Pears!

[baymule]

Last Saturday I got a big box of pears. We were leaving that evening to go spend a couple of days with our daughter, SIL and grand daughter. No problem, I would deal with them when I got back. Well, we came back with our 6 year old grand daughter. Then a friend showed up with a bag of figs and a bag of pears. Figs. Must. Be. Dealt. With. NOW. So I made some lemon fig preserves. That was Tuesday. Wednesday I did things with my grand daughter as her parents wanted her back on Thursday.....they spent Wednesday night with 25 7th graders in a church sponsored lock-in at a game room. Ha! Thursday they were dead and decided they wanted to wait until Friday.

Pears are waiting.

Friday is Mom's day. Beauty shop, lunch, then to the church for her ladies domino game. Dropped mom off and left to go to Alto, where we meet to exchange our grand daughter. Got back around 3:30. Picked up mom, started supper.

Pears are still waiting.

Finally! Saturday morning I had plans to get the pears done. Nope. Mom fell and hurt her back. Spent most of the day in ER. They said no broken bones, said her back was sprained. Mom was in a lot of pain. Got her home, filled her perscriptions and took care of her.

Pears are tired of waiting and looking sorta rotten.

Sunday morning. Not going to church, Mom can't sit up, is in bed, sleeping off a pain pill, DH is exhausted from a hard work week, sleeping in his recliner. PEARS!

I peeled pears. I peeled more pears. I dropped the peeled pears in a big bowl of water to which I added lemon juice to keep them from browning. The box of pears were small and had blemishes on them. Some had rotten spots. I cut those out. When I got them all peeled and cored, I cooked them. 12 pounds of peeled pears. I ran them through the Vita-Mix and pureed them with a can of frozen Welches Grape juice. I loaded up all 9 trays in the Excalibur dehydrator and turned it on. Next day (today) I have grape fruit roll ups! They are so good!

I still have the bag of pears to do, but they are bigger and look much better. Today I took Mom to her Doctor and then for a MRI. She is in pain, miserable, no appetite and feels awful. Thursday we go back to her doctor. Maybe tomorrow I can put up the bag of pears.

 

[so lucky]

You deserve to eat all that fruit leather yourself, after all that.

 

[897tgigvib]

Taking care of mother is the important thing, but you got both done, and everything else. Hang in there.

 

[MontyJ]

Sorry to hear about your mother, Bay. I hope she is OK. Your fruit roll-ups sound good! Funny how the fruit will hang on the tree for months, taking its sweet ole time getting ripe, then once it's picked, it's hurry, hurry, hurry, before it rots.

I really need to look into how to do roll-ups. I don't have liners for my dehydrator trays though. Of course, that's all I need...peaches and grapes simmering on the stove for jelly, tomatoes waiting to be picked and the dehydrator running full tilt boogy on the table. Maybe that can wait for a bit. But darn it, I want fruit roll-ups now! Argh!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Monty, could you make liners with parchment paper?

Bay, hope your Mom recovers soon. Falls are not good, especially as we get older.

 

[897tgigvib]

Wouldn't wax paper work? Maybe it's not made anymore.

 

[so lucky]

Wouldn't wax paper work? Maybe it's not made anymore.

Yeah, wax paper is alive and well. I use it when I nuke something.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Wax paper would probably work. Parchment paper is made for baking. Im not sure how the waxed paper would hold up to the heat?

Ive used parchment paper as a liner when dehydrating cilantro. Cilantro leaves were delicate. I wasnt sure how well they would scrape off the tray when it dried so I made my own tray liner. By the way, cilantro loses a lot of the flavor and potency when you dry it in a dehydrator. You have to use a lot more than normal to get the full flavor. I havent tried freezing it yet. Maybe next year. But dried cilantro is so much more convenient to use even if it is weak.

The parchment paper worked and I havent tried waxed paper so I only suggested what I know works. Im sure we all have waxed paper around. Not sure how many of us have parchment paper handy. I had parchment paper so I used it.

 

[baymule]

When I bought the liner sheets for the Excalibur, I bought the Paraflex sheets, which are silicone. The Ultraflex and off brand sheets are Teflon. I have this thing against Teflon......... The silicone sheets work just fine and don't stick.

I wonder if you could use those silicone sheets for rolling out pie crust, cut to fit? The Paraflex sheets were something like $10 or $15 each. I don't know what a pastry roll-out sheet costs.......

Just did a search-WOW! Those speciality stores are proud of their pastry mats. Found some at Walmart for cheap to not cheap

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-Flexible-Pastry-Mat/15224370#ProductDetail

 

[897tgigvib]

Thus proving that indeed, THERE ARE ALTERNATIVES TO DUCT TAPE!