A while ago, I blogged about various sources for getting free food. There’s the organization that used to be called “Food Not Bombs”, but has since been renamed “Community Solidarity.” They mostly distribute food that stores would have thrown away: over ripe produce, dairy products that are just at or past the expiration date, and dented boxes and cans. There’s my daughter’s friend’s father, who works in food distribution, and brings home anything unsellable. This is mostly things that are “newly expired”, with the refrigerated items frozen for longer shelf life.
Now we have a new source of free food. Leah’s fiance works in a supermarket that doesn’t donate its overripe produce, but lets employees take it home. Last week, his mother posted about all the tomatoes he’d brought home, offering some to local friends. She culminated with a photo of the tomato sauce she made. This past weekend, Leah came home from a date with a HUGE box of very ripe pears!
I ate one the day after she brought it home. Leah ate two or three of them. But these pears were very ripe to begin with, and they’ve been sitting on the counter for a few days because we didn’t have room in the refrigerator. So this morning, I had a box of OVER ripe pears, covered in bruises and icky spots.
So, I peeled the pears, cut away the bad spots, cubed them, and tossed the cubes into the crock pot. I added a small dash of lemon juice and a sprinkle of nutmeg. I would have used whole nutmeg or cinnamon sticks if I had any, but I don’t.
I haven’t decided yet if we’ll leave it chunky or puree it with the immersion blender after it’s cooked. Hannah and Jack are picky eaters and won’t eat chunky apple sauce, but Hannah is in Israel and I don’t know if Jack will eat pear sauce anyway. So I may leave it chunky for Leah and me.
So, it’s been a few hours since I prepared the pears and turned the crock pot to “low.” And I was wondering why the house didn’t smell delicious yet. It seems that the crock pot wasn’t plugged in! Has it REALLY been that long since I’ve used my larger crock pot? At least the pears are cooking now….
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