Baked Fruit {..and a giveaway!}

Update: Congratulations to commenter #3, Dawn, winner of the handmade olive branch wreath from Lindsay Olives! I’ll contact Dawn for shipping information today.

I love being able to do an occasional giveaway on the blog. It’s my opportunity to give something back to readers who are so kind to take the time to stop by here, read what I write, and occasionally leave a comment. I’m really excited about this giveaway. It’s something I think you’ll love having in your home for the holidays and beyond. I’ll tell you all about it at the end of this post!

But first, here’s a great side dish for your Thanksgiving dinner. Some of you may think of this more as a dessert, but it’s traditional in our family to serve it along with the turkey and other menu items. The contrast of a little sweet along with the savory is a very Southern thing. We do love our “sweet and salt” in the South – biscuits with a slice of ham and peach preserves, cream cheese with sweet-hot pepper jelly, baked fruit with turkey and dressing. Mmmmm.

This is a fall and winter recipe which uses canned fruits along with the typical cold weather spices of cinnamon, cloves and allspice. And when it’s cooking the fragrance will fill your home with a beautiful holiday scent! My mother makes a very similar baked fruit recipe using curry powder in addition to the other spices. If you want to add a little curry to yours, it will be fantastic, too.

2 15 oz. cans pineapple chunks, drained

1 15 oz. can each of pear halves, peach halves, and apricots, drained

1 small jar maraschino cherries, drained

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

4 tblsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Layer the drained fruits in a baking dish.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the brown sugar, spices and butter. Heat until butter and sugar are completely melted.

Pour the butter, sugar and spice mixture over the fruit.

Mix lightly taking care not to break the fruit.

Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through and bubbly.

Enjoy!

Download a printable copy of Baked Fruit.

And now…the giveaway! I recently participated a recipe development opportunity sponsored by Lindsay Olives on Kitchen Play. You might remember the recipe – Olive-Rosemary French Toast. Well, just yesterday I received a beautiful handmade olive branch wreath from the nice folks at Lindsay Olives. And, believe me, it’s gorgeous. And fragrant! Along with olive branches there’s also fresh bay in the wreath.

And in addition to being just gorgeous, the proceeds from the sales of these wreaths are going to support the very worthy Meals on Wheels organization. Meals on Wheels works hard every day to eliminate hunger among senior citizens.

These wreaths are perfect holiday gifts for your hard-to-buy-for recipients. They’re individually handmade and shipped at the time of your order. Talk about a custom gift! They also dry to a silvery gray-green over time.

Because the people at Lindsay Olives are so sweet and generous, they’re also offering an opportunity for one of my readers to win one of these beautiful wreaths. If you’d like to enter your name for a chance (or five), keep reading below:

Each person can enter up to five times, but you MUST leave a separate comment for each entry to count.

To enter, simply do one or more of the following:

1. Leave a comment below telling me about your favorite Thanksgiving dish – the one that your family just can’t do without on the big day.

2. Go to Twitter and tweet the following:

I just entered to win a handmade olive branch wreath from @LStuart1954 & Lindsay Olives. Enter at http://tinyurl.com/3xps9m6

Come back and leave a separate comment letting me know you?ve done so.

3. “Like” NeverEnoughThyme on Facebook.

Come back and leave a separate comment letting me know you?ve done so.

4. “Like” Lindsay Olives on Facebook.

Come back and leave a separate comment letting me know you?ve done so.

5. Sign up for my RSS feed or Email Subscription (click the icon under “Follow Me” at the top of the page and follow the instructions there).

Come back and leave a separate comment letting me know you?ve done so.

That?s it! Five great chances to win!

**Contest is only open to US residents. Entries will end at midnight on Thursday, November 25. The winner will be determined by a random number generator. The winner will be contacted by email for shipping address and will have 48 hours to respond. If the winner does not respond within the allotted time, a second drawing will be held.**