pineapple

Tasty Tuesday–Hawaiian Pulled Pork

Today I’m sharing a quick and easy slow cooker recipe for pulled pork with a Hawaiian twist!

  • 3-4 lb. pork shoulder picnic roast
  • 18 oz. bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s Hawaiian Barbecue Sauce (plus more to taste)
  • 20 oz. can pineapple slices in 100% pineapple juice
  • Hawaiian buns (I like the Sara Lee “Artesano” variety)
  • Sliced pepper jack cheese
  • Jalapeño-cilantro slaw

Place pork shoulder in slower cooker and salt and pepper to taste. Drain pineapple slices, reserving juice. Combine one bottle Hawaiian barbecue sauce with reserved pineapple juice and pour over pork. Cook on low 8-10 hours. In last hour, shred pork and drain off most of cooking liquid, then return pork to slow cooker with additional barbecue sauce if desired and finish cooking.

Serve on Hawaiian buns with pineapple slices, pepper jack cheese, additional barbecue sauce if desired, and a generous portion of jalapeño-cilantro slaw.

A Tasty Treat for Dole Whip Day

Last year on Dole Whip Day, I made cupcakes inspired by the ones offered at Contempo Café at Disney World’s Contemporary Resort. They were amazing, and I thought I might make them again this year, until Disney Eats shared a new recipe for Pineapple Upside-Down Cake with Frozen Pineapple Treat Inspired by Dole Whip. I’m always up for trying something new, and I wasn’t disappointed…I already knew we would like the unofficial Dole Whip because I’ve made that before, and the pineapple-upside down cake was the best I’ve ever had!

I wonder what kind of recipe they’ll come up with next year?

Tasty Tuesday–Pineapple Pie

I decided I wanted to try something really different for Thanksgiving, so I made a pineapple pie! It’s a super easy recipe, and is really fresh and unique. I absolutely loved it, and I’ll definitely be making it again!

  • 40 oz. crushed pineapple with juice
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 6 Tbsp. cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 pie crusts
  • 1 egg
  • 2 Tbsp. milk
  • 1 Tbsp. white sugar

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine crushed pineapple with juice, 1 cup sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened, then boil for 1 minute. Cool slightly.

Line a 10-inch pie plate with crust. Beat egg and brush crust with it to prevent sogginess. Pour filling into the prepared pie dish. Cover with remaining crust; press and flute the edges to seal. Cut a few steam vents on top (or do a lattice crust as pictured), brush crust with milk and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. sugar.

Bake until golden brown, about 35 minutes. Serve with whipped cream and flaked coconut if desired.

Tasty Tuesday–Dole Whip Day

One of the things I was most looking forward to when we went to Disney World last year (and again when we went to Disneyland in June) was having a Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve if you’ve never had the opportunity to indulge), and I was also excited to discover that “Dole Whip Day” (which fell on July 20th) was a thing!

My love of all things Dole Whip, from the treats at the park to handbags to frozen treats at home, is fairly obvious:

I was really excited to recreate the treat at home last summer according to the recipe in Delicious Disney: Walt Disney World:

I was also excited to discover that the recipe for “Growth Potion” in Alice In Wonderland: The Official Cookbook, which featured pineapple juice and cream soda, was the perfect drink for this year’s Dole Whip Day:

But the thing I was most excited about was that the Disney Parks blog “Disney Eats” section shared a recipe in the for Pineapple Cupcakes inspired by Dole Whips (yellow cupcakes filled with pineapple mousse and topped with pineapple buttercream frosting), like the ones they serve at the Contempo Café at Disney World’s Contemporary Resort! I was already planning on trying to recreate the recipe (without ever having actually tried one myself), but they made it so much easier for me! I am not exaggerating when I say these are the best cupcakes I’ve ever made…I don’t know how they compare to the ones served at the Contempo Café, but they’re amazing on their own!

This was such fun and delicious way to celebrate Dole Whip Day, and I’m looking forward to making them again!

Tasty Tuesday–Stitch Day!

Yesterday was a most anticipated day…it was Stitch Day!

In case you’re unfamiliar with this holiday, it’s a day in celebration of Experiment 626 (which is why it is celebrated on June 26), otherwise known as Stitch, of Lilo and Stitch fame. Last year, we just happened to be at the Magic Kingdom on Stitch Day, and it’s hard to top that, but Disney did just release Lilo & Stitch: The Official Cookbook last month, so I planned a special day of meals to celebrate our favorite alien-dog.

We started with ‘Ohana Fruit Salad, which had pineapple, lychees, pear, green apples, strawberries, and tangerines, and was tossed with coconut yogurt and served in a hollowed-out pineapple. It was really delicious!

Next was Kaua’i Sugarloaf Pineapple Salsa, served with plantain chips…I can’t wait to serve this with our next Mexican dinner, because it too was delicious!

Funny story about the drink I made…it’s called the Blue Hawaiian. Does it look blue to you? No matter how much of the blue vanilla syrup I added, I couldn’t get the pineapple and lemon juice based drink to change colors, not even to green! Even though the color wasn’t right, the drink itself was tropical and refreshing!

For dinner, I made Dawn Patrol Loco Moco. I’ve been wanting to try this Hawaiian dish of a hamburger patty served on rice and topped with gravy and a fried egg for a while, and we weren’t disappointed!

For dessert, we had the Pā’ina Haupia Cake, which had a lovely coconut filling. Bunny drew an outline of Stitch, and Ladybug copied it in royal icing to make the decoration for the top of the cake…they did a fantastic job!

We had a really fun time celebrating Stitch Day, and I can’t wait to try more recipes from the cookbook!

Tasty Tuesday–Pineapple Bars

Everybody knows and loves lemon bars, but I started wondering, what other flavors would work. I came up with this recipe for pineapple bars (with a hint of coconut), and they taste just like summer!

Shortbread Crust

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a 9×13 pan with parchment paper and coat with cooking spray. Blend flour, softened butter, sugar, and coconut extract in a medium bowl until well combined; press into the bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes until golden.

Pineapple Filling

  • 4 eggs
  • 1/2 cup pineapple juice
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • Powdered sugar for dusting

While crust is baking, whisk together eggs and pineapple juice. Whisk in sugar and flour until smooth. Pour over hot crust, then return to oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes until set. Cool completely before cutting into squares and dusting with powdered sugar.