Fresh Pineapple and Sweet Mini Peppers

Last night, I went Krogering and found some awesome produce markdowns.  The Sweeties brand of mini sweet peppers were marked down to only $1.79 a bag when they normally run around $4.00.  This is awesome because I can use them in salsas, freeze some, make fajitas, or even stuff them with something.  The Costa Rican pineapple was also on sale for only $1.99.  Fresh grilled pineapple with some homemade vanilla bean whipped cream is wonderful stuff.  I also found some 1% half gallons of milk marked down to 99 cents...  Overall, it was a pretty productive shopping trip. 

Since I now have a fresh pineapple, I'm going to post one of my cake recipes that uses fresh pineapple...

Guanabana-Pineapple Cream Cake with Orange Vanilla Bean Icing and Sugared Rose Petals

Cake Ingredients:
1 box of white cake mix (and ingredients required except water)

1 can of guanabana juice (such as Jumex)

--you could also use the same process with another type of juice and cake mix

Directions: Prepare cake mix according to directions except substitute the

guanabana juice instead of water.

--use two 8 inch round pans (or another geometric shape) or one 10 inch cake pan

--if you use one pan instead of two, you will have to tort the cake once it is

completely cool.

--freeze the layers to allow for easier assembly and icing

Filling and Icing Ingredients:

half of a fresh pineapple, chopped

the remainder of the guanabana juice

approx. 2 tblsp sugar (or to taste) for the filling

2 cups of heavy whipping cream

the insides of half a vanilla bean

approx 1/4 cup sugar

1 small container of whipped/easy spread cream cheese

the juice of half of an orange

　

Directions: Saute the pineapple over low heat, stirring as needed, with the

remainder of the guanabana juice and 2 tblsp. of sugar. Allow to cool. Then in a

deep bowl, mix the heavy cream, half of the 1/4 cup sugar, and the vanilla bean

insides until whipped cream consistency. Take approximately a fourth of the

whipped cream mixture and fold into the sauted pineapple once the pineapple has

cooled. To the remaining whipped cream, add the other half of the sugar, the

orange juice, and whipped cream cheese. Mix until desired icing consistency.

Sugared Rose Petals:

Ingredients:

organic rose petals (w/out any spray, etc. on them,) washed & dried on a paper

towel

butter flavored cooking spray, or similar

sugar

Directions: Spray both sides of each petal and dredge in the sugar. Allow to

dry/harden overnight. These may be frozen for quite some time for use later.

Assembly:

Place bottom layer of cake on a cake board or serving plate. Evenly spread the

pineapple cream mixture over the layer. Then place the other layer on top. Frost

with the icing and decorate with the sugared rose petals.

　

　

Costa Rican pineapple works well. It is easy to chop in the Tupperware Quick

Chef--much easier that way than by knife or having to clean a food

processor.