Poached Pears

We ended up with some pears that were not very tasty for eating but wanted to consume them anyway. I had always heard about poached pears but never tried them. I looked at a recipe and it seems that poached pears contain alcohol that you light on fire. Being that we had special guests who did not drink alcohol and were eating in my father's apartment I thought it was best to create an alternate recipe. My recipe uses Watkins Mandarin Orange Seasoning and Dip Mix which is still available through Watkins but I think one can substitute orange jello powder. Personally, I love the Mandarin Orange Mix and use it to make a salad dressing I found on the Watkins website ages ago (I am not sure the recipe is still there). This turned out to be really easy and tasted great. Everyone loved them.

Poached Pears
6 ripe pears
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
2 TB mandarin orange mix (Watkins)
1 tsp Chinese five spice blend
Bring water to boil. Add sugar and let boil until the water has boiled to half or there about. Add mandarin orange mix and Chinese Five spice. Cut pears in half and remove core. Lay pears in 11x13 baking dish, cut side up. Pour syrup over pears. Bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream.