This story is running through my mind as I prepare to undertake Baby Food Fest 2011. And you know what...
...it was so easy!
I mean ridiculously easy. So easy anyone can do this. Really.
Start with 4 ripe pears. I used Anjou and bought the ripest ones at the store...so ripe their skin was tearing easily. They smelled heavenly.
Next, fill a pot with 1-2 inches of water and put on the stove to boil. While that is coming up to a boil, quarter and core your pears.
Feel free to feed the pooch your scraps.
Pile your pears on your steamer tray...
And place the steamer tray in the pot of boiling water. Make sure the water does not touch any of the fruit.
Add the lid to the pot to make sure you retain all those yummy nutrients.
Twiddle your thumbs...change poopy diapers...whatever you gotta do...for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes check your pears with a fork. If the fork glides through the skin easily they're done.
Remove the pot from the stove and let the pears cool. Do not dump the extra liquid.
Once the pears are cooled to the touch {I gave them a full 30 minutes} peel the skins off the flesh and toss the flesh into your food processor or blender {or food mill}.
This is where my child got fussy and I left the pears to cool even more for awhile. And thus the beauty of this recipe. You can walk away for awhile if you need to. You don't have to babysit the pears.
Puree your pears until the consistency looks right to you. If you need to add some of the reserved cooking liquid you can.
Pour your puree into your storage containers. I used these silicone freezer trays and measured out 2 tsp. portions.
When I ran out of tray space, I poured the rest into a glass jar to store in the fridge.
The jar has 10 teaspoons of puree in it...or 5 servings for my first-time-foodie.
You can use this basic recipe for just about any fruit or veggie you want to puree. Purees will keep in the fridge for 4-7 days and in the freezer for 3-4 months.
Enjoy!