Pineapple Boat

When most people write a bucket list, they have things like this:

1. Ride a kangaroo along the Australian shore while wearing nothing but a silk robe.

2. Travel from California to Hawaii to Australia in a hot air balloon while sharing chocolate-covered strawberries with Fabio while a string quartet plays some soothing music.

3. Searching the world over for Snozzberries because once it was mentioned in the old school "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" you have been dying to know what they taste like.

Well, me?  On my bucket list- I want to make a pineapple boat for crying out loud.  Well, I just so happened to get a couple pineapples from my bountiful basket this week, so I decided to cross this off my bucket list since riding in a hot air balloon with Fabio and a string quartet just isn't in the cards for me on a Tuesday evening.  Although, Fabio wouldn't be my choice of company.  I'd probably end up throwing him overboard just to see his hair flowing in the wind as he falls.  While he falls I would scream, "Next time, wear a shirt and not those tight jeans.  I'm not impressed!"  I do think he would be impressed with the pineapple boat though.  

 Pineapple Boat Tutorial:

You'll need a pineapple and fruit to fill in with.

First, cut a third off the pineapple like the picture below. Set the smaller portion aside.

 Place the larger portion on the counter and cut all the way around it leaving about 1/2 inch.

 Slice about an inch away from the cut from the top to bottom using a paring knife.  I had to kind of slant the knife at the bottom to ensure that the chunk comes out.  Use the paring knife to pry the chunk of pineapple up.

 Do that on both sides.  Reserve the slices from the sides.

 Use the paring knife to cut the core out of the pineapple.

 Once the core is out, use a spoon to scrape out any extra chunks here and there.

 Fill the pineapple boat with your extra fruit and the pineapple from the slices you made earlier.  Serve it with some delicious fruit dip (I have a couple tasty ones in my fruit section) and brag to your friends that you had fruit served in fruit and ruined all nutritional value by drenching it in cream cheese and marshmallow fluff.  Mmm!

Now I can cross that off my bucket list.

Orange Fruit Dip

Fruit by itself is so delicious.  Then, you add something creamy, fluffy, sweet, and crazy delicious to destroy any trace of nutritional value and it becomes even better.  I never thought I'd find a fruit dip as good as my mom's, but I think I've found one that is just as amazing.  Thank you to Ourbestbites.com for adding this recipe into your cookbook.  I fluffed this one up the other day for a Labor Day BBQ, and my family could not keep their hands off of it.  I actually caught my brother trying to drink it. Okay, not really, but he did keep saying how amazing it was. 

Orange Fruit Dip
source: Our Best Bites Cookbook (a must-have for any one- yes, you!)

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
2 t orange zest
3 T fresh orange juice
1/4 t vanilla
pinch salt
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme

Once the cream cheese is softened, beat it with a mixer, along with the orange zest, orange juice and vanilla.  Once it is smooth, add the marshmallow creme and blend.

Serve with fresh fruit.  The pineapple and strawberries were especially delicious with this dip, but I think that if you dipped pig's feet in this dip, it would turn those little piggies into something marvelous- although I don't recommend that.  :)

Fruit Kabobs

I remember when my husband and I were first married, we were assembling some kabobs to grill. We were sitting with his brother Adam, and we were calling it all sorts of different names. Shishking the kabobbies. Shish Kabobbing. Shishing. Kabobbing. We sure thought it was funny, but I'm getting the feeling that it's one of those "you had to be there" moments. Anyway- Sometimes instead of doing a plain ol' fruit salad. I like to shish kabob the fruit. It looks nice on a plate. There's really not much to this. Cut up fruit. Stick it on a skewer. Done. I used the fruit I had on hand, but it's delicious with melons, bananas, cut apples, or any other fruit you'd like to add. If you want to get fancy, you can make some dip to go with it. I've got a recipe for Lemon cashew dip already posted. Check it out. :)

Also, I had 4 skewers originally (which would look much nicer in the picture), but my kids got to them before my camera did. Now, go do some shishy kabobbing!

Lemon Cashew Fruit Dip

My mom is a great cook. I think I've always looked up to her and hoped that I could make people happy with my food as she has with hers. This is one of her recipes, and quite possibly, one of my favorites. I love fruit anytime, but when it is dipped is this sweet, lemony, crunchy dip, I fly off into Happy Fruit Dip Land. I think if Walt Disney were still alive, he would add this land into Disneyland. This dip is the best. Then again, cream cheese and lemon zest make almost anything delicious. Lemon Cashew Fruit Dip:

2 bricks cream cheese
1 canister lemon yogurt
1 c powdered sugar
zest from one lemon
1/2 c chopped cashews

Throw the cream cheese in your mixer and beat it until it's whipped up all nice and smooth. Add the lemon yogurt and mix well. Add the powdered sugar and mix yet again. Add lemon zest, and you've guessed it- mix it again.

If you are going to eat it right away, add the cashews. If you're serving it later, wait to add the cashews right before you serve it. That way, they don't get a soggified. (Yes- I know that isn't a real word. I blame Curious George. They said "floppified" on that show, and I loved it. Now, in my book, -ified is a wonderful suffix for any verb while cooking.)As I am looking at this picture, I am wondering why my pointer finger isn't on the fruit. Weird.. Anyway- I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do, thank my mom. :)