Random Food Fridays - Crunchy Ham and Pea Salad

When I asked Mr. Dwayne if he liked jicama, he wasn't sure what I was talking about. "Hiccough wha???"

Turns out he likes it. He likes it a lot in this salad. With sweet peas and sweet crunchy jicama, you may be surprised to learn that the carbs in this salad are very reasonable. This recipe makes two meal-sized servings, each one coming in at 300 calories and 22 grams of carbs. Salty, sweet, crunchy and satisfying for around 300 calories? I'll take it!

The inspiration for this dish came from this recipe at eatfresh.org. I ran across this web site while doing some some research on CalFresh (the program formerly known as Food Stamps). My job entails a lot of research into the laws, rules and regulations around welfare programs. Much of what I do for my work entails taking dry legal jargon and turning it into something regular folks can understand. Imagine my delight when one click brought me to the colorful and fun EatFresh web site. I must confess that I spent a bit longer than necessary exploring all the good ideas.

I changed their recipe to my tastes and added cubed ham to make it a main course. I also used less lettuce. A chunky salad will hold up better, once dressed, than will a lettuce salad. It's easy to scoop some onto a bed of lettuce for serving rather than tossing the lettuce in with everything else. Likewise, you could serve this without any lettuce at all. I think that would actually be best for a pot luck.

Crunchy Ham and Pea Salad
1 cup diced ham
1 1/2 cups frozen sweet peas, thawed
1 1/2 cups diced English cucumber, do not peel
1 1/2 cups diced jicama, do peel!
1 tbsp. minced shallots

For the dressing:
1/2 a ripe avocado
juice of 1/2 a lime
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic & herb seasoning
2 tbsp. mayonaise

Dice the ham, cucumber and jicama into small cubes, all about the same size. Mince or thinly slice the shallots. Toss together and set aside.

To make the dressing, place all dressing ingredients into a bowl and use a fork to mash the avocado and mix until a smooth consistency is reached.

Toss everything together. Serve and enjoy!

Update - I took this to a pot luck and I would now recommend that you serve this with lime wedges and toasted pepitas. Yum!