "For real?!" I asked.  I couldn't believe it.  Well, yes, as it turns out, my dad had bought it for their anniversary.  She's a 28 foot 1980 Cris-Craft... my dad has always wanted a Cris-Craft. 

Kiss Me Kate

We took her out on Labor Day, and what an adventure that was.  He'd never even driven her! Turns out a dual-engine is a little bit more difficult to drive than we'd planned... but 20 minutes later we were out on the lake, puttering around.  I'm definitely looking forward to Andy learning how to drive her, and I know we will have many stories (and blog entries!) to come! That night, I prepped breakfasts for the next week.  I had this recipe for Frittatas from Weight Watchers, but the original ingredients didn't yield much product, so I modified it a bit myself.  It's a perfect breakfast to have premade- just warm it up and take out on the water to watch the sunrise... hmm... not a bad idea!  But until then, I'll be zapping it in the microwave at work in the mornings.

Andy and my dad trying to figure out just how she operates

Ham, Cheese, and Pepper Frittata
Adapted from Weight Watchers by Kate Strickland
Servings: 8; Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value: 3

Ham, Cheese, and Pepper Frittata

• 2 spray(s) Cooking spray
• 1 pound(s) Potatoes, hash brown, raw, thawed
• 20 large Egg(s), raw, beaten
• 1 Tbsp fat-free milk
• ⅛ tsp salt
• ⅛ tsp pepper
• 2 oz lean ham
• 1/2 sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 sweet orange pepper, chopped
• 1/2 sweet yellow pepper, chopped
• ½ cup fat-free cheddar cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Coat a deep casserole dish with cooking spray
3. Spread potatoes around bottom and press potato up sides of tray
4. Place in oven and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, beat eggs and milk together in a medium bowl
6. Season with salt and pepper
7. Add ham, peppers, and cheese to bowl; mix to combine.
8. Remove potatoes from oven (after cooking for 10 minutes)
9. Pour mixture atop potatoes.
10. Return dish to oven and cook until potatoes are crisp and golden, and the egg mixture is set, about 40 minutes.
11. Remove from oven and let sit about 5 minutes before serving.

Keep on cookin'!
-Katherine