Baby Food: Pears

Today I started a project that is very dear to my heart. My sister asked me for help in making her youngest son, Christopher, some baby food. She just started him with apples from a jar last night. When she told me the next food she wants to try is pears, I ran right out to get my supplies. Pears, ice cube trays, and large Ziploc freezer bags. The idea is to provide him with a more natural meal while saving some pennys. I have not calculated the costs yet, but 4 pears made almost 12 servings.

Fruits and vegetables can be baked, boiled, or steamed to make puree for baby food. Through my research I found the best method to keep all the nutrients in the food is to bake or steam. I usually steam my veggies by microwaving them, but Id rather not do that with my little nugget's food, so I decided to bake them.

 I sliced each pear in half and put them in a baking dish with 4 Tbsp water. Basically the same method I used when making Pumpkin Puree. The pears were baked in an oven, which was heated to 300, for an hour. You should be able to slice through the pear with no resistance when they are ready. After I took the pears out of the oven, I let them cool. Once they were cooled enough to handle, I sliced out the core, then cut each half into quarters. I was then able to use a spoon to remove the flesh from the skin. I put all of the flesh into my blender and liquefied it. My blender is such crap, I cannot wait until Christmas! Santa promised to bring me a new blender. Every time I turned it on, pears sprayed out the bottom of the pitcher. Both my arms and counter were both covered in fruit.

After the pears became puree, I poured it into an ice cube tray and put the tray in a Ziploc bag. It was a tight squeeze getting it into the bag, but I managed. The tray will be frozen and my sister will be able to pop out a single portion when she is ready to feed Christopher his pears.