Did you get too many pears for Christmas? They are a wonderful treat this time of year, but the abundance can be overwhelming.
I think pears are best fresh, with a little cheese on the side. But here’s a tasty recipe to use them up before they go bad.
Pear Pineapple Compote
3 ripe pears, cut into bite-size chunks (I don’t peel the pears, but you might prefer them peeled)
1 14 oz. can of chunk pineapple, with its juice
½ tsp lemon juice
¼ cup brown sugar
Mix all ingredients (including all the juice from the pineapple can) into oven-safe dish. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serve compote by itself or with ice cream or cake.
NOTE: Add brandy or rum, cinnamon or other spices to suit your tastes.
Enjoy your Anjous!
What’s your favorite holiday use-it-up recipe?
I wonder if this could be canned? Lord knows I have more than three excess pears when the tree is loaded. I make pear honey with mine when that happens. Here’s the recipe:
Pear Honey
6 pears
2 apples
1 orange & grated rind
1 1/2 lb sugar
Grind fruit together, add sugar. Cook 20 minutes. Stir often, add rind and cook till thick
Place jars in enough water to cover the jars. Boil water for 20 minutes to seal the jars.
Now for left-over faves, today I’m using the ham bone from Christmas.
I boil 4 cups of dried beans (brown or white, your preference) for an hour in a 6 qt. pot. Pour that water off and wrinse the beans. (This gets rid of the gas.)
Fill the pot with water and soak the beans overnight with the ham bone in the water.
Next day, simmer the ham and beans until the meat falls off the ham bone.
Serve with cornbread and horseradish. Yum!
Sally, I’m with you — soup made with leftover ham bone is wonderful. I use lentils sometimes instead of beans, because they don’t have to be soaked.
I’ll have to try the pear honey.
Theresa
My kids would never eat fruitcake. Sometimes in late January I would break up some fruitcake, mix in chocolate chips, and stir it all into a sugar cookie dough. I couldn’t get them baked fast enough.
Makes you wonder why the same kids who turn up their noses at fruitcake (include me in the bunch) would eat this concoction!
But whatever works.
Theresa
Chocolate chips work wonders.