pineapple

Watercolor Flower Pineapple Cookies

August 31, 2017

One of my favorite cookie decorating techniques lately has been watercolor on cookies. I really love the look of them, but I mostly rlove not having to make so much royal icing!

So with a good friends birthday around the corner, I knew I wanted to make some watercolor cookies for her. In looking for creative inspiration for her cookies, I came across a couple images that I absolutely adored! This sweet pineapple card and this beautiful pineapple print.

From there I was inspired to make these watercolor flower pineapple cookies!

To paint on cookies, you do need a few supplies you may not normally use during cookie decorating…mainly a big bottle of vodka (really any clear extract or alcohol will work, but I prefer vodka). It’s always amusing to my husband to see me painting cookies with a bottle of vodka next to me on the counter.

Supplies you will need:

I absolutely love how these cookies turned out. I probably say this about every cookie, but these may be my favorite yet.

I guess it’s like children, you can’t really pick your favorite. But in this case (at least for now) these are definitely my favorite!

And, you don’t have to be an artist to make these. I am by no means an artist (as you may or may not be able to tell). So painting cookies can really be fun for anyone, even the kids!

Pineapple Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

August 1, 2017

There is a reason my teriyaki chicken recipe is a household favorite: it’s so dang easy to make and it makes enough food to feed two people for a couple days. Oh, and it’s delicious. And healthy. Are those enough reasons?We make it at least once a month and serve it all sorts of ways. Our current favorite is this pineapple teriyaki chicken bowl version. Pineapple and teriyaki chicken are perfect together, so why not serve it straight out of a pineapple?

Our current favorite way to serve it up is this pineapple teriyaki chicken bowl version. Pineapple and teriyaki chicken are perfect together, so why not serve it straight out of the pineapple?

Making the chicken is the easiest part. Throw everything in a crockpot in the morning and let it cook all day. By the time you get home, you chicken will basically be falling apart.

For this dish, shred the chicken with two forks into small pieces.

But don’t throw away that cooking liquid! My husband came up with the awesome idea of making a sauce out of it! Stran the liquid of all the little bits, mix in a bit of corn starch (agar agar or collagen/gelatin if you are Paleo), then pour it into a pot to reduce. After about 5 minutes, you should have a sauce that is thick enough to stick to the back of a spoon.

You will also want a bit of pineapple to toss in with the chicken. If you want to turn your pineapple into a bowl, just score it around the edge and through the center with a knife, creating 4 squares. Then use a spoon to scrape out the pineapple chunks. Pour out any juice in the pineapple and set aside to be filled. Then chop the large pineapple chunks into smaller bite sized ones.

All that’s left to do is to toss the chicken with some of the sauce and pineapple. Then serve it up with a bit of rice (or cauliflower rice in this case) inside the pineapple!

Honestly, there really isn’t a better way to eat this meal. Who can resist eating straight out of a pineapple? And, in case you were so distracted by the pineapple to keep track, this recipe can be totally Paleo if you don’t use corn starch and serve it with cauliflower rice.

So there you go – if you want to trick your kids or loved ones into eating Paleo (or just healthy), just serve it out of a pineapple.

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Sesame Crusted Tuna Bowl

May 31, 2017

After returning home from Hawaii last week, I have a new found appreciation for tuna. We ate tuna (ahi) at least once a day in the form of poke at least once a day. It was fantastic. I wanted to come home and make my very own version of poke, but oddly I can’t find super fresh ahi tuna anywhere around Charlotte. North Carolina (not a hint of sarcasm). So the next best thing was some fresh yellowfin tuna I found at my local Whole Foods.

Since I couldn’t confirm that it was “sushi grade”, and thus acceptable for eating raw, I decided to do something a little different with my tuna. I crusted it in some sesame seeds and then seared it very quickly to just barely cook the outside, leaving the inside completely rare. Trust me, it’s delicious!

First find yourself a good tuna steak! I recommend talking to the fish monger and asking how fresh the tuna is. You don’t want something that is anything over a couple days. Then you won’t be able to cook it and keep it rare.

Then marinate the tuna in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, and ginger. Not long. Just long enough to get a little sticky so that the sesame seeds can adhere to it.

Speaking of which, pour out a bunch of sesame seeds onto a plate then press your lightly marinated tuna into the seeds so that you have a nice even layer on both sides.

Now it’s time to sear this bad boy. I didn’t take any pictures of this process because it happened so quickly! Literally, we popped it into a searing hot pan for about 30 seconds on each side. It was just long enough for the outside to cook, the sesame seeds to char a bit, but the inside stays nice and pink.

For the rest of this bowl, I kept it simple. I served the gorgeous tuna over a bowl of sushi rice, with a bit of avocado, and some mango-pineapple salsa. It definitely took me back to being in Hawaii!

Man it was good.

If you want to feel like you are eating lunch in a tropical paradise, make yourself this tuna bowl, turn on a sound machine (crashing waves), and close your eyes. You will basically be there with your toes in the sand.

Now I know fresh tuna isn’t always easy to come by, and it’s not all that cheap, but I promise it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to Hawaii!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:163]

Easy Teriyaki Chicken Bowl

September 9, 2016

I’ve mentioned this before, but teriyaki chicken is one of my favorite slow cooker meals.

It’s easy
It’s healthy
It makes a ton of food!

Every single time I make the recipe I have so much food left over that I am eating teriyaki chicken for days. It has forced me to be a little creative to find new ways to eat it.

This teriyaki chicken bowl is one of my latest creations heavily inspired by both Pinterest and all the food in the fridge we had to use before we went on vacation. I had the pineapple leftover from making tacos al pastor, and I always seem to have some sort of carrot in the fridge and broccoli in the freezer.

As you can tell, I clearly didn’t work too hard on this recipe. It was as easy as throwing everything into a bowl. I started with a healthy helping of brown rice, then topped that with all the other yummy ingredients. I sprinkled some extra sesame seeds on top for garnish (and to look pretty in the pictures). I also drizzled over some of the extra teriyaki sauce from the bottom of the crock pot.

I absolutely love the teriyaki chicken and pineapple combination. It may seem odd to have fruit in a rice bowl, but I promise you, the two are mads for each other. Then with all the other healthy ingredients, this is one filling meal! It makes the perfect easy dinner and leftovers are perfect for a weekday lunch!

To me there is nothing better than making one big meal and being able to stretch it out into 2 or 3. It just makes life so much easier!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:76]

Hawaiian Pizza

April 4, 2014

Until very recently, I would avoid Hawaiian pizza like the plague. I never understood it’s appeal. 1) Fruit on pizza? Gross. 2) How does the combination of Canadian bacon and canned pineapple equal Hawaiian? However, my husband and I have gotten more adventurous in our pizza making (and eating), so I thought I would give the “traditional” Hawaiian pizza a makeover. And frankly try to make it more Hawaiian.

To achieve a good pizza, you need to start with a good foundation. After a couple years, I think I have finally found my perfect pizza dough recipe and technique (I will a full pizza dough post in the near future). I always make whole wheat pizza dough to try to be a bit healthier, but you can always substitute all purpose flour if you so desire.

But if making pizza dough isn’t your thing, you can purchase pizza dough from your grocery store or even your local pizzeria.

Once the pizza dough has risen, rolled out, and pre-baked, it’s time to add on the toppings. For our Hawaiian pizza I used Teriykai sauce, slow cooked pork using the Skinny Taste’s Kalua Pig recipe, fresh pineapple, and a little red onion and cilantro.

Because I pre-bake the crust to get the bottom crispy, once the toppings are on, the pizza doesn’t take long to cook. For the last 2 minutes of baking, I turn the broiler on to get the cheese nice and bubbly and onions and pineapple a bit caramelized.

My husband and I were so incredibly pleased with this pizza and we will definitely make it again. I will add more pineapple to it next time. It really helps balance out the salty pork, and guess what. Fruit on pizza isn’t that gross after all.

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