Oh Pears!

Sorry for my lack of posting lately.  I've been busy...peeling pears.

   

Pears, pears and more pears.  Our neighbor has a pear tree that is LOADED with pears this year.  She said she was not going to use any this year, and that I was free to pick as many pears as I'd like.  So what do you do with 100 plus pears???

First, I start with my famous pear preserves. 

Pear Preserves

Ingredients:

• 15-20 pears
• galloon of water
• 2 tablespoons of vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• sugar (about 6 cups)

1.  Peel pears.  Place in mixture of water, vinegar and salt.
2.  Core and slice pears into small chunks.
3.  Layer 4 cups of pears into large cooking pot followed by 2 cups sugar.  Repeat layers till you've used all your pears.  (DO not to exceed 10 or 12 cups of pears per batch)
4.  Let mixture sit for 20 minutes.
5.  Cook on high till it reaches boiling, then cook on medium for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat.
6.  Let sit covered for about 12 hours.
7.  Boil again for 20 minutes, or until reaches desired thickness.
8.  Immediately put into sterlized jars.
9.  Put jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  (Click here for directions on canning)
(Yields 4 pints)

Enjoy on warm biscuits, pancakes or toast!

I love to give these as gifts for Christmas as well!

    I also wanted to try some kind of pear dessert to take to our Church's ladies meeting.  And this is what I came up with, Pear Berry Crumble.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/2 cup blueberries (I used fresh)
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 1 or 2 tablespoons flour
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup oatmeal
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/3 cup cold  butter (Chopped in small pieces)

1.  Arrange pears in pie plate, then sprinkle blueberries on top.

2.  Drizzle honey over fruit mixture.  Then sprinkle a tablespoon or two of flour over mixture (This helps to thicken mixture.)

3.  In a seperate bowl mix together, brown sugar, oatmeal, flour and cinnamon. 

4.  Cut in the butter into the oatmeal mixture until crumbly.

5.  Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit.

6.  Bake 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.

(Note: You can exchange apples for pears in this recipe if you prefer.)

I thought it was delecious, and evidently, the ladies must have agreed also...

Well i finished with that round of pears, but there are still plenty of pears on the tree, so I think I am going to try some Pear Butter next.  I'll let ya know how that goes.

Speaking of pears, if you are in need of cute stationary, invitations, birth announcements, recipe cards or calling cards then you should visit
http://www.paisleypeardesigns/.
She can design and custom make your invitations and stationary to your own personal taste.  You can also visit her Etsy shop here www.etsy.com/shop/smitha5



And of course, here are a few pictures of my sweeties!