Mommyhood: Making Baby Food: Pears

Ava's pediatrician told me that there was no exact science to feeding a baby. She said that most people make it more complicated than it really needs to be and to approach it however I wanted, but to feed her one thing at a time and wait 3-4 days before we tried something new. So I decided that I was going to feed her a vegetable, then a fruit. And repeat until she had tried everything. The first baby food that I made was sweet potatoes. After a few days Ava really started to love them. So now we are moving onto pears...

1. Buy pears. I bought four organic pears from Whole Foods.

2. Cut the pears in half with a knife.

3. Peel pears using a vegetable peeler. I read that the skin is actually okay to leave on when you puree it and that babies are able to digest the skin easily, but I felt like it would be more gentle if I removed the skin.

4. Cut pears in half again and remove the core using a knife.

5. Cut pears into cubes with a knife.

6. Rinse pears with water.

7. Place pears in a food steamer. And set for 15 minutes.

8. After pears are done steaming, place them in a food processor for a few minutes. Pears are pretty water dense, so adding water to the food processor is not necessary.

9. Pour pureed pears into a bowl. Using a cookie dough scoop, scoop the puree into ice cube trays. I found that using the cookie scoop worked best with little mess, especially for thicker purees like sweet potatoes.

10. After all the puree has been scooped into the trays, wrap the trays with plastic wrap.

11. Place trays in freezer and wait 24 hours.

12. Dump the cubes into a labeled and dated freezer bag. I have to use a knife to wedge the cubes out. Put back in freezer immediately, so they don't start to melt. Pears are good in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Depending on how much your baby eats, you will know whether you need 1 cube or 2. Each cube is about 1 ounce of baby food. About an hour before Ava eats, I put a cube in a bowl, so it can defrost.

Simple. Easy. Nutritious!