Dried Pineapple

Want a painstakingly timely garnish that is both tasty and fun??

I can never resist a challenge...  I found a link (in Chinese) to make pineapple flowers.  Now, with a new search, I find a Martha Stewart link, so that's probably the best one to connect with.

First of all, on a random side note, do you know how to pick a ripe pineapple?

My mother has this magical combination in her mind that consists of color, smell, and weight.

 Since I have no idea what works in my mother's head, here's my trick:

Hold on to the pineapple.

Pull a leaf.

If you can remove it (with only a little resistance), it's ripe.

If you have to use effort, or grunt while pulling it, leave it be...it's not ready!

 Now, unless you plan on eating your dried pineapple flowers, they don't have to be ripe for this project.

However, I thought it'd be nice so I could eat any cut offs and cast asides.

Plus, who doesn't love a great pineapple?!

The first thing you need to do is cut away the skin of the pineapple.

To remove those brown spots and seeds, you can just dig them out with the end of a veggie peeler, or a knife.

Or you can just keep cutting, like I did.

Be lazy.  Embrace it!

The next part was the hardest for me.

Thinly slice the pineapple into even slices.  You should be able to see through the pineapple slice, or at least it should be a little translucent.

I'm not so great at that.  If I had a steadier hand, or maybe even an electric knife, I could have gotten there.

Didn't bother me, though.

 Thicker slices just make the next part longer.

Lay out parchment paper on two cookie sheets.

Then, spread out your pineapple slices and put them into the oven, preheated to 225 degrees.

Every 35-45 minutes, you'll need to turn over the pineapple.

Thin slices may only need to be turned once.

 My hefty slices, however, went in for four sessions of 40 minutes a piece.

I wait until they have a nice golden hue to the edges, and they had that almost rubbery consistency of dried fruit.

If they still looked juicy, I just kept turning them and putting them back in.

 The cool part is that the center of the pineapple rises throughout the cooking process, and little "splinters" come up out of the core, making it look like pollen in the center of an actual flower.

From here, you have two options.

You can leave them in muffin pans to help them curl up, or you can throw those muffin pans back into the oven for one final curing session.

 I chose option two.

I really wanted a color that was more orange.  I wasn't concerned about anyone eating the garnish, so if it was overly "done," that didn't bother me too much.  I was in it for the color.

 When they finally achieved this color, I removed them and let them cool.

I then stacked them in a quart sized zip lock bag and left them in the fridge for two days until I needed them.

Not a terribly tricky process, just one that took a few hours longer than I had originally anticipated.  If only I could slice them all thinly and evenly!

Oh, and one lady did eat the garnish.  Multiple times.   So it must have still been good!

One of my flowers, on top of a sliced brie wheel.

Two more, on the edge of another appetizer platter

Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Exploding Pound Cake {of Doom}!

I LOVE pound cake!  It reminds me of happy summers with my grandma and my mom, strawberry shortcake, and other first loves as well.

I found this recipe a few months ago (via Pinterest, of course), for a cream cheese pound cake and I had to try it.

I didn't even realize that people made pound cakes in bunt pans.  My mom didn't either.  But, that's what the original did, so I borrowed a pan and gave it a try.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Make sure you grease and flour your pan.  I used the baking spray with flour included, and that worked just fine.

Directions

1. Beat the butter and cream cheese until just creamy (don't over beat).
2. Gradually add in the sugar.
3. Add eggs one at a time.
4. Sift the flour and combine with the salt.  Then slowly add the powder mixture to your batter, blending well after each addition.
5. Add in the vanilla.

Smooth the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake at 300 for 1 hour and 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool for 10+ minutes before removing from the pan.

Mine rose about three inches above the original batter line.

This didn't bother me, because more to enjoy, right?

Unfortunately, the part that rose cracked, so when I flipped it, it was a glaring mistake.

oops!

 Luckily, I was planning on slicing and serving, so no one really cared too much.

I honestly don't think anyone noticed it.

AND, it was such a wonderful flavor and texture that people were eating it quicker than they bothered to look at it, so it was a win-win all around.

So maybe I didn't mean to call this the Exploding Pound Cake {of Doom}.  It just sounds cooler that way, though, don't you think?!

Fudgy Peanut Butter Bites

 This is such an easy "cheater" dessert.  If you love the chocolate and peanut butter combo, you might just be thanking me with this one (and it's feasibly done within 15 minutes!)  Of course, you could make it more from scratch, but half the fun is how easy this is.

My ingredient list:
1 pkg. peanut butter cookie dough (I could only find it with chocolate chips, but who hates those?!)
1 C sweetened condensed milk
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C of chopped peanuts (more or less, optional)

My cookies were pre-cut into 24 squares.  I chopped each in half and dropped the half into a Pam sprayed mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned and the cookie is firm.

The great thing is that in the oven, your squares become circles and puff.  Once you take them out, they cave to make the perfect little cups.

Cool for a minute or so before removing from the pan.

While they are cooling, this is the perfect opportunity to make your fudgy filling.

Fill a 2 C (or more) microwaveable measuring cup with 1 cup of sweetened, condensed milk and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Microwave from about 1 minute, stopping halfway to stir.  Once the chips are completely melted, stir the mixture and place a dollop in each cookie cup.

Move quickly when filling the cookie cups because your fudge will set fairly firm as soon as it cools.  I would try to do the filling all in one setting so you don't have to reheat the fudge and compromise it's makeup.

I wasn't going to chop any peanuts to put on top, but the cookies seemed so plain, and I really wanted people to realize that there were peanuts in the cookies, so I quickly chopped some lightly salted peanuts and sprinkled them on top.  I lightly pressed some into the fudge so that they wouldn't just keep rolling off.

I had a hard time convincing people that I made them myself.  And I really {kind of} did, so I totally deserve the credit.  As does BHG for the original recipe that I only vaguely modified.

Caprese Salad Skewers

 There's not much to a Caprese salad, but I wasn't in the mood for finding forks.  Luckily, I found this idea at Terri's Table!

All you need is fresh mozzarella, grape (or cherry) tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves for the skewers.

If your basil leaves are large enough, you can skewers them on either side of your tomato and mozzarella cube.  If not, make due the best you can.  If you've grown your own basil, it's easy to pick the right size, but when shopping at the market, you need to just go with the flow.  No biggie.  Make it the best you can.

When you're done, just lightly drizzle the skewers with olive oil and then balsamic vinegar.  Instant hit and easy to eat.

Thirsty Thursday: Sherbet Punch

I think at one point, everyone has had a sherbet punch.

Or at least anyone from the Midwest.

Or anyone who went to bridal or baby showers in the 80's/90's that were located in a church hall or basement.

Or maybe it's just me...

Keeping this in mind, I did an old fashioned Google search.  Somewhere online, I found a recipe that included the following ingredients:

4 liters of ginger ale
1 qt. lime sherbet
1 lemonade concentrate
1 lime concentrate

There was more to it, but these were the ingredients I had on my shopping list.  I honestly don't remember the rest, and I forgot to pin it to my boards, but it's sherbet punch.  How hard could it be?

 So, I started by serving up the sherbet into the pitchers I was planning on using.  Then I threw them back into the freezer to stay fairly firm.

Then I just threw the two concentrates (thawed) and all of the ginger ale in a large bowl (pot).  When it came time to serve it, I just poured the liquid over the sherbet.

Simple as punch, and for those wanting an alcoholic based punch, I served the old standby, my Sarasota Lemonade with Moscato.

This punch would also be great with a rum.  Parrot Bay, perhaps?

Fruit Fluff

I was making small fruit salad kabobs the other day at work, and discovered a hole in my platter.  I didn't have any garnish on hand, and I didn't want to find another platter that was more size appropriate for the amount of fruit I had.

So I turned to my go to girl, the Brown Eyed Baker, for an easy fruit dip recipe.  Turns out that was the right choice.

This is all you need:

1 Jar of Marshmallow Fluff (7oz)
1 Brick of Cream Cheese (8oz)

Blend and serve.  It's not too sweet or savory, but it's the perfect complement to your fruit.

You're welcome.  ;)

Monterrey Chicken

 Thomas has been in San Jose for over a month.  That kind of means that I don't cook too much.  It's not that I eat out more, necessarily, but my meals are more like grilled cheese sandwiches and simple pastas that aren't too worth blogging about.

However, I was in the mood to make something the other day.  Anything.

Luckily, there's always chicken in the house.  However, I never label it when I freeze it, so sometimes it's a surprise.

 Maybe not a big surprise, since I always get boneless and skinless, but it's more of a surprise about if it's thighs or breasts, since my freezer and zip lock bags never really let me know what I'm grabbing in the bleary eyed morning to defrost.  I always say I'll remember and don't need to grab that Sharpie.

Right.

 Regardless, I found a recipe for "Monterrey" Chicken, and it sounded great.  I found it at All Things Simple, which sounded right up my alley.

I quickly cooked the chicken on the stove top, although I was tempted to create it in the oven with the Rotel, much like my Salsa Verde Chicken.

My measurements weren't as precise as the original recipe, but it was straight forward.

 I cut my two large chicken breasts in half, then smeared BBQ sauce on top of each.  Then, I drained the Rotel (original recipe) and topped the BBQ chicken with the tomatoes and chiles.

From there, it was bacon pieces (from a bag, unfortunately), and then I sprinkled Mexican blend Colby Jack cheese shreds on top.

I also hate cleaning, so you'll note I lined my Pyrex with foil.

I popped the chicken in the oven at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese was nice and melted, but not so long that it dried out my chicken.

This dish also made me remember why I love Rotel...  It not only adds flavor, but the heat keeps my portion sizes smaller.  

For my sides, I made quickly sauteed some peppers in a light touch of olive oil, with salt and pepper to taste.

I placed it all on a bed of quinoa.  Usually, I would make the quinoa in tomato bouillon base with the water, but I couldn't find that, or any chicken broth in the house to flavor it up.  Luckily the peppers and Monterrey chicken did their parts to add lots of flavor to the dish.

I made four portions out of my meal, and this was one of my leftovers the next day.  Still yummy!