Hayden has been going to the farmer's market with me since she was just a few weeks old, but this visit marked the first time we'd be shopping especially for her and so it felt very special. My little girl is about to take a major step forward from babyhood toward toddlerhood!

From the many, many varieties of apples and pears on hand, I eventually settled on Bosc pears. The books actually recommend starting with Red Delicious or Fuji apples, but I couldn't bring myself to buy any since I loathe their mealy texture. What I really, really wanted to buy was nearly every vegetable in sight: acorn squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, parsnips, even celery root. I'm not sure who's more excited about this whole baby food thing, me or Hayden!

I bought what I now know to be a whopping nine pears. I had (obviously) absolutely no clue what their yield would be, and I wanted to be sure I had enough to make two weeks' worth of feedings. Let's just say that it's a very good thing that I own a food processor, because I ended up filling all SIXTY slots in every single ice cube tray that I own. Let's not even discuss the leftovers, except to say that I hope Hayden enjoys her pear purée as much as I did!

Thankfully, making baby food really is as simple as the books led me to believe. I cored the pears and cut them into approximately two-inch pieces, but chose not to peel the skin since that's where most of the nutrients are found. I put an inch or so of water in the bottom of my stockpot, and piled half of the pear pieces into the steamer basket. I covered it tightly, turned the flame to medium-high, and set the timer for five minutes. Thirty minutes later, all of the pear bits were finally tender enough, and after another fifteen or so minutes, were puréed smoothly enough. (It helps to add a few tablespoons of the steaming liquid.) An hour-plus might seem like a lot of time, but not when you make as much purée as I did — enough food for a month!

Equipment-wise, I was thrilled that I could get by with what I already had in my kitchen: a basic steamer [1], a mid-sized food processor [2], and four no-frills ice cube trays. I'm usually a sucker for any new piece of kitchen equipment that hits the market, but I was skeptical about my need for one of those itty-bitty baby food mills [3]. At best, they produce two servings at a time, and look like even more of a hassle to clean than a food processor.

In a perfect world, I'd love to produce fresh purée for every one of Hayden's meals, but that is ludicrously unrealistic even for a stay-at-home mom. If I want to make smaller, fresher batches, I can just use my easy-to-clean stick blender [4].

I do plan to buy a few of the fancy, lidded ice cube trays [5], though, in the hope that they protect against freezer burn and nutrition loss better than Saran Wrap does. (And, of course, it would be nice to stop wasting Saran Wrap.) Otherwise, I finally feel ready to go: It's time for Hayden's first feeding!