Hot Fruit Compote

Wow...another Thanksgiving is over. Weren't we just sharing Minnesota State Fair pics? This year, I had to deal with two vegetarians, a mother-in-law who was looking forward to tradition, and an onion hater. Seriously, how can you do a proper meal with no onions? That was worse than dealing with no meat. I did manage to pull it off, however. A huge thanks to convenience foods is in order....and to Boston Market, for being open on Thanksgiving, so my MIL could have turkey. :)

While I am a day late with the Thanksgiving meal post, I would like to share a quick alternative to cranberries (in our case, it is in addition to cranberries). Every year, without fail, I make a hot fruit compote to go with the meal. Usually, there is so much food that I have most of it leftover. This is a good thing since hot fruit compote turns into delicious cold fruit compote. Or warmed up fruit compote. At any rate, you can put this easy recipe in your pocket for Christmas.

Hot Fruit Compote

Printable Recipe

• 1 (8oz) package assorted dried fruit, cut up*
• 1-1 1/2 cups white or zinfandel wine
• 1 (20 oz) can chunk pineapple
• 1 (20 oz) can cherry pie filling

 *I like to add 5 or 6 additional prunes since there never enough in the bag.

Place cut up dried fruit in a 2 QT casserole dish; pour enough wine over the fruit to just cover it. Refrigerate the fruit for several hours or overnight.

I leave mine in the fridge overnight. The fruit plumps up really nice from the wine. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

I don't think there is any other time of year when I use canned products as much as on Thanksgiving. There is so much to do, the convenience is so welcome.

Pour the can of pineapple (with juice) over the fruit; spread the cherry pie filling over the pineapple. Cover and bake for 45-60 minutes.

Be careful! This is lava hot when it comes out of the oven. Just stir it up and let it sit for a few minutes before digging in.

My favorite is to have it with leftovers the next day.

It's especially good on Dutch Pancakes.

So, what other convenience foods helped me out on Thanksgiving?

Good old Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Everyone loves these.

How about you? Was everything from scratch, or did you open a can and/or a tube?

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Butterscotch French Toast

I never use a recipe for French toast. I suppose if I made the fancy baked and filled variety, I would need one, but I'm always making basic French toast....a few eggs, some milk, stale bread, yada, yada, yada.... Today, though, I thought I'd gussy it up a little. Good thing, too, for I found out that today is National French Toast Day! Who knew?

I actually thought about French toast a few days ago when I made a couple more loaves of my Orange Glazed Sweet Potato Breakfast Braid (more on that recipe later...I'm going to be in a cook-off next week with it!). One loaf was tucked away to dry out a little...perfect for French toast.

 

Just slice up a loaf of day old egg bread or raisin bread. Hmmm...an apple cinnamon bread would be good here, too!

I used about 3/4 of a loaf for this batch. Cut some nice thick slices.

We start out with three eggs and a little cinnamon (about 1/2 teaspoon). I usually put in a tablespoon of sugar. This time I made it brown sugar. Goes better with the butterscotch theme. :)

Of course, we need some milk. I put in 3/4 cup, using 1/2 cup skim and 1/4 cup heavy cream. If I'd had whole milk, I would have used that.

Ahh...my secret ingredient...Butterscotch Schnapps. I put in a tablespoon.

Just whip it all together, with a pinch of salt, in a shallow bowl, soak the bread slices, and fry them up in a hot pan with a little butter melted in it. I don't think we need visuals for that part.

Seriously, these are sweet enough...it really doesn't need syrup.

 

But, what the heck? I've got some leftover fruit compote from Thanksgiving. It adds a little color.

Great way to use up that stale bread, n'est pas?