Healthy: Grilled Pineapple Slices

If you've gone through the trouble of firing up the grill you might as well make a whole meal of it and this dessert recipe gives you a fairly healthy way to do it. It's just pineapple slices with a little oil and sugar to help develop some nice caramelization but if you wanted to you could just cook the pineapple slices plain and keep it healthier. You could go the other direction and serve these pineapple slices over shortbread or ice cream.

Healthy Grilled Pineapple Slices

Serves: 6
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 8 minutes

Equipment:

• Grill or grill pan
• Knife and cutting board (optional pineapple slicer)
• Mixing bowl and whisk
• Tongs
• Measuring spoons
• Brush (optional)

 Ingredients:

• 1 pineapple
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tsp ground cinammon

Directions:

1. Heat grill or grill pan as appropriate. 
2. Prepare pineapple. Cut off top and bottom then slice off the exterior completely. Slice pineapple into 1/2 inch thick slices.
3. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and whisk together to form marinade.
4. Brush or rub marinade on pineapple slices.
5. Place pineapple slices on grill and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes. Should be softer than raw pineapple but not quite falling apart.
6. Serve. 

Note: If you sliced the pineapple straight across and left the core be mindful that the innermost portion of the slices may be too hard or tough to eat. A pineapple slicer will remove the core but if you only use a knife you can either cut the core out yourself or let your diners know not to eat the hard core.

Not Healthy: Egg Beaters Hollandaise Sauce

I really enjoy eggs benedict, which is a mostly healthy breakfast made really unhealthy with the addition of hollandaise sauce. Hollandaise is basically egg yolks, lemon juice and butter blended smooth and heated just enough to warm it. It can be tricky because it has a habit of breaking if it isn't blended well enough or allowed to get too hot. This recipe is probably the easiest recipe I've come across. It uses egg beaters (or other egg substitutes) which means it's a lot of egg whites rather than pure egg yolk. It has the benefit of not breaking as easily but it's not quite as rich in flavor or thick as a proper hollandaise. Nevertheless, it's very easy to make--almost foolproof--and useful for those of us who keep egg beaters in the house.

The key technique here is properly mixing hot butter (or margarine) into the egg/lemon mixture to a smooth consistency. Often you want to use a blender or food processor but if you have neither or don't want to deal with cleaning it then you can certainly use a mixing bowl and small whisk. You just need to really work to blend the ingredients to a smooth emulsion.

If you finish the hollandaise too quickly you can keep it warm on a double boiler on the stove for up to ten minutes. It's easiest to make this while meat is resting (if serving on meat) or while your eggs are cooking for a breakfast dish.

Egg Beaters Hollandaise Sauce

Servings: ?? (makes one cup)
Prep time: 2 minutes
Cook time: 1 minute

Equipment:

• Mixing bowls
• Kitchen utensils
• Microwave and small microwave-safe bowl (or alternatively small saucepan on stove)
• Blender, food processor or whisk

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp egg beaters
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• Black pepper
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine

Directions:

1. Blend together egg beaters, lemon juice and dash of black pepper until smooth. 
2. Melt butter or margarine until it is liquid and hot but before it separates (test every fifteen seconds in the microwave). While doing this continue to blend the egg beater mixture to keep smooth.
3. Pour in melted butter or margarine slowly and continue to blend until smooth.