Fat Bottomed Pineapple

The other day I posted on Facebook about grilling pineapple and got lots of enthusiastic responses. Apparently there’s a large contingent of people who want to know more about grilled fruit, which makes me pretty happy about my group of friends.

Because I got a number of questions surrounding the mechanics of pineapple grilling, I took some time this weekend to map it out. This means I got had to make and eat more grilled pineapple – poor, poor me.

Grilled Pineapple

·         1 fresh pineapple

Turn your grill to medium heat. 

Pineapple Carnage



To “butcher” the pineapple, lay it on its side and cut off the top and bottom, making sure you have a flat surface on each end that is all yellow and free of skin. Flip the pineapple back up to the now-flat bottom. Sidebar: “fat bottomed girls” just started playing in my head – I like this recipe more now.

Grip pineapple with one hand to steady the fruit, then take your knife and cut a strip of skin off the pineapple from top-to-bottom. Continue cutting around the fruit until you have what looks like a big hunk of pineapple.

Take the hunk and lay it on its side, then cut it into 1/2-3/4 inch slices. Drop the slices onto the hot grill. You will think that a pineapple will grill fast. You will be wrong. The longer the fruit grills, the juicer it becomes – totally counterintuitive, but trust me on this one. I’m intentionally typing a lot in this paragraph to help take up some of the long grilling time. You’re welcome.

Grill on one side for 15 minutes or until you can see a visible char on the fruit. Flip and grill about 10 minutes on the other side. Remove from grill and enjoy the juicy, caramelized pineapple goodness.

Cheaters Chicken Salad



I made this random collage to distract you
from the fact that I didn't take any photos
of the chicken salad - whups.



I think I’m supposed to start this entry by apologizing for not posting for a long time. Then I should ramble on about how hectic and exciting my life has been (blah blah blah). Finally, I'm probably supposed to promise to be a more diligent blogger. Can we skip all that mess and talk about food? Awesome, thanks!  

I took a pretty simplistic view to cooking this week. Lots of meat + veggies + salsa. I did one old standard my hubby likes too – chicken salad. It’s good for him because he’s on the road a lot for his job. And since most of my cooking needs to be eaten hot, he often has some less desirable lunch options (Read: hoagies/pizza/various Wawa items).

 My chicken salad, like most of my cooking, is simple. In my early days, I would grill chicken, cool it and then dice it up. Then I discovered the Whole Foods rotisserie chicken and my life got waaaaay easier. I like the balanced flavors of this recipe…it’s creamy, a little sweet, and still savory.  



Cheaters Chicken Salad

•  1 rotisserie chicken
• 1 medium-large bunch celery
•  1 large red onion
• 1 medium green apple
• Lemon juice
• ½ cup raisins
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1-1.5 cups paleo mayo
• Salt and pepper to taste

Slice the celery bunch (all at one time) into ¼ inch strips – doing the whole bunch at once saves a lot of time, which is good because I’m lazy. Throw in a large bowl. Then chop your red onion into a small dice and toss on top of the celery. Do the same with the apple, but toss it in lemon juice before you add it to the large bowl. Throw in the raisins. Coarsely chop the walnuts and add them to the bowl as well.



Strip the chicken from the bone in large chunks, keeping the skin if you like to have it in your chicken salad (I do, natch). Once you have the large chunks, tear it into smaller pieces and add it to the rest of the yummy goodness. At this point, it’s time to get everything mixed together. I stick my hands in the bowl and toss it until everything it’s incorporated. Sprinkle with you preferred amount of salt and pepper and repeat the hand toss. Finally, plop on your mayo and mix it up (I switch to using a spoon once the mayo goes in). Adjust the salt and pepper if needed. This recipe yields between 6-8 servings depending on your (or your husband's) hunger level.