Watch the youtube series hot ones, thatll inspire you...its a fun watch, tooMake one with a glaze like texture and with pineapples and we can be besties and even ride roller coasters together on weekends.I shop much the same way but don't do so much in the way of preparing bigger quantities and freezing for later. I tend to just make a meal at a time, which is often too big but not enough to freeze for future. But I never nuke, matter of fact I have never used a microwave at all.
I never plan a menu though. I have no idea what tonight's dinner will be and probably won't until I start making it (sometimes not even then) I just hate to be locked into a predetermined plan because I like options. I tend to make a lot of Asian meals -- curries and Thai noodle dishes and such.
Don't know nearly as much about canning/preserving as I'd like to. I'm venturing into making hot sauces soon, using close to 100 Ghost and Carolina Reaper peppers I've grown over the summer.
Pineapples is it? That sounds good, might work it in.
I figure on using baby food as part of the base. But no planned recipe is safe once I get started.