Ah, the rustling of the leaves, the cool breeze in the air, the changing of the trees (the color, that is, not the actual tree)! My absolute favorite time of year! So you ask–why the pineapple salsa? Isn’t that more of a summer thing? Yes….and no. Story to follow…

My best friend, Colleen, whom I’ve known for the past….well, let’s say all my life…decided she wanted to throw another dinner party! So a theme was decided as well–The Goonies! She shmoozes her friend Joann and I (yeah, really twisted our arms, let me tell ya!) to cook dinner. AND WE HAD A BLAST! We decided to do a fall/pirate theme. All the food was based on pirates and/or the Caribbean (because…pirates are there…right?) So we had Caribbean Jerk Chicken…

…and festive tables…

Weren’t the little pirate cauldrons adorable with the Baby Ruth! (If you don’t get it, rent The Goonies now!!) Doesn’t Colleen create the most wonderfully creative tablescapes?

So in keeping with our self-appointed theme, we made grilled pineapple salsa for our appetizer. Which is also our recipe for today. It has an amazing sweet and yet zingy (yes, I’ve decided it’s a word) flavor! Enjoy!

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

Adapted from TheNest.com

Ingredients

1 medium-size ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut lengthwise into half-inch-wide strips

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 large red bell pepper, cut into quarter-inch dice

1 medium red onion, peeled and cut into quarter-inch dice

1 jalapeno pepper, minced (2 jalapenos if you like your salsa with more heat)

1/4-1/3 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro (reserve some sprigs for garnish)

1 lime, juice and zested

Olive oil

Directions

Brush the grill or grill pan with olive oil. Make sure it’s evenly coated, you don’t want your pineapple to stick! Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on both sides of pineapple before placing on the grill. Grill each side until nicely marked, but not charred.

Isn’t it beautiful?

Once all the pineapple is grilled, chop the pineapple into small bite-size pieces–about 1/2″ cubes. Add in remaining veggies, cilantro, lime juice and zest.

Stir everything together to incorporate fully. Taste test! Adjust salt and pepper to your liking.

Toss the salsa in the fridge until it’s chilled and ready to serve!

I highly recommend making a double batch…a single batch may not be enough for you AND your guests… I mean, unless you really WANT to share all that wonderful sweet and spicy flavor!

Happy Summer everybody! Yes, yet again, I’ve been remiss on posting. I totally walked into this “food blog” thing with the intention of posting at least twice a month. And yet…life keeps getting in the way! You know how you tell yourself “today I will get this task done.” Yeah, well, The Cookatorium has been put on the back burner over and over again.

The latest of the “big” things going on in the past few months is the baby shower for my sister,

and in the month following, my bouncing, beautiful nephew joining our family!

So, of course with this being my first nephew, and the first grandchild, we’ve all felt the overwhelming need to dote every hour of every day either a.) visiting b.) texting my sister or brother-in-law madly for more pictures of said bundle of adorableness or c.) looking up for latest pictures on Facebook–and of course, commenting on how adorable he is. Did I mention he’s adorable!?!

ANYWAY. All gushing aside, you came here for the food, and got the added bonus of adorable baby! I decided to make my peach cobbler for the blog this time. Since peaches are in season, and also, I had to impress the boyfriend with the awesome deliciousness of this peach cobbler; so it seemed like a good excuse to share it with all of you!

This peach cobbler recipe came off the back of a sugar package back when I was 12. I have no idea (precisely) who the manufacturer was of this recipe originally, just that it came off the back of the package–and has been a family favorite ever since! For this recipe, I used “white flesh” peaches, however any kind will do. You can even substitute nectarines and use them the same way.

Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

For the cobbler mixture:

3 c sliced peaches (canned or fresh)**
1/4 c granulated sugar
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tsp almond extract

For the dough:

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
3 Tbs granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs baking powder
1/3 c shortening
1/2 c milk
1 egg, beaten

Directions

Heat the oven to 375º. Butter an 8″-square baking dish.

For the Cobbler mixture, in a bowl, mix together fruit, sugar, juice and extract. I recommend cutting up the peaches in 1/2″ chunks. Once mixed, put in the baking dish and toss it in the oven to heat while you’re making the dough. (Make sure that butter gets every nook and cranny of that baking dish!)

For the dough, combine flour, salt, baking powder and 1 Tbs of sugar. Using a pastry knife, cut in shortening until crumbly. Slowly add milk and egg, stir until moist.

Take out the warmed peaches from the oven, and spoon small dollops of dough over the hot peaches and spread dough only slightly to cover (it will expand in the oven anyway).

Sprinkle with remaining 2Tbs of sugar. Bake 40 minutes or until golden on top.

Eat and enjoy!!

**Note: For fresh peaches, you can choose to peel them or leave them unpeeled. In this case I chose to peel all but one, and let the flavor from the peel mix in. It’s a personal preference, you can do it either way you like. I recommend trying both ways to see which you like more.

Aunt Kookie's Cookatorium

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