With the change of the seasons brings the desire to be outdoors as much as possible.  The same goes for my cooking.  I’ve found myself grilling a few times a week.  Apart from enjoying the lovely weather while I cook, I do enjoy the flavor that charcoal gives meat.    It’s almost April and I’ve already been cooking like its summer on a regular basis.   Spring brings the desire for lighter, refreshing meals.   Gone are the heavy soups and stews, it’s time for burgers, fresh salads and thirst quenching beverages.   The last time I grilled, I made sliders with ranch coleslaw, pineapple and chicken skewers and pineapple drink water ade.   Even though this was something we had pretty often when I was living in Guyana, we didn’t make it at all since living in the US.   The reason being, we were fearful of pesticides since this is made by soaking the skin of the pineapple.

  

 As the weather warmed, I have been making a variety of flavored lemonades and have been looking for other drinks that are light and cool you down, without too much sugar.   I remembered having this as a child and had it a few years ago; it was even better than I remembered.

So I did some research on how to clean fruits in order to kill the pesticides and bacteria and was met with a pleasant surprise.   Pineapple is grown with little to no pesticides and is one of the fruits/vegetables with the lowest amount.   Despite my findings I highly recommend that you wash the pineapple in a water and vinegar solution to get rid of whatever little bacteria or pesticide that may remain on the skin.    Enjoy!

 

 

Pineapple Ade

skin of 1 pineapple

6 cups hot water

1/2 cup sugar

6 cloves

1 stick cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a pitcher.  Allow to sit for 24 hours.  Strain, add more sugar if need.  Chill before serving.