Cooking for 1: Pineapple Salsa

I absolutely can't stand to waste food and am a bit of a food hoarder. My fridge and pantry make me look like a doomsday prep-er (only a terrible one that would have to figure out how to boil water with no resources to serve proper soba noodles).  

I digress. The entire point of this story is that one day I wanted pineapple. I'm not the type to eat it out of the can and consider that craving satisfied. No, real pineapple that you have to core and cut into bits. Real pineapple that requires clean-up. Nothing tastes as good as hard work people!

The problem is that I typically can't sit down and eat an entire pineapple, so I have to get creative. I reuse a lot of things in other dishes but pineapple was a bit trickier. 

First off, you need to know how to cut a pineapple. Wash it first, dry it, and cut the top and the bottom off so that it will stand up nice and sturdy. Run a knife along the sides from top to bottom to peel away the skin in sections. Because I was grilling my pineapple, I then sliced them in sections about 1" thick and used a small round cookie cutter to cut out the tough center.

I grilled my pineapple, then realized I ran out of tomatoes for my almost-daily caprese ritual. Boom. Grilled Pineapple Caprese salad was invented.

Grilled pineapple chunks, burrata, basil, and balsamic vinegar glaze. A total dish made out of hanger. I usually keep the fridge stocked throughout the summer with mozzarella so I can make a caprese in a flash and honestly, I think I now prefer the grilled pineapple to tomatoes!

The next day I had gone to a Trader Joe's and bought a bag of jalapeños, which led to salsa-making and a lot of leftover jalapeños. So boom, grilled pineapple salsa. This is a great thing to make for the summer - I topped it on a salad for lunch, then with fish tacos for dinner.

Quick salad of arugula, cucumbers, red bell pepper, grilled chicken, and the pineapple salsa.

I stuffed my tacos with arugula, seared off some tilapia, added some leftover roasted butternut squash I had, and some homemade pickled watermelon rind (make them!) - all topped off with more of the pineapple salsa. It never gets old.

Another staple in my summer fridge: corn tortillas! They last foreeeever and are great for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (anything can be turned into a taco nowadays)! A quick way to use up leftovers, or cut them up and bake them for emergency tortilla chips.

Take the challenge with me! No grocery shopping for a week and cook what you've got on hand! Only the strong survive.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

3 1" thick slices of grilled pineapple, diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
juice from 1 lime
1/8 cup red onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients and that's it! Keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.