I just read my post and on my screen the words "shower" and "job" are underlined and printed in green. I don't know how/why that happened. I didn't intend to put any emphasis on those words - Strange.....

Grapes? Here in Texas we are getting lovely grapes from Chile. You could do a two-color grape selection--green and red--and have a honey-lemon sauce to dip them in if you wanted.

In the winter, I make a fruit cup with oranges (and their juice) cut in half horizontally and then cut into sections with a grapefruit knife, defrosted frozen red raspberries and blueberries, canned or frozen peaches cut into bite-sized chunks, and a healthy dose of Chambord liquor. I make it the night before and then add sliced bananas close to the serving time and serve in small dishes with a spoon.

I bought beautiful strawberries from Florida at the grocery store yesterday....
What's the matter with pineapple, grapes and strawberries with a few kiwi slices for color?
Linda C

Or, make some kind of fruit compote from frozen fruit? I don't have any recipes to share, well, there's some in at least one of my cookbooks, but I haven't tried them yet. I do remember that at some church pot lucks, there was a lady that occasionally brought a fruit compote that was delicious. I haven't seen her in years, so I can't ask her for the recipe, but it's just a though.

Sally

P.S. I'm dismayed that IVillage has polluted our posts with those ads. What a pain.

Sally

If you have an indoor grill, or it isn't too cold where you live to use a bbq, how about some grilled pineapple, served room temp, maybe cut into chunks and tossed with a splash or two of some sort of liqueur?

Pears poached in wine are nice too, and can be served warm, room temp, or cold with a dollop of creme fraiche.

I'd order something from ediblearrangements.com. Expensive though.

How about a fruit sorbet or granita?

Just another idea. I have some recipes if you'd like them.

Linda

I agree, a fruit compote would be nice, or maybe a nice and light fruit mousse? That could be made with frozen berries and still be good.

Annie

You could do a fruit compote with the canned/jarred mixed fruits found in the fruit & produce sections. Or as Sally suggested, frozen fruit. Here are a couple of ideas.

Apple Compote
4 servings

1 c. sugar
grated rind of 1 lemon
1 c. water
8 tart apples, pared, cored & quartered

Combine the sugar, lemon rind, & water in a saucepan & simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the apple pieces, a few at a time, & cook until tender enough to pierce with a toothpick.
Continue to cook until all the apples are done.
Strain the syrup over the apples.
Serve cold.

Spiced Pineapple
makes about 3 cups

2 20-oz cans pineapple chunks in juice
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. cider vinegar
12 whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks, broken in half
1/8 tsp ground allspice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla

Drain juice from pineapple into heavy-bottomed medium sauce pan. Reserve pineapple chunks in a bowl.
To pan, add sugar, cider vinegar, cloves, cinnamon sticks, allspice & nutmeg. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat & simmer for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Turn heat off, stir in vanilla & pineapple chunks to mix.

Can pack into clean jars & refrigerate, if desired. Divide the pineapple, juice & spices between the jars.
Good as an appetizer, a relish for a main dish, dessert, or a gift from my kitchen.

Or a fruit tart.

A plan unfolded. Let me know if you see problems with it that I'm missing.

My supermarket had a crazy good sale on blood oranges - 10 for $2.00. I bought 20. Since there will be 20 people at the shower I'm halving 10 of them (oranges, not the people..) and plan to use them as containers to hold my fruit. I will cut nice segments from the whole ones and add navel orange segments, diced fresh pineapple, and strawberry slices to make a mix. I also bought kiwi, and I think a kiwi wedge or disc on the top might look nice.

I'll set the 20 filled orange halves on a big platter and serve it w/ a dip in the center of the platter. I found the dip recipe in a post that ran around the holidays. It's mustangs & got great reviews. People can either have the fruit plain, or spoon a dollop of the dip on top.

I hadn't considered using oranges as a container before because all I had found were humongous navels, or clementines - too small/not rigid enough. The blood oranges are a good size and the peels are beautiful with shades of orange and red.

Does this sound like a good plan to you?

amck, it sounds yummy to me. I'll take mine without the dip, please, LOL.

It should be a nice mix of colors too, so take pictures!

Annie