Cooking Tip: Cleaning with Lemons

June 3, 2015cooking tipsSheri SpalloneComment

I LOVE lemons!!! I love cooking with them, I love the smell of lemons, and I love how lemons impart that freshness factor to any dish.

But did you know? Lemons are not only used for cooking, lemons are natural disinfectants, due to their high acidity contents. Here are a few lemony cleaning tips that may be helpful.

Sanitize a cutting board- Rub a clean cutting board with half a lemon, and let it sit for a couple of minutes before rinsing with water.
Clean the garbage disposal- Pour hot water, mixed with a half of a cup of lemon juice down a garbage disposal to sanitize and freshen.
Shiny Fixtures- Rub half a lemon on chrome fixtures and knobs. Your bathroom will smell lemony fresh too!
Clean the microwave- Fill a small bowl with vinegar, add a couple of drops of lemon juice and place in the microwave. Run the microwave for a few minutes and then remove the bowl. Cleanup should now be a breeze.
Add a couple of drops of lemon juice to a sponge and use the sponge to clean a shower door. Soap scum comes right off.

Yum

Pepper Jam Grilled Pineapple Recipe

June 2, 2015glaze marinade & sauce, side dishes, entrees, desserts, grillingSheri SpalloneComment

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It's grilling season folks! If you've never had grilled pineapple, you're in for a real treat! Grilling brings out the sweet juices in the pineapple, and your taste buds will thank you. I could have stopped there, but I decided to try our pepper jams as a glaze. Oh my goodness, I had the best of both worlds...sweet and spicy.

Ingredients

Oil to lightly coat grill
1 Pineapple, scales removed, and cored (coring is optional)
Cherchies® Cranberry Hot Pepper Jam, Cherchies® Strawberry Hot Pepper Jam, or Cherchies® Cherry Hot Pepper Jam

Preparation

Lightly brush grill with oil. Turn the grill on high and turn down to low after 5 minutes. Remove scales from pineapple with a knife and slice pineapple into 3/4 inch slices.

Coring the pineapple is the next step and completely optional (The core does become tender during the grilling process, which makes it perfectly edible). I prefer to core the pineapple as it's all about the presentation. I use an apple corer I've had for years, but you could easily cut out the core with a knife.

Once the grill is heated, place pineapple slices on the grill and grill for 3-4 minutes (more depending on thickness of the pineapple) on each side. As the pineapple finishes cooking, brush on the pepper jam for that sweet and spicy deliciousness! You could stop with just the grilled pineapple depending on your preference, but then you'd be missing out on a party in your mouth:)