Have you ever made poached pears? My wonderful employee Eric has come up with a tasty recipe that is perfect for the holidays!

It only requires a few ingredients and will leave your house with a sweet cinnamon aroma. It’s amazing!

This recipe requires 8 pears, 8 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 tsp whole cloves, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp all spice, and a 1/2 tsp nutmeg.

Cut pears in quarters and remove the core of the pears with a paring knife.

Add all ingredients to the water and bring to a boil, after boiling for 2 or 3 minutes, add pears.

Once pears are added, stir ingredients and let simmer in syrup for 15 minutes.

 

After the 15 minutes are up, take the pears and syrup off the heat and let them cool.

After cooling for about 5-10 minutes you will have some tasty spiced poached pears! Enjoy!

Have you ever made ‘sweet and saltines’? It’s Tricia Yearwood’s recipe and this dessert is to.die.for!!

There are only four ingredients. Which is easy. And awesome! Here’s the ingredient list…

35-40 saltine crackers, 2 sticks butter, 1 cup brown sugar, 8 oz. chocolate chips {or more if you love chocolate like we do!}

Directions {taken from here}

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Line 1 large or 2 small jelly-roll pans with aluminum foil, spray with nonstick spray and arrange the saltines salt-side down in a single layer. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together and boil until it turns a caramel color, a few minutes. Remove from the heat and pour over the crackers, covering them evenly.

Put the jelly-roll pan into the oven and bake for 3 to 5 minutes, or until just bubbly, watching carefully. Remove from the oven and pour the chocolate chips over the crackers. When the chips melt a bit, spread them over the crackers with a knife.

Transfer the pan to the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes, or until completely cold. They will form one big sheet. Break up into pieces. Store in an airtight container.

We also call this ‘crack’ at our house because it’s so addictive. Yum! Try it, you’ll thank me!

I’ve started making more food for David–and he totally loves it! David is almost ten years old {gasp!} but since he has CdLS he eats only blended foods. He had a g-tube the first year of his life, and we are so thankful he eats by mouth now.

I don’t make all of David’s meals. I still supplement with store bought baby food and applesauce. He also loves soy yogurt and soy pudding. It’s easy to see that he prefers homemade. It has so much more flavor!

This week, one of the things I prepared was oatmeal with fresh berries and cinnamon. He gobbled it up!

I warmed the oats in the microwave with soy mild {David is lactose intolerant}.

Once the oats were soft I put them in the blender with a bit more soy milk, strawberries, raspberries, grapes, a bit of vanilla, a dash of salt and cinnamon. Then I blended it until it was smooth.

I divided the oatmeal with berries into six small containers and kept them in the fridge for the week. I warmed it in the microwave for 30 seconds and served it slightly warm. I tried this dish and it tasted like berry cobbler. Delicious!

Do you make your own baby food? I’d love to hear ideas for more baby {or blended} food dishes.

This is my very favorite meal to make right now. I adore sweet potatoes. Next week, I’ll probably have a new favorite, but for now, this is it!

Ingredients:

4 sweet potatoes

1/4 C. buttermilk

salt and pepper to taste

bacon

grated cheese

chives

Whatever else sounds yummy–black beans, sour cream, etc!

Bake sweet potatoes at 400* for 45 minutes {or more depending on size of sweet potato}. Remove sweet potato skins and mash insides with buttermilk and salt and pepper to taste. Top with all kinds of yummy things and enjoy! Serves 4-5. And makes great leftovers!

Okay, will someone please explain the difference between a sweet potato and a yam?! We were trying to figure it out in the workshop the other day, and no one knew the answer!