Retirement Party-Pineapple Style

 On January 30th, my Mom officially entered the world of retirement.  Her work threw her a really sweet party.  She had been at UT Dallas for 29 years.  I had the family over on her last day of work for dinner.  To celebrate, we are headed to Hawaii soon.  I decided to do a pineapple theme with (sort of) Hawaiian-ish food (that my extended family would eat-they are picky).  I went with gold and yellows.

 I picked up some pineapple straws at the dollar tree last summer (yup, I plan waaaay ahead-always).

 I made Hawaiian Ham Sandwiches, sweet Maui onion dip (just onion dip and chips), roasted pigs (bbq mini sausages) and cheese, macaroni salad, slaw (gone vegan by using an Oriental Roman Noodle instead of the chicken), and a fruit salad.  I had planned to make pineapple cupcakes, but we came home with a ton of bundt cake from the party the day before, so I sliced up the lemon cake and added some little honeycomb pineapples.

 I found super cute pineapple toothpicks at Hobby Lobby.

 I also found chalkboard pineapple clothespins at Michael's and I sprayed them gold to label the food.

Very easy, and a fun reason to get together as a family.  

Pineapple and Cheese Casserole

I was introduced to this recipe about ten years ago from a gal I worked with at the time.  It sounds like a strange combination, but it really is the perfect mix of sweet and salty.  It soon became one of my favorite side dishes.  It's originally from a restaurant in Myrtle Beach called the Sea Captain's House

Pineapple and Cheese Casserole

PRINT HERE

Ingredients: 1 c sugar, 1 c. flour, 2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese, 2 c. of canned crushed pineapple (drained), 1 roll of ritz crackers (crushed), 1 stick of butter (melted)

Instructions:

1.  Mix all the ingredients except for the butter and crackers.  Place them in a baking dish.  

2.  Mix the crushed crackers and butter.  Spring the mix over the top of your pineapple mix.  

3.  Cook at 350 for 35 minutes (until the crackers are browned).  

Hummingbird Cupcakes

 I made these for Easter, and they were de-licious.  I thought they'd also be a cute cupcake to share for Mother's Day....and then a few months later, I finally got around to posting!  Regardless, these are probably one of the tasties cupcakes I've ever accidentally made.  Accidentally because I ended up totally altering the fruite combos inside these cakes, but it was so good, I'd be afraid to try it any other way. 

Hummingbird Cupcake Ingredients

Mix 3 c. flour, 2 c. sugar, 1 t. baking soda, 1 t. salt, 1 1/2 c. veg oil, 3 eggs, 20 oz can of crushed (drained) pineapples, 2 mashed (very ripe) bananas, 1 c. chopped walnuts. 

*you can add just 8 oz of pineapple, and 2 c. of bananas as the original recipe from all recipes called for, but the extra pineapple made this really moist, and it also yielded 36 full cupcakes instead of 24. 

Bake at 350 for 18 minutes.  (If you choose to make a cake, it takes two round pans, and the baking time is closer to an hour). 

Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat 4 oz butter, 4 oz of cream cheese, 2 c. powder sugar, 1 t. vanilla. 

I iced the cupcakes, piling up more on the edges, and leaving a smoother center.  Reserve about 1/2 c.

Next I toasted up some flaked coconut.  I spread out a thin layer on a pan. 

I put it in the 350 oven for about 5 minutes, but I did stir it around about half way through, the edges browned quickest. 

I dipped the cupcakes.  :Pause:  Have you ever smelled baking coconut flakes?  If so, can you bottle this scent up and send it to me....or send me a few thousands pounds of flakes so I can smell it forever?:

As for the birds, I saw this idea on Martha Stewart, the Granddiva of many a cute idea.   Dye your remaining cream cheese icing blue and orange.  I just snipped a quarter inch of the corner of a ziplock and piped on my birds.  I repeated with a much smaller snip for the beaks, and then I melted chocolate and dabbed on eyes with a toothpick. 

 I took a strange picture of a cluster of birds with an orange glow. 

I pulled out my favorite elastic shorts...and got down to hummingbird eating business.  Think suped up banana bread. 

Linking To:  Crafty Soiree Paisley Passions Tatortots and Jello Funky Junk Sweets for Saturday

Pina Colada Cupcakes

This is a part of a bigger post I'll be throwing up on Friday (another 3-D edible invitation-and no, it's not a luau).  I wanted a tropical cupcake, and so I googled cupcakes that use boxed cake mixes.  I really prefer boxes, they are so much moister than most from scratch recipes.  I'm sure that says something about my palate, but I'm OK with that.  I found this recipe via Betty Crocker.  It calls for rum extract as well, but I just went with the pineapple and coconut.  I really liked the results. 

Ingredients:  1 yellow cake mix, 3 eggs, 1/3 c. oil, 1/4 c. water, 8 oz can of crushed pineapples (don't drain). 

Instructions:  Mix all ingredients, including juice and crushed pineapples.  Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes.  (I was able to get 18 cupcakes out of this cake mix).

 For the coconut icing, I just used a can of whipped icing, and then I dipped each cupcake in shredded coconut. 

I decided this wasn't good enough, so my last 12 cupcakes (that were going towards my project) got the same treatment, except I just mixed the coconut right into the icing, spread it in one big clump, and then I rolled the cupcakes in crushed graham crackers to look like sand. 

 Heather provided the crushed grahams and umbrellas.  Her husband questions my influence, and ultimately our sanity. 

 He's not far off base in his concerns, but regardless....more on these cupcake destinations soon, but I just need to say one more time....

umbrella or not, they were tasty!  ...and easy to make. 

Linking To:  Fireflies and Jellybeans Glue Sticks Sugar Bananas HOH Fingerprints on the Fridge