Autumn Adventures

After hearing of a friends' experiment with baking a pumpkin, I decided to try it myself. I got a large one because that was the best deal, and there were differing opinions online as to whether smaller or larger pumpkins were better for baking. I didn't have any trouble with mine, but I haven't used the puree in a recipe yet, so we shall see.

I forgot to take a picture of my pumpkin until after I had cut it open, so here's the fused together version. =)

By the way, none of these pictures came out great because a) I was having difficulties with my camera, b) the lighting in the kitchen is terrible---it makes everything look yellow, even if you're not a pumpkin! and c) I was concentrating on baking a pumpkin, not taking good pictures. =)

The instructions "cut the stem off and cut in half" are easier said than done! That pumpkin was tough skinned! I obviously have never carved a jack 'o lantern, either. =)

 When you scoop out the stringy part and the seeds, be sure to actually use an ice cream scooper as recommended, because it really does work best. I'm not sure why I have to discover these things for myself before believing...

Here's the scraped look. Oh, save your pumpkin seeds! When seasoned and toasted they make a great snack! And I was surprised how many seeds I got just from this one pumpkin. That fruit was serious about multiplying!

(For toasted seeds, rinse your seeds and dry overnight. Next day, coat with melted butter and your choice of seasoning. I used salt, Tony's and garlic powder. Turn oven to 250 and roast for an hour or so, stirring every 10 minutes. Yum!)

I then cut the large sections into four smaller pieces, placed in a pan with water in it to keep it moist, covered it with foil, and put in an 350 degree oven for about an hour. It should have the consistency of a baked potato only not, because it's a baked pumpkin.

Scoop out your cooked pumpkin and put in a blender or food processor with a little bit of water. Be sure and include that little bit of water. This is another one of those tricks I thought I could do without and discovered later I couldn't. A blender needs a bit of moisture to, um, blend.

Somewhere along here my camera died and then froze on me and wouldn't turn on no matter what I did, so I have no more pictures, except for this one the next day of my bags in the freezer.

My one pumpkin made 16 cups of puree! That's equivalent to 8 cans of pumpkin that can be used for pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin roll...the possibilities are endless!

If you like pumpkin, that is.