Bacon-wrapped pineapple

Two of my favourite things together at last.


I had these treats while on vacation in the Okanagan this summer. My dear and amazingly talented friend, Allison, cooked them up for us one night before supper. Yesterday I wanted to make a quick and easy appetizer so I wrapped these up and they were a big hit.

1 pkg of bacon
Some pineapple (I bought two 500 g containers of pineapple slices as there were none ripe)
About 1/2 cup of brown sugar (or more, I probably used more)

Set oven to 350.

Cut the package of bacon in half so that you have half slices to work with. Dredge the bacon, one at a time, in the brown sugar. Place a small piece of pineapple on the bacon. Roll the bacon around the pineapple and fasten with a toothpick. I cooked them on cookie sheets with parchment paper to lessen the mess.

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 minutes. It depends on how crispy you like your bacon.

Homemade mouth-watering salsa

Oh man oh man oh man. It's summer. There are lots of barbecues and social gatherings where food is key. I dug this out of the archives of my email from my good friend, Kathleen. It takes about 5 minutes to make and will impress.

4 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup green onion, sliced
1/4 cup red onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp pickled jalapeno peppers, minced
1 lime, zested and juiced (makes about 1/4 cup of juice if you don't have a fresh one)
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp olive oil (recipe suggests 2 but the juices from the tomatoes more than make up for it)

Combine the vegetables and liquids. Stir. Serve with tostitos scoops as it is quite juicy.

Amazeballs.

Grey Cup Ribs

I got a slow-cooker from my besties last month for my birthday. This is only the second thing I've made in it. Who knew slow-cookers were this amazing?

2 racks of pork back ribs
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
2 minced garlic cloves
2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp salt (I left this out)
1/2 tsp pepper
1 bottle (455 ml) barbeque sauce (I used Cattle Boyz original as it is gluten free)

Trim fat from ribs. Cut into 2 rib portions; placed on rimmed baking sheet lined with tinfoil. Broil until browned; about 7 minutes per side. Transfer to slow cooker.

Meanwhile, in large nonstick pan, heat oil over medium heat. Fry onion, carrot, celery, garlic, thyme and pepper. This takes about 5 minutes until onions are softened. Remove from heat and add barbeque sauce.

Pour sauce into slow-cooker to cover ribs. Stir them a few times to get them nice and saucy. Cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Courtesy of Canadian Living. Next time I'm going to try to make the sauce from scratch.