How to Properly Peel, Core, and Chop Up A Fresh Pineapple

Do you love fresh pineapple, but hate the task of preparing it? Do you always seem to lose more pineapple cutting it up then what you get to eat? Have you looked at those instructions on a pineapple and still seem to get no where? Never fear! I have discovered the perfect way of chopping up a fresh, ripe pineapple which loses virtually no extra fruit and takes only 10 minutes! (Or less, depending on how quick you work!)

What you need:

1 (or more) Organic Pineapple(s)

Sharp Medium Sized Knife

Cutting Board

Bowl

Adult Supervision

What you do:

1. First, twist off the top of the pineapple. Since the pineapple can be kind of prickly on the outside, use a clean dishtowel or two to wrap around the pineapple during this process.

2. Next, Slice off the top and bottom of the pineapple, so that you cut off the hard parts of the pineapple, and so that it will sit straight up but flat on the cutting board.

3. Now, slice off the rind by cutting straight down the sides of the pineapple. The way I do it is by looking at where the rind starts at the top, and slicing it about a centimeter from the beginning of the rind straight down. Then I just cut off the little sections of the rind I may have missed.

4. After all the rind has been cut off, by looking at the top of the pineapple, you can see the center/core. Cut one side of the pineapple off about a half centimeter away from the core. Do the same on the opposite side. Now cut off the two smaller sides.

5. The two smaller sides can be cut up into chunks as is, and each of the bigger sides can be divided into fourths, then cut up into chunks.

6. Place the chunks into the bowl for Holly's Awesome Yellow Fruit Salad!

7. Don't forget to compost the leftover pineapple rinds!

Holly's Awesome Yellow Fruit Salad

*Note - In the photo below I substituted mango for clementine sections because I had used mango for my last fruit salad. If you are allergic to mango, try papaya (even though it's not yellow!)

Ingredients:

1 organic pineapple, chopped

1 organic mango, chopped

3 organic passion fruits

1 organic lemon

Supplies:

large bowl

knife

cutting board

large spoon

small spoon

adult supervision (as always)

Nutrition Information:

 Soluble and insoluble fiber, bromelain (helps in digestion and is anti-inflammatory), vitamins A, C, and many of the Bs, copper, manganese, and potassium from the pineapple

Pre-biotic fiber, antioxidants, vitamins A, B6, C, and E, potassium, copper, and possible cancer protection qualities from the mango

Fiber, vitamins A and C, potassium, iron, phosphorus, copper, and calcium from passion fruits

Citric acid (aids in digestion), vitamins A, Bs, and C, antioxidants, iron, copper, potassium, and phytochemicals (immune system builder, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, free radical scavenger) from lemon

Very low in calories

Gluten and casein (dairy) free

Instructions:

1. Cut the lemon in half.

2. Place the pineapple in the bowl and squeeze one lemon half over the top, picking out seeds as necessary. Toss pineapple in lemon juice.

3. Add the chopped mango to the bowl, repeating the lemon process from above.

4. Take the passion fruits, carefully cut in half, and using the smaller spoon scoop out the pulp, including the seeds, which are edible, and put over the top of the other fruits.

5. Mix thoroughly.

6. Enjoy! Nutrition is fun, healthy, and delicious!

P.S.: This would also make an excellent smoothie!

For the nutrition information above I thank Nutrition-and-You. So another week is coming to a close and many interesting things have happened. First off, before I left for school on Monday, there was a lady downstairs talking to the host mother. I was only briefly introduced, then I left. When I came back... she was cleaning! As in, the job I was doing before she came here! The host mother had never mentioned that she hired a maid at all, she didn't even mention it to me when she was actually here. It was pretty obvious, however, and I was not so much relieved as I was curious as to what my job was going to entail now. Eventually (days later) the host mother told me that I would still be cleaning the top floor (consisting of my bathroom, my bedroom, and the playroom, plus the stairs, thoroughly, doing my normal "tidying" shores, and do more of the "organizing" aspect in the children's rooms. I was told that originally she had a system with the children's clothing: short sleeved shirts, polos, turtlenecks, long sleeved shirts, etc., all had their places in the drawers, and she didn't want to be digging for children's clothing in the morning. So I'm assuming that at some point I will have to organize the children's clothing. Sigh.

Something else that happened was that I was informed on Monday that my last German class was to be on March 14th, but the next section would start on the 19th. I love school very much, even though sometimes I get very frustrated with myself when I can't talk right, and was really hoping I could continue. So I went back home, and brought up the situation with my host mother. She said she would talk it over with her husband and let me know if and what I would have to pay for it. The next day, she gave me some money and said she'd pay for it entirely, all I had to do was provide transportation for myself. I was, well, stunned, and could barely say thank you. It was the first genuine act of kindness I had felt in a while, and I was very happy about it.

The feeling of kindness was unfortunately short lived as the host mother and I continue to have communication problems. I have no problems talking with anyone else here, just the host mother. I am trying, but it's difficult to know what to say. However, she did have some information to share with me as to my vacation week. I can take anytime off between the fourth and the twelfth of April. Plus she mentioned something that made sense to me: Paris is still going to be cold in April. Maybe late May would be better (she's planning another vacation week then.) Good thought, I realized, and I thought Athens would be perfect considering it's warm, sunny, has beaches, good food, and amazing sights and architecture. I also decided that I do want to go to Venice for a few days at some point because it is so close, only about a six hour train ride. (Plus I'll do some day trips around Germany while I'm still here.) After some serious agony and anguish over airfare and hotel problems, I spent about $88 more than I wanted to because I had to change hotels, (Bad neighborhood with the first one I had chosen. I realized it after I booked: drug dealers and prostitutes. Not so good for a lone traveling female.), and then had to figure out a way to get to the airport so early (have to leave at 1:00am to get to the airport at 4:00am to leave at 6:55am). I did finally book everything and I leave April 4th, stay until the 7th, and I plan on having a lot of fun. Restaurants, ancient buildings, landscape, water, warm weather... ahh. Vacation that I so desperately need. I will be going to Paris in late May/early June, and I do plan on spending a weekend or so in Venice, and of course traveling around here! I'm still going to climb an Alp, in case anyone was wondering.

And what about the children and I? Well, I went back to Kunst und Spiel (picture below, finally), and picked up travel sized versions of "Jenga" and "Shut the Box." Shut the Box, for those of you who have never heard of it or played it, is really very fun and is even better with more than two players. You can play with any amount of people, or even by yourself, and even though it's simple, it's kind of exciting. Check out the video below for how to play (two versions):

I also went back to the playground with the children and had some fun. I finally included pictures and some captions below. I also played a scavenger hunt game with the children which they LOVED. I hid Peanut Butter (German name is Erdnussbutter) and left clues for them as to how to find him. I plan on making an extravagant scavenger hunt for them one of these days.

Today, I did my basic chores and will be picking the children up from after-school care (they have that every Friday), and possibly doing some outdoor playing with them because it's sunny outside and the mother told me to. Today I will be finishing up my very last piece of chicken pot pie (cooking all that food was seriously a great idea!) and have all the ingredients to make the vegetarian Reuben tomorrow. I also plan on compiling some recipes and making oatmeal energy bars consisting of delicious ingredients like dates, coconut flakes, some kind of nut/nut butter, chocolate, honey/agave, and maybe some other delicious things! But sadly, I have to conserve my money spending because I would like to do some traveling, and I only have 300 Euros a month to work with. This includes food, transportation, and other needs like shampoo and things. Not to mention fun things for the children and I to do. Not much to go on.

Well, I have a little less than three hours until I need to pick up the children so I'm going to enjoy the quiet. As far as my health goes for those of you who are curious, my cough is almost entirely gone, but I am still a little congested.

Enjoy the photos!

Αντίο!

Kunst und Spiel. They have everything there!

Playground supplies: soccer ball, awesome Frisbee, popcorn, bananas, water, fun throwing ball, and backpack to carry everything in.

A little too sunny, but if you look kind of hard you can see the swing set.

At the playground they have this really cool climbing contraption made from ropes. Lots of fun to climb on.

This is the ball with the cool tail. Kind of hard to throw, but I got a great picture of it in the air! (The little boy has quite the arm!)

Peanut butter cup!

Detail. Added a touch of agave to the peanut butter. Delicious!

Recent plant picture! Those pumpkin plants are really growing, and the bean plants are showing promise too.