Pineapple Spread

Here's a simple spread or dip that I was pleasantly surprised with.  It's easy, goes well on crackers, or celery, and we also served it with Tomato Basil Wheat Thins.

Ingredients:
2 packages (8 ounce size) cream cheese, softened
1 can (8 ounce size) crushed pineapple, drained
4 tablespoons finely chopped green onions (more finely than my assistant did in this pic, preferably)
1/2 C finely chopped green bell pepper
Mix and serve.

Polynesian Curried Shrimp Dip

When I read this recipe, I expected more than a dip, but it turns out you just have skewers of  shrimp, pineapple, and/or mixed olives and serve this dip in a hollowed out pineapple.  It's easy, but impresses everyone, I guarantee that.

Ingredients:
1 pineapple (hollowed, insides sliced into bites)
72 ripe, pitted olives
72 deveined, cooked shrimp
2 C sour cream
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Skewer first three ingredients.  Mix last three and serve inside pineapple.  Serve immediately, or wrap and refrigerate until serving.

Ham and Pineapple Biscuit Pizzas

Here's a super simple mini "Hawai'ian" pizza biscuit idea.  People loved them, and (other than some chopping) took no time to create at all.

Ingredients:
12 buttermilk biscuits (I used pre-made, frozen), cut in half
1/2 C pizza sauce
24 slices of Canadian Bacon (or just chop up a smoked ham steak)
1/2 C drained pineapple tidbits
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 C shredded Colby Jack Cheese

Directions:
1. Prepare biscuits, if necessary, then slice in half.
2. Line baking sheet with biscuits, cut side up.
3. Smear pizza sauce on each biscuit.
4. Top with ham, pineapple, and bell pepper.
5. Sprinkle shredded cheese over the top
6. Bake 7-9 minutes at 350, or until cheese is completely melted.
7. Serve and enjoy.

This go over well.  They still do fine at room temperature, and if you refrigerate them, they do well the next day reheated as a snack.

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

Bacon Pineapple Shrimp

If you're looking for an easy, EASY appetizer to make, I think I've found it.

{Full disclosure: I hate shrimp.}

It's Bacon Pineapple Shrimp!  It's originally from Rachel Ray, so you know it has to be easy.

 I tried the recipe two different ways.  The first was like my Bacon Wrapped Smokies.  That was easy enough, just dump some brown sugar on it and bake it.

However, that ended up looking like the shrimp on the RR Recipe.

Blah.

So then I took them and threw them into a frying pan, as originally suggested.

I chose pre-cooked shrimp, so I was just cooking it to cook the bacon.  I waited until they were nice and dark, and then served them up.  They looked almost burnt to me, but everyone loved them.

It was the first appetizer of the night I ran out of.  Since I had to serve them as soon as they were done, I didn't get a chance for a final photo, but I know you understand.  You all have amazing imaginations if you've been following me thus far!!

Sweet and Sour Chicken

 As I ramble through Pinterest, I find more and more every day that I want to try.  Luckily, I have a hungry husband to help me eat up my creations, and all of the leftovers!  Unfortunately, he'll start travelling soon and it'll be meals for one with more leftovers than I know what to do with.  Maybe I'll share with my employees to make things go more quickly.  Luckily, what I made for last night's dinner was so wonderful, there were barely any leftovers, and what is left will be gone within a lunch or two!  {Whew! Talk about rambling!}
 Just the same, I came across this recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken...  Which happens to be the only dish I'll eat at a Chinese restaurant because I love the way the sauce makes my rice pink (sometimes hot pink), and the veggies.  The chicken is neither here nor there, but I LOVE SWEET AND SOUR!

Here's my recipe, which I tweaked from the other:
Ingredients:
LOTS of Veggies!  Such as...
10 oz of sugar snap peas
2 bell peppers
2 celery stalks
10 baby carrots
1 can water chestnuts
1 can pineapple chunks
and I was going to add Manderin Oranges, but changed my mind last minute.



Plus, two pounds of teriyaki chicken breast.  I get this pre-cooked from Fresh and Easy.  The original recipe calls for you to bread and fry, but I wanted less fat, so I chose this as an easy alternative.

The sauce was ridiculously simple, too - why have I not made this before?!?!
1 C sugar - could probably cut this back more
1/2 C ketchup
3/4 C cider vinegar
1 T Worcestershire sauce (or soy sauce)
2 T garlic powder - could probably cut this back to
1 1/2 T.

I mixed up the sauce, wok-ed/fried the veggies in about 1 T of olive oil, added the chicken and poured the sauce over the top.  I waited until everything was heated through and then served it up with Jasmine rice.  If it were up to me, I'd almost double the sauce, but I LOVE S&S, so that's a personal preference.  Thomas loved the meal, and the vinegar in the sauce helped to clear his cold-riddled head long enough to enjoy the meal.  Perfect all around.  Plus, it was so simple and took very little time.  Thomas thought I should have breaded the chicken, but when he tasted it, he said it played well, so no breading/frying for this girl!