Hawaiian Zucchini Bread

I love baking quick breads. This recipe comes together quickly with ingredients you probably have in your pantry.

Adding wet to dry

Freshly grated zucchini

Don’t skimp on the zucchini

Pineapple makes this bread

Ready for the oven

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3/4 sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 medium size zucchini, you will want 1 cup grated

1 8 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained well

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Hot from the oven

Watch out! It vanishes before your eyes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray loaf pan with nonstick spray.

Whisk together dry ingredients. Beat eggs and vanilla and add them to flour mixture. Add grated zucchini (I used a box grater but good processor will do). Incorporate pineapple, raisins and pecans. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Cool in pan about 15 minutes and place on a plate/tray. Slice and serve.

It’s absolutely delicious warm from the oven, just as tasty cool. Enjoy! This recipe can easily be doubled. Make this recipe and put one loaf in the freezer for later.

Mom’s Dump Cake

Dump Cakes have been around since 1980. This is an easy vintage recipe. A blast from my past. I really think I had this before 1980 but I won’t argue with Google. The recipe first appeared on a brochure from Betty Crocker. The name suits the recipe, just dump in the 5 ingredients and bake. No mixing required. Many of you grew up eating this yummy recipe for dessert. You youngsters that have never had this, you have an easy delicious treat in store for you. This literally take a few minutes to assemble and the outcome is so tasty. Your house will smell amazing. It’s called a cake but it’s kind of like an easy cobbler. There are many versions of dump cakes, this was the original. Sometimes retro/vintage recipes are the best to take you back in time enjoying sweet times with your family and loved ones.

Ingredients:

1 can of cherry pie filling, I used the kind that has more fruit

1 can of crushed pineapple in juice

1 box of yellow cake mix (I used Duncan Hines)

1 cup of pecans, chopped

1 cup of coconut, optional*

1 stick of butter, melted

Vanilla ice cream, never an option for me. A must have!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Spread can of cherry pie filling on the bottom of the casserole dish.

Pour crushed pineapple on top of pie filling and spread to cover the cherries.

Sprinkle the cake mix on top of the pineapple.

Sprinkle chopped pecans on top of cake mix.

Pour melted butter over the nuts.

Bake for one hour. Serve immediately and top with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

*My Mom would add coconut to her recipe but my Dad isn’t fond of coconut so I did not add it to this.

Pineapple Overnight French Toast Casserole

I love French Toast. I love easy recipes during the holiday season. This recipe is made the day ahead and baked in the morning. Just a few ingredients and your family will love this delicious recipe. Included is a recipe for pineapple syrup. 

#sharethesunshine

Ingredients for French Toast:
1 loaf (16 ounces) of crusty white bread, I used 2 day old sourdough, torn into pieces
Butter for greasing casserole dish
8 eggs
2 1/2 cups cream, I used heavy cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 8 ounce can of Dole Pineapple Tidbits
Powdered sugar for dusting on top

 Butter the inside of a 9 x 13  casserole dish.  Tear  1/2 loaf of bread up into pieces. Drain pineapple and reserve the juice for the syrup. Place pineapple tidbits on top of torn bread. Cover pineapple with the remaining loaf of bread, torn into pieces. 

Combine eggs, cream and vanilla and mix well. Pour this evenly over the casserole. Cover with foil and place in the refrigerator overnight. 
The next morning, take your casserole out of the refrigerator. Let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 40 – 60 minutes until custard is set. Make your syrup the day ahead or while casserole is baking with juice that was reserved. 

Pineapple Syrup:

Reserved pineapple juice from tidbits

1 Tablespoon of butter, melted

3 Tablespoons of powdered sugar

Combine melted butter with reserved pineapple juice. Whisk in powdered sugar. Pour over casserole or set aside and use on individual servings. Enjoy!

Tropical Pineapple Trifle

One of my favorite things about trifles is how simple and easy they are to make. You can assemble the day ahead or bake your cake and make the pudding ahead of time and assemble it the next day. I absolutely love pineapple. I have used pineapple extract in my recipe, if you love pineapple as much as I do, I highly recommend you buy or order some.  I purchased mine through Amazon. One taste of my Tropical Pineapple Trifle will have you thinking you are on vacation in the tropics. Aloha!

Ingredients:

Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake mix

4 eggs

Vegetable oil

Pineapple extract

Butter

Powdered sugar

1 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, drained

1 20 ounce can pineapple slices, reserve juice

2 boxes of instant vanilla pudding,  1 large and 1 small

5 cups of milk

16 ounces of whipped topping

1 bag of Heath Bits or chopped macadamia nuts

Maraschino cherries, optional

Umbrellas, optional

Pictured above is an individual trifle. Trifles can be made in a large trifle bowl, individual trifle bowls, mason jars, I have even made trifles in clear plastic cups and taken them to go for a party/picnic. 

Pictured above are the main ingredients. 16 ounces of whipped topping, 20 ounces of pineapple slices, 20 ounces of crushed pineapple, 1 box of pineapple supreme cake mix, 1 large box of jello instant vanilla pudding and one small box of the same and 1 envelope of Dream Whip. Not pictured cherries, Heath Bits, eggs, water, pineapple extract and oil.  
The layers are cake, pudding, whipped topping and Heath bits. I have three layers in my trifle bowl not including the pineapple rings and cherries on the top. 

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

1 box of Duncan Hines Pineapple Supreme cake mix

1 packet of Dream Whip Whipped Topping Mix

4 eggs

1 cup of water

1/2 cup oil

2 teaspoons of pineapple extract

Pour into a 13 x 9″ pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 24-29 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean. While cake is baking, make your liquid to poke in your cake when it comes out of the oven. 

*Poking Liquid:

The juice from one 20 ounce can of sliced pineapple, reserve pineapple rings for decorating the top of your trifle

2 Tablespoons of butter, melted 

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

2 teaspoons of pineapple extract

Whisk all ingredients together and set aside until your cake is ready.  *If you want to skip this step and go bold, you can pour some Malibu Rum over the holes in your cake. Trust me, you will love it. 

Poke big holes in your cake all over. You will be crumbling this cake up anyway so have fun poking holes in it. Pour poking liquid on to of your cake.  Cool completely before assembling your trifle. I put mine in the fridge.  Your cake will be moist and that is a good thing. 

Pudding:

1 large box of vanilla instant pudding

1 small box of vanilla instant pudding

2 teaspoons of pineapple extract

5 cups of milk

1  20 ounce can of crushed pineapple, drained

Follow directions on the box of puddings. Add pineapple extract to the pudding to make it pineapple. Fold in one drained can of crushed pineapple after the pudding has set. 

Assembly:

Crumble cake in bottom of trifle bowl.  Spread a layer of pudding over the top.  Spread a layer of whipped topping over the pudding. Sprinkle with Heath Bits.  Spread out to the edges of your bowl so you can see the layers. Repeat 2 more times. Decorate the top. 

Decorate the top:

Whipped topping

I used Heath bits, but you could also use macadamia nuts in place of the Heath Bits

Sliced pineapple rings

Maraschino cherries

Umbrellas

I Can’t Believe It’s A Blueberry Smoothie

I recently did a smoothie recipe using Dole Packaged Foods. I had not made a smoothie for a long time. Now I seem to be in a smoothie kick lately. New year, healthy me. This smoothie can definitely be a meal replacement will all of the healthy ingredients.  My secret to a good thick smoothie is using frozen fruit. No need for ice that will water down your drink. Lastly, put liquid (yogurt, milk or juice) in first. Liquid needs to be by the blades of your blender for smooth blending!

  
Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk (use soy, almond, skim, etc)

1 6-8 ounce container of yogurt, I used Greek for protein (or throw in a scoop of protein powder)

1 small banana, fresh or frozen 

1 cup of raw baby spinach, I usually grab a handful out of the bag

1/2 cup frozen pineapple*

1/2 cup of frozen blueberries*

  
Layer the above ingredients in your blender in that order. My blender has a smoothie setting, if you’re does not, blend/pulse till smooth. This recipe makes a delicious recipe and I promise you, you will not taste the the spinach. In fact, this smoothie tastes like a blueberry milkshake. It’s delicious, nutritious and very filling. Hard to believe this has protein, fruit, dairy and vegetables and it hits almost every mark on the food pyramid. 

  

Finished product and no sign of green spinach, which is tasteless in this smoothie.  
*If you do not have a smoothie option on your blender, partially thaw your fruit in order not to damage your blender blade. 

Tropical Strawberry Protein Smoothie

I absolutely love smoothies.  I love the fact that they are so healthy and refreshing. Simple healthy ingredients along with your blender create delicious nutritious drink. My smoothie was made from Dole Fresh Frozen Strawberries and Dole Fresh Frozen Pineapple, Dole bananas,  Dole Pineapple Juice and low fat yogurt. Easy, simple, just plain delicious!  At “Live on Green”, people from all over the country will be treated to 100,000 square feet of free entertainment, activities, including food ideas from Ally of What’s for Dinner? Ally’s Kitchen on stage near the Dole Bistro. #DoleRose #DolePackagedFoods #LiveOnGreen #TournamentOfRoses 
2 cups Dole frozen strawberries, plus more for garnish

1 1/2 cups of Dole Frozen Pineapple, plus more for garnish

2 Dole bananas, fresh or from frozen*

2 6 ounce low fat vanilla yogurts

1 6 ounce can of Dole pineapple juice**

1 scoop whey protein powder, optional

In a blender combine the above ingredients. No need to add ice since the fruit is frozen, it will be cold, thick and delicious not to mention healthy. Blend until smooth.

 
 *If I have bananas starting to get too ripe before I can use them, I will peel them and place them in a freezer bag in my freezer.

**If you find the smoothie too thick for your liking, add more pineapple juice.
Makes enough to share with a friend. Enjoy!

Yummy Rummy Dole Pineapple Upside Down Cakes

I grew up in Southern California and enjoying  Dole Pineapple and their Packaged Foods, watching and attending The Rose Parade in Pasadena. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of 2016 Tournament of Roses, “Live on Green”.  Ally  Phillips from @What’s for dinner? Ally’s Kitchen will be doing live food demonstrations near the Dole Bistro. #DoleRose #DolePackagedFoods #LiveOnGreen #TournanentOfRoses #NewYearsTradition  #AllysKitchen 

  

  
Cake:

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

6 Tablespoons of pineapple juice from can

1/4 cup rum, I used Captain Morgan

4 Tablespoons of butter, melted and cooled

  
Pineapple Topping:

4 Tablespoons of butter

2/3 cups brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup rum 

1 can Dole Pineapple Rings

6 maraschino cherries, I use the jumbo ones

  

  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a  jumbo muffin tin with nonstick spray, I use the spray/flour combination. Add pineapple rings to each muffin space. Place cherry in the center.
In a saucepan, add butter and brown sugar. Heat for one minute until boiling and remove from heat. Stir in rum. Evenly pour over pineapple rings and cherries.
In a bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a mixing bowl, combine eggs with sugar,  juice and rum.  Blend together for 3 minutes. Add butter and mix in dry ingredients, blending 2 more minutes. Add cake mixture to pineapple rings/cherries. Fill each cavity to 3/4 full. Bake 20 minutes or until done when the cake tester comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes and run a knife around each one. Invert onto a platter or serving tray. Makes 6 -8 mini pineapple upside cakes. Enjoy the yumminess!