Happy Monday and welcome to a new week!  I was unsure what to share with you today because I have so much in the hopper and ready to go and there is so much going on in the coming weeks.  As you know from last week, September 1st marks the start of HELP THE STUDENTS event and I cannot wait.  It will be a one month series, featuring simple, quick meals that anyone can prepare with simple everyday ingredients.  They will also focus on being cost effective as well as packing lots o’ flavor.

Before we get into today’s recipe which I pretty much love – I want to share some feedback I have heard over the blog in the last few months both positive and negative.  The positive feedback just reassures me that I am doing something I love and will continue to do.  The negative feedback is what I really love.  Sound bizarre?  Not really.  I find the negative information drives me to deliver a better blog, add more value for you the reader and an enhanced experience for all to enjoy.

Positive Feedback

• Amazing Photography
• Tasty recipes that I can actually make
• Love the Zesty Tips
• Fun to read

Negative Feedback

• Not enough Vegetarian recipes
• Want more posts each week
• More pictures of zesty and his family
• Would love to see more E-books of recipes

On to the Food

Ever need an idea oh how to use up a fresh summer pineapple in a different way?  I know myself I have the hamsters moving in my head all the time to come up with innovative ideas to use fruit in the summer to impress both my palette and yours.

Most recently I had a gorgeous fresh pineapple from the farmers market and I knew I wanted to grill it.  By grilling fruit, the sugars inside caramelize so well and give you that sweet warm texture as you bite into them.  For this quick recipe all you need are a few ingredients and about 10 minutes to whip it up.  I have tried this twice now, so far and it has been a hit each time.

Ingredients

• 1 Whole Pineapple ( sliced and cored)
• Vanilla Ice cream
• Pink Peppercorns (optional)
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• 1 Tbsp. Brown sugar
• Orange zest

Method

1. In a bowl add butter and brown sugar and microwave for 30 seconds.
2. Preheat grill to medium heat
3. Coat the pineapple in the borwn sugar butter glaze and place on grill.  Stay close as it will cook quickly and you do not want it to burn
4. Once golden brown, remove from heat and top with Vanilla ice cream, a few pink peppercorns for a bite and some fresh orange zest.
5. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For a little crunch, try adding some toasted walnuts, peanuts or even pecans to elevate the flavor and texture combination even more.

I hope you enjoyed this quick spin on fresh fruit.  See you on Wednesday for the Help the Students event kick-off.

Take care
zesty

How are ya?  That’s good!  Let’s just say I have been better.  I will take a few minutes to recap yesterday and all its glory.  Well in order for the full story you will need some background from the weekend.

On Saturday we had a lot of rain and high winds – which always concerns me as far as the new house – so I drove out Sunday morning to have a look.  Ran down the basement to check for water… all is clear.  I take a walk up stairs around the perimeter of the house just checking the floors to make sure the roof is not leaking… all is clear.  I wander around a little longer to the south  side of the house and I see wet marks on the floor next to the windows.  My heart beats faster and I say ” Oh Dear”.  I look to another window and see the same thing.  WINDOWS ARE LEAKING!

I call the builder on Monday morning and tell him and he says “ I know Cory… I was down on Sunday at 7:00am because I couldn’t sleep last night”. What are we too do?  Well the guys decided to do a water test yesterday and sure enough the windows are leaking - but how and where.  We call in the siding guys and they take some siding off and do a few more tests.  It turns out the window is leaking itself.  It is not an installation issue but even worse – a product issue.  Now I am upset and borderline cranky.  I got the call as we are waiting in a three hour line up for our H1N1 immunization.   So I immediately called the supplier of the windows and asked to have a rep sent out on site ASAP to get this fixed. As I type this I feel like I am pounding on the keys a little harder than normal so I am going to stop now and get to the good part of this post.

On to the Food

As promised from yesterday’s post I have the easiest tasty apple crisp ever for you today.  We had about 8-10 apples left over from the orchard pick so I thought I would use them up and make a sweet treat.  7 ingredients for a dessert is pretty easy so here goes.

Ingredients

• 8 Cups sliced apples
• 1/4 Cup White Sugar
• 2 Tbsp. Flour
• 1/2 Tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 Cup flour
• 3/4 Cup brown sugar
• 1/2 Cup soft butter

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking dish by rubbing butter all over it
2. Combine apples, white sugar, 2 Tbsp. Flour and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix together.



3. Toss into baking dish and spread evenly



4. For the topping combine the final 3 ingredients and spread evenly over the top of the apple mixture.



5. Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on your oven.



6. Remove and let rest
7. Serve warm or cool



8. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I like to make a thicker apple crisp in a smaller pan because as the apples cook they will begin to shrink and your crisp will fall.

This is a super fast dessert and goes great on a cool fall day.  I like to serve with homemade whip cream or my favorite… vanilla ice cream.  It can also be a great breakfast or even a nice mix into oatmeal.

Question of the day?

Does anybody like oatmeal?  What is your favorite oatmeal topping of all time!

Speaking of oatmeal, I need to try the new Autumn Medley recipe recommend by Chef David from the Quaker Challenge.  For those of you who haven’t already, please vote for me by giving my video a thumbs up!

Have a great day and just so you know – by the time I got to the end of this post, I think I feel better.  it must have been working with the apple crisp pictures.  Have an awesome Thursday.

Take care

zesty