Recipes and ideas so you never have to ask what the forks for dinner!
It’s Cherry Season!!! “Bing” it on……..Sweet Savory Cherry Chutney is the perfect condiment for pork, chicken, or fish.
Add it to your favorite grain, or perhaps your next cheese plate; the uses are endless.Continue reading “Sweet Savory Cherry Chutney”
Summer grilling and the flavors are spicy sweet. Fresh Pineapple Ginger Salsa is the perfect condiment for hot off the grill chicken, fish, pork and seafood.
After buying my first whole pineapple, I was hooked! No more canned pineapple for me. So, how do you know you have the right pineapple??? There is no better way to say it….….sniff it’s butt!
If you sniff the stem end and its smells, ripe, sweet, and fruity…..thats your pineapple!
Now you have the perfect pineapple, how do you cut it??? Well, you need to let an expert explain, and who better than Martha Stewart. Click here for a short video on how to cut a pineapple.
Summer salsas need all fresh ingredients. Sweet pineapple, sweet bell peppers for color, spicy jalapeño for heat, onion, fresh ginger root, and cilantro make for a sweet and spicy topping for grilled foods or for your favorite tacos.
Fresh ginger gives a kinda sweet, kinda peppery, kinda lemony, kinda spicy,and pungent flavor to Fresh Pineapple Ginger Salsa or any dish you use it in.
Ginger can be used in sweet or savory dishes, and has been used medicinally for centuries. Used as a tonic, antiseptic, diuretic, fever reducer, appetite aid, and digestion stimulant. Herbalists use ginger to treat arthritis, bronchitis, colitis, colds, coughs, rheumatic pain, and menstrual cramps.
Freezing peeled ginger root ensures you have a ready supply. Peel a fresh ginger root and store in a freezer bag, making sure all the air is out of the bag. When the need for ginger arises…..just grate the frozen ginger in the desired amount……easy!!
Whip up a batch of Fresh Pineapple Ginger Salsa for your next turn at the grill…..you will be glad you did!!
P.S. Later in the week I will have a quick easy grill recipe using Fresh Pineapple Ginger Salsa!!!!!! Come back and check it out!!
Print
½ pineapple, pealed, cored, small diced ( about 3 cups)
1 jalapeño- seeded and vein removed, very finely diced
1/2 cup sweet peppers, diced small (red, orange, yellow green)
¼ cup finely diced red onion
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
½ cup chopped cilantro, chopped
Zest and juice of one lime
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha sauce
Salt to taste
pinch sugar (optional)
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Keywords: pineapple, peppers, cilantro, salsa, condiments
Red Pepper Jam
You know that panicy feeling when someone stops by unexpectedly during the holidays………you bolt to the kitchen to see what you can pull together in a hillbilly hurry. Well, never fear I got the thing right here……Red Pepper Jam.
I know everyone is aware of a company called Tastefully Simple. They have really great products…….delicious foods and gifts for every day and every occasion. I have, in the past purchased a product called Sweet Pepper Jalapeño Jam, a friend had a party and it was one of the samples and I loved it. They just poured it over cream cheese and served it with crackers and ooh la la appetizer. So, I figured I could make something similar….and I did.
It’s fairly easy to make, the hardest part and it’s not really hard…..more time consuming is the cooking time. It needs to reduce and that takes about 45 minutes. But it has a beautiful upside…….it will keep in the frig for a month…..yes siree……… a whole month!
Make it just before Thanksgiving and it will help you sail right through the holidays for all those moments when you need to fix something in a hurry.
Keep a package of cream cheese in the frig and when company comes a calling, put the cream cheese on a nice plate, pour over your secret weapon ……..Red Pepper Jam…….and serve with crackers, or my personal favorite…….. pita chips. As you can see, I have a really cute plate that my Elementary staff gave me last year for a Christmas gift………Snowman whose mittens and boots that are little serving spreaders…….it soooo cute! Thank you ladies!!!!
You can also use the Red Pepper Jam as a condiment on sandwiches or burgers, as a glaze for vegetables or meat, or as a dip. It’s sweet and spicy and damn delicious!!!
Keywords: condiment, spicy, sweet, red pepper, snack, appetizer, tomato