Recipe Week!

Okay, i'm on task and this week is officially kid (Raina) friendly recipe week. I'm working with limited ingredients that are hopefully palatable to my little niece, as well as being relatively sustainable and/or budget conscious that also don't involve stoves or ovens.

First up is a Summery snack/lunch. Light, sweet, salty, fruity, meaty - all around good. Inspired by high end appetizing fare "prosciutto and melon" these little chunks of yum are accessible to most budgets and taste buds.

Ham and Cantaloupe Wraps

• 1/4 cantaloupe, rind removed, sliced rather thin and cut into chunks. Cantaloupes were on sale this week for $1 each! How's that for a value!?
• Boar's Head Maple Cured Ham, thinly sliced. Could use any flavor of ham - i liked the idea of the maple sweetness jiving with the melon sweetness. I chose Boar's Head because unlike most deli meat, it is minimally processed and contains only 'real' ingredients. Not the cheapest, but i only bought a half pound ($8.99 a pound) and a little goes a long way when it's sliced very thin - sliced thin but staying together, not falling apart.

Simply wrap the ham around the cantaloupe and you're done! Eat with your fingers or put on toothpicks to make mini kabobs. I was surprised, as meat and melon sounds like an odd combination - but as the ingredients are still separate (careful not to cross the 'things mixed together' line) enough that the flavors co-mingle, but remain individual to some extend. You first taste the meatyness of the ham, then a burst of rich, sunny sweetness, followed by an accent of salty. Pretty awesome, actually. You could do a variation of this by stacking chunks of melon and ham on kabob skewers to be picked off one at a time.