Savvy Shopper: Pineapple Salsa

The holidays are over but we've all made our resolutions and if you're strange like me, you starting to buy discount gifts for next Christmas. One of the best gifts I received this year were homemade gifts. I think you can appreciate these gifts more when you attempt to bake for Christmas yourself. You realize how costly and time consuming it becomes.

I imagine most of you have made resolutions to eat more healthy. This issue of Woman's Day lent a few great tips on how to eat healthy and I couldn't wait to make the pineapple salsa (pg, 107).

We've all heard fresh is better and, although you can't buy fresh pineapple unless you live in Hawaii, fresh pineapple has an enzyme that aids digestion and a higher percentage of vitamin C (the heating process of canned pineapple reduces the quality of nutrients).

I was excited to buy my pineapple and make my salsa, because I have a special contraption specifically for slicing pineapple that I received from Tomeca Paige, Pampered Chef representative. It works really well and helps guard against cut fingers:

Here is a reiteration of Woman's Day's tips that I thought were pretty helpful:

1. Lift the pineapple and sniff. The leaves should be crisp and green and the skin should be golden yellow. Also, a ripe fruit feels heavy.

2. Pineapples last anywhere from 1 to 2 weeks refrigerated.

3. The core is tough but it makes a great syrup to drizzle over pound cake or cocktails. Pampered Chef's pineapple corer makes that easy: it slices a perfect cylinder of pineapple.

Ingredients:

• 1 small pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into ½-in. pieces
• 1  jalapeño, (seeded for less heat) finely chopped
• 1/2 cup(s) cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon(s) lime juice
• 1 tablespoon(s) olive oil
• Kosher salt and pepper

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine jalapeño, cilantro, red onion, lime juice, olive oil, and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper.

I was able to reuse a mason jar given to me as a Christmas gift (a layered cookie treat) or you could get one for a good price at your local flea market (I recommend Kemper Street Flea Market locally) and I grabbed a bag of tortilla chips (you can make those too--pg ).

The salsa was grand and I was able to give my Mom an instant post-Christmas gift AND reuse a gift at the same time!