Dehydrated Pineapple Snacks You Won't Be Able to Resist

As a local food lover, I tend to stick with local fruits — gorging on them in season and preserving the rest for later. I eat bananas and oranges maybe twice per year, but I cannot resist a good pineapple! What a delight they are, bringing tropical breezes and palm trees right to my door. I find that I can’t eat a lot of fresh pineapple at once, so I’ve gotten into the routine of buying a few pineapples when they are on sale and dehydrating slices to snack on later. They are absolutely delicious — a real revelation in the world of dried fruits. One pineapple loosely fills a quart jar, but make extra — they go fast!

How to dehydrate pineapple:

Peel and core the pineapple(s), so you end up with roughy four lengthwise chunks of edible pineapple meat. Then cut each chunk crosswise into thin slices about 1/4-1/8 inch thick. Place the slices onto the trays of your dehydrator with space between the slices for air to circulate.

Dehydrate at 135F degrees for approximately 12 hours, or until the slices are pliable but have no wetness in them if you tear one in half. When you think the slices are fully dry, turn off your dehydrator and let them cool on the racks. They will become less pliable as they cool, so it is easier to gauge your final product when they are cool.

Pineapple retains a nice chewy texture when completely dry. When dry, remove slices from trays and store in an airtight jar. Check the jar after a few days. If there is condensation forming on the inside of the jar, the pineapple is not fully dry and must be returned to the dehydrator to avoid spoilage. If you prefer slices that are thicker and/or not fully dry, you can store them in the refrigerator after dehydrating. 

A note about storing dried fruit:

When choosing your storage jars, it is always better to store dried fruit in multiple small jars instead of all in one big jar. If one piece wasn’t quite dry and spoils, you’ll only have to throw away one jar, not the whole batch. Smaller containers also protect your batch from the moisture in the air that enters the jar each time you open it to take out some of the dried fruit. A larger jar will absorb more moisture over time as you open and close the jar, so smaller is better.

Bet you can't eat just one!!

Miso Soup with Egg Drop: Instant Breakfast on the Go

I'm a bagel and cream cheese kind of gal, always have been, but I'm trying to branch out my breakfast options when I'm on the go and don't have time to make a big breakfast at home. Enter miso soup.

I find miso soup recipes to be somewhat daunting, with quick homemade broths from exotic ingredients being an unreasonable expectation for early morning kithenry. That's why I am so thankful to have found Trader Joe's instant miso packets. They have been a great introduction to miso soup for me, and a way to start a new pattern of eating at breakfast while I learn how to make miso soup on my own. The miso soup alone tastes good, but it doesn't quite feel like a meal, so I've added an egg drop to the recipe for breakfast on the go faster than you can toast a bagel!

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Instant Miso Soup with Egg Drop To Go

1 packet instant miso soup
1 egg
2 cups boiling water

Crack the egg into a pint mason jar and lightly beat it. Add contents of miso soup packet to jar. Fill jar with boiling water, and then swirl the soup with a spoon to mix in the egg.  Let cook/cool for a couple of minutes before drinking, or do what I do and wait to eat it until you're en route. Nutritious and goes down easy!

Whole Food Chocolate Chip Cookies

Craving cookies but cutting back on refined flour and sugar? This small batch of whole food chocolate chip cookies will satisfy at any time of day (or at late night; no judgement!).

1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup whole sugar (rapadura, sucanat, coconut, etc.)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 to 1 cup chocolate chips (mini chips make better cookies)

Preheat oven to 375F degrees. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter and sugar. Add vanilla and the egg and whisk for about a minute, or until the batter thickens slightly. When using whole food ingredients, whisking is a very important step that makes the cookies fluffy instead of flat.

Stir in dry ingredients until smooth, and then add chocolate chips. Using two teaspoons, drop rounded spoonfuls of batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes two dozen cookies.