Cheesy Eggs Benedict: A Holiday Tradition

I can't remember when this tradition started, but I hope it's one that continues for a long time.  After opening presents on Christmas morning, getting multiple refills of coffee, and keeping our stomachs from growling by grazing on holiday sweets, we eat a delicious breakfast of cheesy eggs benedict.  It's like eggs benedict, but better (my apologies to the breakfast purists out there).  Instead of a classic hollandaise sauce it's topped with a cheese sauce, because, well, cheese!  And instead of poached eggs it's fried eggs, because I don't know why.  All I know is that the result is delicious and I always eat way more than I should. 

This year, HH and I weren't able to travel back home because he only had Christmas day off so I made sure we had all the ingredients to make it ourselves.  I even braved going grocery shopping on Christmas Eve, which is something I will avoid in the future.

We started out by frying up some grand champion ham that we already had on hand.  

Then I got the cheese sauce cooking.  I'm not sure how my mom usually makes it, but we mixed some Velveeta (which I bought for the first time since college), Tillamook sharp cheddar, and half & half with pepper, ground mustard, cayenne, and paprika. 

While the english muffins were toasting I fried up the eggs.  When everything was ready, all that was left was to assemble the dish and stuff it into my face, going back for more sauce as needed. 

Now we just need to figure out what to do with all that extra Velveeta.  And wait another year to indulge again.