Tropical Cheese Ball Recipe!

The other day, one of my good friends sent me a message saying that she needed appetizer ideas for a Games Night event she attends where there are about 200 people or so milling about. It's a pot luck event and everyone is in charge of appetizer, main course, dessert, etc. My friend got appetizers this time around.

She is a fantastic cook, and baker, but she needed ideas because the theme was Florida! So she needed an appetizer fitting for that sunny theme. I only had one I could give her that I made - the Surf Dogs I made back in July for a block party. But I went trolling on the Internet for ideas.

Another friend of ours suggested chicken skewers with an orange glaze, since oranges are big in Florida, but I think my friend wanted something a little different. I stumbled across a recipe for a pineapple cheese ball, and I jokingly told her to make it and call it a Little Ray of Sunshine. (I don't think she did, but she did make the recipe!)

Her report back to me was the following: "I wasn't a huge fan of the cheese ball, but most other people said it was awesome."

Well, good! Not all tastes are good for everyone, but at least this wasn't a failure recipe, and people liked what she brought. Good job, friend!

Here is the recipe I sent to her:

Ingredients

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 package ranch dressing mix
1 can small pineapple, crushed
2 green onions
1/4 cup cheese, shredded, Jack or Colby

Directions

Mix the package of ranch dressing mix with the softened cream cheese until well mixed.

Then add 1/2 can of crushed pineapple, (no juice), the 2 stalks of green onion chopped and the shredded cheese.

Mix well and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Turn out onto a cheese board or platter. Mound it in the center and shape into a ball with a spoon.

If you like, you can cover the ball with sliced almonds, sprinkle with dill weed, parsley or paprika.

Chill completely before serving.

I know she wanted something simple and easy to make, and this seems pretty easy. She didn't tell me how long it took her to put together, but I can't imagine the active time would be too long. Just allow some ample time for cooling.

Maybe I'll try this one out myself one of these days!


(PS - the picture was borrowed from Google Images, as I did not make this myself and do not have my own picture. Thanks to the photographer!)

Sweet n Sour Meatball Sub

The other night my husband and I created a new dish with a recipe we love and I have already talked about - my sweet and sour meatballs.

We decided to make a new kind of meatball sub - with a tropical flair. I made the meatballs as I normally do, and on the side, I sauteed up some peppers, onions and pineapple chunks.



Using a baguette, I gently toasted it and then first put the peppers, onions and pineapple in the bread - followed by the meatballs and then some extra sauce.

We were blown away at how tasty this was... and we are ready for more!

Don't you love when you try something different with something you make all the time and find out it is incredibly delicious?

Citrusy Chicken

The following recipe is actually an Eating With A original. I had leftover crushed pineapple in my fridge that would go bad if I didn't use it. I HATE wasting food so I searched the Internet for recipes containing pineapple and chicken.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and felt it was an easy enough recipe to mold into something of my own.

Here is what I used:

4 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 can crushed pineapple
splash of lime juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
flour for dredging
salt, pepper, paprika and ground mustard in the flour for taste
cooking oil
chopped red bell pepper
chopped scallions
slivered almonds
cashews

I followed the directions of the other recipe...

1. In a bowl, combine pineapple, lime juice, lemon juice and cloves.

2. Pound chicken to 1/4 inch thickness and add to marinade.

3. Refrigerate for at least a half hour, can be left overnight if you want to cut your time in half when making this recipe.

4. Drain, reserving marinade.

5. Combine flour with all the spice/salt/etc. you want to use and dredge chicken.

6. In a skillet, add oil, scallions and bell pepper. Place chicken in skillet and brown lightly on both sides. Put everything in skillet in shallow baking dish.


7. Add reserved marinade to skillet and cook til hot and bubbly - pour over chicken.

8. Sprinkle nuts on top and bake uncovered at 400 F for 20 minutes.



The results of my concoction were mixed - my husband thought it was delicious and I thought it was too citrusy. Citrus foods sometimes bother my stomach so I wasn't a happy camper eating dinner, but my husband was. (I served it with my Creamy Mashed Cauliflower so that made me happy!)

I feel I put in too much pineapple and lemon juice and it needs something else to cut the citrus. What, I am not sure yet.

I also want to season the chicken a little more so it has some more flavor.

We have another dinner from what I made so I am going to try and take the leftovers and see if I can rework them into something with a little less of a citrus bite. Hopefully I can!!

My husband, however, wants me to just improve upon this exact recipe and keep it. We'll see, we'll see.