Pineapple Cheese Casserole

I know what you're thinking..."Pineapple Cheese Casserole? Ew." Well, stop that right now because once you've tasted it, you'll never question me again! NEVER! :)

The first time I ever had this dish was when I was in Montgomery, AL with my mom. We were cleaning out my grandmother's house and decided to order dinner from Martin's Restaurant. That place has THE best fried chicken among other things. Anyway, so at Mom's suggestion, I tried their pineapple cheese casserole and well... obviously I liked it seeing as I'm making it here. :)

Now this isn't their recipe, per se...but they are all pretty much the same. So onto the food!

This is a super simple recipe and it takes no time at all. So this would be great for a week night dish and if your picky eaters like cheese and pineapple - you've got a crowd pleaser on your hands!

Preheat the oven to 350° F and spray a medium-size casserole dish with cooking spray. Now I veered off the recipe here - actually, I just didn't read it very well and used a 9x12 dish. If this is what you end up using, be aware that you will have to make 1 1/2 times the topping recipe.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and flour.



Next stir in 2 cups of shredded sharp cheddar cheese.


Add the drained pineapple chunks. Make sure to get your spoon up under the pineapple chunks after adding to the dry ingredients, the flour and such likes to hide underneath. Mix until well combined.


Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish. *Remember - I would recommend using a smaller dish than this 9x12 one.


In another bowl, combine one sleeve of Ritz™ crackers* (smashed into crumbs), melted butter, and reserved pineapple juice. Mix until well combined!

*While at the grocery store, buying some things I needed for the recipe, I noticed that Ritz™ now makes whole wheat crackers. I figured why not try to make this a LITTLE bit better for me or at least have more nutritionally-redeeming qualities so that's what I used. And by the way, they are good!

Go ahead and spread the crumb mixture on top of pineapple mixture.



Now, pop it in the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown. (There will not be much difference in color between the casserole before you put it in the oven and when you take it out.)


This makes a good side dish, but I also eat it by itself as a snack or even dessert.

Enjoy! Next post: I'm thinking about Chipotle Bean Burritos.

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Pineapple Cheese Casserole

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups grated sharp cheddar
2 20 oz. cans pineapple chunks, drained, and 6 tablespoons pineapple juice reserved
1 cup cracker crumbs (recommended: Ritz™ Whole Wheat Crackers)
8 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Prep a medium-size casserole dish with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar and flour. Next, stir in the cheese.

Add the drained pineapple chunks, and stir until ingredients are well combined.

Pour the mixture into the prepared casserole dish.

In another bowl, combine cracker crumbs, melted butter, and reserved pineapple juice, mix until evenly blended.

Spread crumb mixture on top of pineapple mixture.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.