I used to eat fresh fruit all the time, but now it seems like a luxury. We’re pinching pennies and buying groceries that can last for two or three weeks. After a delivery, we ration out the apples day by day until there’s none left. Then we rely on canned peaches, pineapple and mandarins to ensure we get our recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.
Fortunately, the internet is absolutely brimming with recipes using canned fruit. None of them are particularly good for you, but at least they’ll keep scurvy at bay.
Mandarin Fluff Salad
Do you remember “ambrosia” from the church potlucks of your youth? I do, and I miss it. It wasn’t much to look at — pale green and lumpy, but oh, the delight when you put it in your mouth.
This recipe is a variation of ambrosia, and can be found in all corners of the internet, but I like the recipe at www.tasteofhome.com, because the pictures are so pretty.
Take 1 cup of sour cream or plain yogurt and blend it with a 3-ounce package of lemon gelatin until it’s dissolved.
Fold in two well-drained 11-ounce cans of mandarins and one drained 21-ounce can of crushed pineapple or pineapple tidbits. If you only have chunk pineapple, use that. If you don’t have pineapple, blow a kiss over the bowl for good luck and it will taste just as good.
Next, mix in a whole container of whipped topping and a cup of mini-marshmallows. If you have pastel mini-marshmallows left over from Easter, that will look even cheerier.
The basic recipe here is one that you can vary to your heart’s (or tongue’s) content: sour cream or yogurt plus flavored gelatin plus fruit plus whipped topping plus mix-ins. I can’t wait to try peach fluff (with peach gelatin and canned peaches) or raspberry fluff (raspberry gelatin with fresh raspberries) or cherry fluff (cherry gelatin with cherry pie filling). Mix in shredded coconut with the marshmallows, or finely chopped pecans or slivered almonds. Experiment with vanilla or lemon yogurt. Knock yourself out. But not so badly that you need medical attention.
Share this with your family if you must, but if I were you, I’d just eat the entire bowl. More healthy fruit for you.
Fruit Cocktail Coffee Cake
This recipe may be the healthiest of the bunch, because it doesn’t use butter or cooking oil. Instead, the fruit cocktail moistens the cake. I found versions of this 1950s gem on several popular recipe sites, but the one I like is from www.cooks.com because it’s simple.
Put 2 cups flour, 11/2 cups sugar and 1 teaspoon baking soda in a bowl. Dump in a whole can of fruit cocktail, syrup and all, along with two eggs. Beat on low for three minutes or get your exercise by stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. Pour the whole thing into a greased and floured 9-by-13-inch pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
For the icing, mix a 5-ounce can of evaporated milk with 3/4 cup sugar and drizzle it on top. Optional mix-ins include 1/2 cup of shredded coconut. Some recipes also call for walnuts, but why not use pecan bits or sliced almonds, or mix both nuts and coconut? Pour the icing over the cake and enjoy with a cup of coffee. For kicks, try Rachel Pinsky’s make-at-home coffeehouse tips.
Choose-a-Fruit Cobbler
This recipe, also from www.tasteofhome.com, is actually for peach cobbler and uses one can of peaches, but you can use pineapple, pears, apricots or cherries. One more baffling element of our current reality is that canned fruit comes in so many sizes — for example, peaches and apricots are an odd 15.25 ounces, whereas pineapple is 20 ounces. Don’t worry about this. Aim for about two cups of drained fruit, more or less. You can also use a 21-ounce can of pie filling and no one will be harmed.
Melt a stick of butter in a 2-quart baking dish or cast-iron skillet. Then drain your fruit, reserving 1/4 cup of the syrup or juice. Cut the peaches into bite-size chunks. Bring the fruit and the juice to a boil and set aside. I also add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice to the bubbling peaches, plus a teaspoon of vanilla or 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract. My rule of thumb is: Add all the things!
Separately mix 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour this over the butter in the pan or skillet, then spoon the warm peaches over that. (It will look like batter-butter soup, but don’t worry, it will turn out fine.) Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until a knife in the middle comes out clean. Cool before sticking your face directly into the pan. Have a half-gallon of vanilla ice cream open next to you, just in case.
