Hawaiian Shrimp Roll

One of the things I'm finding difficult this summer is coming up with things I feel like cooking. It's an odd combination of cooking for one, ridiculous heat, and too much snacking while I'm writing. Combined, those three things make me less than inspired when it comes to cooking.

But sometimes an idea hits.

I had some frozen shrimp, and I had some leftover King's Hawaiian hot dog rolls.

I always love the combination of shrimp and pineapple - and that just seemed the right thing for Hawaiian rolls, right?

Well, mostly right.

In retrospect, I would have cooked and chilled the shrimp/pineapple combo before serving it in the roll, but it was still tasty (if a bit soggy!).

I had a bag of sweets and beets chips, so they were my veggie.  😇

Sorry, this photo came out really dark. This was the pineapple (frozen) simmering with the shrimp.

These rolls were perfect because the top opening allowed me to easily fill the roll with the shrimp/pineapple mix.

Clearly my photography skills were lacking this particular day. You'll have to take my word for it that the dark orange on the left side is the beet and sweet potato chips. The half of the pineapple shrimp roll is that bland mess on the right.

My apologies. I had finished eating before I realized the photos were off.

So, what do you think? Would you try this combo? I'm thinking a sprinkle of toasted coconut on top would have been nice.


So, when I was buying the shrimp, I also purchased some salmon. Does this strike anyone else as funny?  My daughter and I had a good laugh at the ingredients. 

If you can't see, the ingredients say: Sockeye salmon (contains fish). Um, how about IS fish?

Finally, everyone else has been sharing gorgeous nature photos. My "nature" photos tend to include buildings, but I thought these evening sky photos were pretty enough to share.

Nary a rattlesnake in sight.  😏

Chocolate Dipped Fruit

So I'm still on this dark chocolate binge - you know to make sure I have enough chromium to combat that sweet tooth.

Lately it's been so hot, I have no interest in cooking. Up here in the northeast, most of us don't have central air. We have room air conditioners in certain rooms. In my case, that's the bedroom. So when it's 89 in my kitchen without the stove on, there's not much incentive to turn it on.  I just want something quick that I can take up and eat in the AC.

Fruit works. 

Fruit and chocolate work even better.

I was wandering the aisles of the supermarket looking for inspiration. Everywhere I looked there was chocolate-covered something. Acai and blueberries. Pomegranate seeds. Nuts. 

There was also a lovely fresh pineapple.

That inspired me. 

I grabbed an apple and an orange too. I was tempted to try a grapefruit, but decided to wait and see how the others came out.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story. I'll just add in that it was ridiculously easy. I used my wok on top of a big Le Creuset ceramic pot. You can see how quickly it melted the chocolate.

I'll admit, the pineapple was my favorite - that amazing taste combination of tart and bittersweet. But the orange was surprisingly tasty too. A friend gave me raves on the apple.

I'm inpired to try it with some dried fruits too - apricots maybe.  I did try it with organic, unsweetened coconut. Happiness.

So what do you think? I thought it might be a lot of work, but it was incredibly easy and fast.

One tip: you'll probably have to keep the chocolate warm because the cold fruit made it start to thicken while I was dipping it. The taste didn't change, but the later pieces weren't as smooth.

Dessert Hawaiian Style

Everywhere I go I'm being offered pumpkin this and pumpkin that. But my mind is still back in Hawaii where the desserts were fabulous.

Baked Hawaiian with Macadamia toffee

Plantation Garden's Baked Hawaiian is like baked Alaska. It has coffee and coconut ice cream layers covered in meringue with a chocolate crust. Luscious!

 
Gaylord's Plantation Pie uses ice cream as it's main ingredient too. Vanilla ice cream with macadamia nut brittle, caramel sauce and roasted pineapple make this dessert marvelous. But what really caught my attention was the vanilla whipping cream. Just add a dash of vanilla to your whipping cream next time to see what I mean.
 
Kilauea Bakery's coconut and pineapple macaroons and macadamia nut butter cookies have a special place in my heart.

Not because they are delicious and they are but because of this bookshelf and it's cause. Gotta love businesses who give back to the community.

 

I'm still working on tweaking my own recipes for these luscious wonders but it really isn't all that difficult to make any dessert feel like it came straight from the islands. Here are the magic ingredients:

Coconut - folks love it or hate it apparently but it is my go to garnish. I tend to use coconut chips and stay away from the sweetened stuff. You don't need even MORE sugar. Jan has a great recipe for coconut candy here.  Her post also reminded me that coconut cream can be put in the ice cream maker as part of a recipe. Nummy.

Macadamia Nuts - I am kicking myself for not bringing back a bucket load. They are expensive there but not as much as here. The good news it only takes a small amount of these luscious nuts to make their presence known. Here's my easy gluten free cheesecake recipe.  Add macadamia nuts and/or coconut into the crust.

Chocolate fudge - the standard "lava" for any dessert. Hot fudge must be the state dessert sauce. It was everywhere and was ALWAYS called "lava." I wasn't going to quibble and say lava really needed to be red or orange because cooling lava is kind of dark brown to black. There are several good recipes on this blog but one of our group, who shall remain nameless, suggests you buy it. Any way you choose to go, the easy way or the hard way, heat, spoon over your dessert of choice, sprinkle with a few red sugar crystals or red M&Ms for the glowing coals and you have lava!   

Pineapple - lots of places roast it to use as a topping, like Gaylord's, or mix it in. But the funny thing is it is primarily from South America now, not Hawaii.

Coffee - did you know Hawaii is the only state where coffee is grown? And the homemade coffee ice creams I had were incredible to boot.

And then there are the little things like decorations from the Dollar Store and the easiest dessert of all Hawaiian Volcano Sundaes.

Leis, an army helmet (Grandma Juju was in Hawaii doing WWII research, and sundae toppings)  

They are a big hit among the under seven and over thirty crowd!

So, my kids know when we come back from Hawaii, we decompress by eating Hawaiian themed food for a week.  Do you come home from a trip and try to recreate where you've been through meals or a special dish? What Hawaiian ingredient might be your favorite?

Surviving a Coffee Break

Fall has arrived in the Piedmont of North Carolina.  That’s what we call the part of the state between the beach and the mountains. Rolling hills, trees, and universities. Basketball is king in NC but football season is still game on.   

We are a two generation North Carolina State University Family. Three, if you count my Daddy working there for a couple of years.  Man O and I met there.  Our kids went there by choice, not because we forced them. Now the grandkidlets are being trained in all things Wolfpack.  

Our son built a shrine of NC State items around the TV every game. It was bigger than this by the time he left for college.  

The weather's been perfect for football this week.  The apples are coming in. I can make soup and not sweat into the pot. I should be in heaven. But there's a problem. I need to back down my coffee consumption again.  

  

Well, caffeine really. Did you know caffeine withdrawal is classified as a mental disorder? I believe it.  If I didn’t have to cut my morning cup, um cups, and iced teas for health reasons,  there’s no way I would be reducing my drug of choice. Yep, caffeine is a drug. Sigh.

Caffeine is in everything now. Don’t get me started on the new Cracker Jack’d. Yep, the new version of that wonderful concoction of peanuts and caramel corn now has a cousin with caffeine. There’s also potato chips with caffeine and, get this, caffeinated Stay Puft MARSHMALLOWS.  Can you imagine the Stay Puft Marshmallow man on caffeine?  I don't want to either. But then I did:

There’s reasons a plenty to drink coffee, so the experts say. Alertness, diabetes prevention and cancer reduction. But there are reasons you shouldn’t over do. Heart palpitations, stomach problems, the need to find a Starbucks and breaking down if one isn’t near by. It’s addictive. Sigh.

Watching football this week wasn't going to take my mind off the withdrawal symptoms. We State fans love to say we live to be disappointed.  

Drinking lots of water, dealing with a constant headache and fuzzy headiness is no fun. It’s important to recognize your body is going through a shock to its system and needs some TLC.

After reading way too many articles on living through caffeine withdrawal, I decided to use some of the ingredients I found in detox drink recipes to make a side dish for dinner this week. All the benefits and more of the fiber!  

  

Who knew pineapple reduces inflammation, a withdrawal symptom, and apples are a miracle fruit when it comes to reflux issues? Ginger is known for reducing nausea, another side effect. Cinnamon controls blood sugar.  Vanilla enhances the sweetness without too much sugar. Plus working on a recipe would take my mind off missing my cup of joy, um, I mean joe.

How about them apples? Roasted Pineapple and Apple Bake

2 apples, Rome, Granny or other good cooking apples, diced

1 cored pineapple, diced, reserving juice

¼ cup, butter melted

2 Tablespoons sugar or more to taste

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 Tablespoon ginger 

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all the ingredients until well coated.

Preheat oven to 425.

Dice the fruits and place in a large bowl.

Pour pineapple juice and stir to coat apples so they won't brown.

Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and ginger.

Melt butter and add vanilla to the butter.  Stir until blended then pour over fruit.

Stir fruit, spices and butter/vanilla mixture until fruit is well coated.

Place in a 9 X 13 glass dish.

Back for 30-45 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve warm or cold. 

A bowl of yummy goodness. Bonus: it makes  your kitchen smell divine!

 So what's your obsession? Fall food, football or coffee? Have you had to give up coffee or sugar or sports? How did you cope?