Since she was a baby, Gal Smiley has loved canned fruit salad, but she only really likes the cherries, and, at a distant second place, the pears. It’s not one of my favourite things in the world and I found out I was throwing away a half-can’s worth of peaches every time, so I gave up and stopped buying it. But a couple of weeks ago, we were in the grocery store and Gal Smiley saw some on the shelves, and grabbed a can excitedly, so let her bring it home.
Sure enough, when we opened the can, she only wanted the cherries and maybe a few pears. But something amazing has happened: out of nowhere, Captain Jelly Belly has decided that he loves the peaches, with pears as a distant second place choice.
So now, I can give the girl a bowl of cherries with a few pears…and the boy a bowl of peaches and a few pears…and we are left with nothing more than two or three sad looking little grapes at the bottom of the can. Whoo-ee! Everyone happy, and no waste!
Such moments of food serendipity are so rare, I felt the need to blog about this. Now if only I could get them to eat anything I ever make for dinner, we’d be rockin’ awesome.
TurtleHead 
Maybe you should can cherries this year. I doubt that maraschino cherries (like the ones in the fruit cups) are safe to eat a lot of. Aren’t they poisonous in high doses? Anyway, I used to love mom’s canned cherries. So much better than store bought stuff. Of course, canning does have its own risks, but it might be worth a try. I’d help!
Dude! I knew you were going to mention the maraschino cherry thing. It is totally, 100% unfounded. You read that in Jitterbug Perfume. One of the characters says it to another one when they are trying to confuse them.
I definitely think that canning is not for me. But in the summertime, you can often buy frozen packs of just pitted cherries, meant for pies. Maybe I’ll give that a try for Gal Smiley — it definitely does seem healthier as canned fruit salad has some sugar added.
Doh! Sorry…
I tihnk the frozen cherries in the summer are sour ones though. Not sure how GS would feel about that.