Pineapple Whips

I had some crushed pineapple that I needed to use up. I needed the juice for another recipe awhile back so I had just drained it and had it in a tupperware in the back of the fridge. So, what's a girl to do? I searched Pinterest of course, and came up with THIS recipe. There was just enough juice left in the pineapple to make this recipe. Kismet!

2 20oz cans crushed pineapple, drained. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice.)
2 Tablespoons lime juice
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons reserved pineapple juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 8oz tub whipped topping (or 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, whipped)

Puree all but the whipped topping together in a blender or food processor until smooth (I couldn't get mine completely smooth because of how fibrous pineapple is, but it was mostly smooth).

 Pour puree into a one gallon zipper seal freezer bag and lay flat in the freezer for one hour or until the mixture starts to become slushy.

Remove from freezer, dump into a large bowl and gently fold in the whipped topping until incorporated. Put the mixture back in the freezer and freeze for another hour or so until frozen.

You can serve this in a dish like ice cream or in a glass with more pineapple juice poured over the top. Sprite or 7-Up would be good too.

I've read that the original Dole Whips don't have any sort of milk or cream--just pureed pineapple reconstituted with water. I don't know how to do that so this version works for me. Also the copycat recipe I found used real cream which would be delicious for sure, but I only had Cool Whip at my house and it worked great too. I may try cream sometime in the future. I imagine it would be easy to make sugar-free too--substitute your favorite alternative sweetener for the sugar and voilà!

This is really refreshing and easy. I can see it becoming a favorite summertime treat.

That's a Good (Breakfast) Cookie

We are having snack issues at our house. There are three certain children who think it must be bathed in sugar in order to qualify as a good snack. I found this recipe and tweaked it a whole lot. It is now snack time approved in our house.

2 cups brown sugar (I used 1 cup of Splenda/ Brown Sugar blend)

2 cups rolled oats
1 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup applesauce
1/2 cup prune puree (you can use baby prunes for this. I soaked 5 prunes in water and then blended them up until they were a smooth consistency)
5 tablespoons water
3 eggs

1/2 cup of soaked raisins (I soaked them for about 15 minutes to keep the cookies moist and chewy)

1/2 cup craisins chopped

Mix all of the dry ingredients listed from the brown sugar to the cinnamon. In a separate bowl mix together all of the fruits and eggs. It will not be very pretty. :) Combine the dry mix and the fruit mix together. The dough will be very sticky. It has to be in order to keep the cookies from being dry. Wheat flour needs more liquid!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray cookie sheets with non-stick spray or line with parchment paper. Scoop about 2 TBSPs of dough and place in balls on the cookie sheet. Flatten them down, as they do not flatten in the oven. (Yes, I know they are sticky!) Bake for about 9 minutes. Do not overcook or the cookies will be dry. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.
These are one of those cookies that taste the best at room temperature.
They are not the prettiest cookie you have ever eaten, but they have Sadie's approval, and that is saying something.

Berry Rhubarb Pie

Sean requested a berry rhubarb pie for dessert for Father's Day this year. I was excited when I found this award winning recipe on allrecipes.com!

I omitted the pie crust part of the recipe and used Melissa D'Arabian's pie crust instead.

1 cup fresh blackberries (I think I ended up with closer to two cups of frozen blackberries
1 cup raspberries
2 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I ended up using 1/3 cup of flour because of the increased fruit)
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 teaspoon lemon juice ( I omitted this, as I felt that the rhubarb was tart enough)
1 1/2 tablespoons half-and-half cream
2 tablespoons white sugar


To Make Filling: In a medium bowl, combine blackberries, raspberries, and rhubarb. In a separate bowl, mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Sprinkle over fruit mixture and stir gently. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight.
Mix 1 tablespoon melted butter and lemon juice into fruit filling, then spoon into pastry-lined pie pan. Roll out top crust and place over filling. Crimp edges and cut steam vents in top. Brush lightly with half and half and sprinkle lightly with sugar.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, until crust is golden brown

Applesauce

Before living in NY I did not know what good applesauce really was. My mom opened up a jar that she bought from a store and dumped it over our pork chops. Occasionally she would put a little Mott's package in our lunches.
My mother in law taught me how simple and wonderful homemade applesauce really is.
Right now I have hot applesauce on my stove. My house smells heavenly and the taste is even better.

I cut up about 9 to 10 apples. (If you want a side dish for dinner, than just do 4 or 5!)
I used two varieties of apples. Cortland and McIntosh. One is a little more tart and one is a sweeter variety. Use what you have. Try a "U-Pick" farm!
Peel (if you want to, my mother in law didn't always do that!) and core the apples. It will go faster if you do cut them in to smaller pieces, but as long as they are cored, throw them in whole!
Place in a pot on the stove with just a little bit of water to start the steam. I used 1/2 cup of water for 10 apples.
Add cinnamon to taste. Add half brown sugar, half white sugar until you have obtained the desired sweetness. Go easy, let the flavor of the apples come through.
Let them simmer on the stove until the apples turn themselves in to a sauce. Stir it occasionally.
This is great as a side dish, heaped on top of hot waffles, or just a snack.
MMMmmmm. Ya gotta love fall!