Better Home Cooking Basics: #62 Choose Pineapples that Smell Sweet & Have Firm Green Leaves

I love pineapples. Recently I’ve been juicing them. I love it by itself or mixed with other fruits & veggies. I like it in fruity salsas & on the grill too.  Before I juice or chop the pineapple I have to pick the best one I can find at the super market. My go-to tip is to smell it before I buy it. If the pineapple smells sweet it’s most likely because it is. Pineapples that smell sweet are the ones that I take home with me. I also check for bright green, firm leaves which are a telltale sign that the pineapple is fresh.

Get more of my better home cooking basics here. 

Strawberry Salsa

Happy Memorial Day! Hope you're having a fabulous extended weekend.  What are you making for your bbq? Maybe this salsa?

I love fresh salsas made with fruit (like this mango one I made way back when).  Strawberries are everywhere so I used them for the base of this fresh, quick salsa. 

A new tip I picked up about strawberries is that they will only be as sweet & as red as they are the day you bought them. Most other fruits you can stick in a brown paper bag on your counter for a few days for the fruit ripening fairies to take a visit. Not these guys. If your strawberries are greenish - they'll most likely stay greenish, so opt for the bright red ones instead.

BBQ Chicken & Cheese Quesadilla Pizza

Happy belated Cinco de Mayo! Did you enjoy some salty margaritas or with something deliciously spicy?

I have only been celebrating Cinco de Mayo since my early twenties, probably because that's when I was of the legal drinking age for bars & restaurants to market to me. Even though we didn't celebrate Cinco de Mayo when I was growing up I remember my mom making cheese quesadillas. She would top a tortilla with a  mix of barbecue sauce & salsa together with some green onions, cheese & then another tortilla and pan fry into a crispy snack that was both spicy & sweet.  Taking a nod from my youth and this California Pizza Kitchen-esque BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe I created my own fusion (half bbq have Mexican inspired) Cinco de Mayo dinner.

Nacho Pizza

The new & favorite way to make pizza in our house is on our pizza stone on the grill!

Read on for the recipe for this fun recipe I adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Crab Cake Sandwich Dinner

 

I have a new found love for cooking with lump crab meat. I went off this recipe for crab cake sliders & morphed them into regular (ok pretty large) sandwiches.  I didn't have the crackers that How Sweet It Is used so I used panko bread crumbs.  After I mixed in all of the panko I thought they would add a nice crunch to the outside so I dipped my crab cakes in more panko before pan frying them.

Then what really attracted me to this recipe was the toppings - a pineapple kiwi salsa + a spicy lime yogurt spread! Yes, PLEASE! I also really dig cooking with greek yogurt instead of mayo & well this menu has greek yogurt in two spots, happy win!

Thanks for the inspiration How Sweet It Is! I hope I did your recipe justice!

Happy weekend everyone & thanks for reading!

Click through to see photos of how this dinner came together.

A Mexican Egg Sandwich

The Saturday morning ritual in our house is coffee + an egg sandwich.  My egg sandwiches always involve eggs + cheese + sauce + bread.  This weekend I made a Mexican take on the sandwich with salsa, guacamole and cheddar cheese.   It made for  a fast and easy husband pleasing breakfast. 

Ingredients for two sandwiches:

• 2-4 organic eggs  (you can use 1-2 eggs per sandwich)
• 2 (thin) wheat bagels
• 2 tablespoons of black bean salsa
• 2 tablespoons guacamole
• 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
• olive oil
• salt
• pepper

Make it:

1. Coat the bottom of a skillet with olive oil and set over medium heat.
2. Add eggs. Season with salt and pepper. (We like fried eggs but really any kind will work.)
3. Toast bagel thins.
4. Spread the bottom half of the bagel with guacamole.
5. Add egg on top.
6. Add half the cheese per sandwich on top of the egg(s).
7. Spread the top half of the bagel thin with salsa.
8. Add the two halves together to complete the sandwich.
9. Cut in half and serve.

Mangoes-Well-With-Everything Salsa

mouse over to see what's inside :)

One of the first things I found out about Chris was that he loves mangos!  I too love mangos so it was obvious we needed to get married.

Mangos never last long at our house. I like making them with savory things for dinner. This is a quick easy recipe for making mango salsa that you can serve up on tacos or add some leafy greens and call it a salad! Hope you have fun making this and even more fun eating it!