During childhood, my brother and I occasionally were invited to visit a wonderful friend who lived a half mile or so from us further down the Townline Road. How we looked forward to those special occasions for just the two of us. At age 86 Auntie Myrt seemed older than Methuselah and, in retrospect, set the bar pretty high for how interesting someone of that age can be—even to eight- and five-year-olds! On the much anticipated day of our 'invite,' one of our parents would drop us off at her little place about four o’clock in the afternoon and later pick us up around seven p.m. By then Auntie Myrt would have told us a story or two, let us look again at her amazing collection of salt and pepper shakers, and fixed us fruit on toast or Tutti-Fruiti as we called it.

Ingredients 

• 2 16-oz cans fruit cocktail (or one large can)
• ½ cup fresh or frozen berries of any type
• ¼ cup water
• ¼ cup organic unsweetened applesauce
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 Tbsp honey or other natural sweetening
• 2 Tbsp natural peanut or almond butter
• 3 large slices sourdough bread, toasted and cubed

Preparation

Drain liquid from fruit cocktail into a sauce pan. Set fruit aside.

Add applesauce and heat almost to a boil.

Dissolve cornstarch in water and add to mixture, stirring constantly.

As soon as mixture thickens, turn heat to low and add fruit cocktail and berries.

Heat through, stirring as needed to avoid sticking.

Serving

Toast sourdough bread and spread lightly with the peanut or almond butter.

Cut into cubes and distribute them onto two or three large dinner plates.

Pour fruit mixture over each plate of cubed sourdough bread.

Let stand for 5 minutes, serve, and enjoy.

Note: You can serve the same hot fruit compote sauce over waffles or pancakes.