I just had a great birthday weekend. Had all the grandkids here, which is always a fun time.

I have been hearing about Swineapple lately, I have seen it on Face Book, in groups and on Pinterest. Well for my birthday we decided to try it.  Bill fired up the smoker and did ribs and Swineapple.

 I will start with the swineapple.

You need

 a pineapple

pork loin, boneless ribs or equivalent. (I used boneless pork chops, best I could do in the middle of no where)

Package of thick sliced bacon

toothpicks (we were out so I use wooden skewers cut down to size)

salt, pepper and any other seasoning you want. (I used Jack Daniels Swineapple sauce)

Cut the bottom off the pineapple, but hold on to it, you will put it back on to help hold the meat.

Hollow out the pineapple (leave the top with leaves on), then stand pineapple upright and using a sharp knife slicing downward peel the skin off the pineapple.

 

Next, season your pork, then stuff it into the pineapple. Once it is stuffed, use your toothpicks (or cut down wooden skewers, which I soaked in water, in my case) and secure the bottom of the pineapple back on it.

Then wrap it up with bacon, again using the toothpicks/skewers to secure them in place.

At this point we put them in the smoker. DO NOT DO this. If I would have though about it, I would have figured it out before hand. If I were to make this again, it would go into a 350  degree oven, or in a cast iron dutch oven over a fire. Here is why. Pineapple contains an enzyme, bromelain. This enzyme breaks down protein fibers, which is why it is used as a marinade (it is also why you get a sore mouth from eating a lot of fresh pineapple). Pork should be cooked to 190 internal degrees - at the thickest part. This takes a long time in a smoker, took us close to 5 hours. Now while that pork is cooking inside the pineapple, the bromelain is working on the protein fibers in the pork.

 

 

When it was done, along with the ribs, we took it inside to slice. The ribs were to die for. The pineapple yummy, bacon great, pork - slimy. Yes, pineapple left the pork with a slimy texture, so slimy none of us could keep it in our mouths long enough to actually taste it. So, please, if you want to do this, either use another cooking source, or a much higher temperature.

To cook the ribs, all we did was peel the membrane off the back of the rack of ribs (you can use a knife to get under the membrane, the just use your hand a grab and pull it off. About an hour before they were to go into the smoker, they were sprinkled with salt and left to stand. Then just before smoking we added a rub. If you will paint them with oil (we use olive) it will help your rub adhere and crust. I just through together a rub this time (1/2 c. sugar, 1/2 c. brown sugar, a T. each; garlic powder, onion powder & paprika.) We have a huge assortment of ready made rubs, check your grocer, or online (Amazon has a ton). The ribs went into the smoker.

We kept the smoker around 250, used hickory chunks and spritzed the meat often with apple juice in a spray bottle. It is a gas smoker. Ribs were heaven.

Veggies were our side. A lot of veggies. Roasted in the oven which brings out their sweetness.



 

You can use any assortment of veggies. We did sweet potatoes, white potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, garlic, onion, peppers, carrots, mushrooms and a few tomatoes. Cut them in chunks, cutting slower cooking veggies (potatoes, carrots, etc) in smaller pieces than quick cooking one (mushrooms, squash, etc.). We put them on a cookie sheet. I drizzled olive oil over them, my two little helpers added sea salt and coarse ground pepper. We gave it all a toss and stuck it in the oven, about 350 or so for about an hour - time will depend on how big your pieces are. They are so good, even the 2 little ones loved them.

Dessert was Mississippi Mud Cake (the recipe is under the recipe tab), and the kids made ice cream in a bag to go with it.

Ice Cream in a Bag

1 gal. freezer zipper bag
1 quart freezer zipper bag

1 cup milk (or half n half or cream)
1 scant t. vanilla
1 T. sugar

ice
salt, rock is best but any will do, just be generous with it.

Mix milk, vanilla and sugar in quart bag and seal. Add ice to about half way in gallon bag, add plenty of salt, then drop sealed quart bag into ice bag, seal and squish, shake, whatever, just mix it up good. The ice cream is done when it thick, like ice cream. Store left overs in fridge. The older kids had made this a school when they were young, but it was new to the younger ones. We will be doing it again when we go camping in a few weeks.

We even managed to squeeze in a family swim while the smoker was going.

Perfect weekend!

Another Camping Adventure

What a weekend!!! You know how I always say life is never dull in this house? Well this weekend was another example.

The little kids wanted to go camping, so we loaded up Friday and went up to the camper. We had 3 kids and 3 dogs in the truck with us lol. Before we even gone 2 miles, Sadie decided the back seat was to crowded for her and she climbed over onto my lap. Gizmo then went to the back seat. Then Sadie decided she wasn't comfortable, she climbed up me and got behind my head and laid across my shoulders. Crazy girl, she isn't as big as Pete but she is no lap dog.

Then we stopped at a stand to get sweet corn. Before we could stop her Sadie was out of the truck. While we were trying to persuade her back in, Gizmo jumped out. He and Sadie ran around hiking on everything (yes she is a girl and yes she hikes, don't know I have ever seen a female who hikes, of course she begs also and on her hind legs, how many Coon Hounds have you seen do that?). So once their bladders were empty they got back in the truck and we were back on the road. Once again Sadie took up residence on my shoulders. We got there (we had the camper parked at a friend's lake), fixed supper and we all crashed
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I got up about midnight to tinkle. Gizmo went with me, as usual. he walked into the bathroom but then walked back out. This should have been a clue for me. I was just about to sit and noticed a black rope in the tub. Uh no, it was a snake in the tub climbing up the shower wall. I started yelling snake and ran out slamming the door. Ava Beth and Rylan both sat straight up and Bill came in to see what was going on. He went into the bathroom (like I would lie about a snake in the bathroom in the middle of the night). He shut the door and stuffed rugs along the door so the snake wouldn't get out, and we tried to figure out what to do. I suggested his extra long BBQ tongs. He got them and went back into the bathroom, by now the snake had crawled around the bathroom and was on the wall above the stool. He got it with the tongs and took it down to the creek to release. Back to bed, just fell asleep and Rylan came in the bedroom scared and got in bed with us, then Ava Beth did. You know those camper beds are not normal size beds, right? Well the 4 of us and Gizmo slept in ours the rest of the night.

Saturday afternoon, Bill's sister, Lori, came up for a quick visit before heading back to LA Sunday. We were visiting in the camper and Ava Beth wanted to fill the ice trays in the freezer (I have the old fashioned metal kind like most of us had as kids since I decorated it in a late 50s early 60s style). Well she opened the door and said Bubbah (that is the name my oldest grandson gave me, so all the others followed suit) what is that?! I looked, um, go get Papa. It was a huge mouse nest, almost all of a roll of toilet paper (which explained why the roll I hung when we left, was empty when we arrived). With a mama and 3 babies in it. Bill managed to scoop it all up and took it out by a wood pile to let them go. I pulled the ice tray out of the freezer to wash and cracked up to find Mama Mouse had stored 1 in the shell peanut in each section of the tray. lol

Shortly after that a neighbor stopped by to let us know Sadie had killed one of his chickens. He was very nice about it, we all felt bad, so that will be Sadie's last trip up to the camper. When Lori went back to the folks she brought Sadie home.

We had an uneventful trip home, thankfully. What a weekend.

My Little Math Whiz

Ava Beth (9) and Rylan (6) spent the night last night, as usual it was a good time. Rylan and I were watching television in the bedroom when he asked me if I had color tv when I was little. I told him no, that technology was invented yet. He said, what they never heard of crayons? lol Then he asked how long ago tv was invented, I said I didn't know but probably around 60 years ago. He says 60 years ago, Opa is 90 so he would have been 30 then. Yep, not bad for a guy just heading into 1st grade. He loves number problems and quizzes us all the time. Last time he was here he asked me how long till Rase was 90. I said well he is almost 19 so almost 71 years, 72 as of today. So he says, hmm, so 9 years from today Rase will be 27. Well yes. He keeps me on my toes.