Monday, September 20, 2010

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater

The weather is getting cooler and fall has been on my mind. With fall comes all of the wonderful smells and sights of apples, cinnamon, cider, pumpkins, changing (and falling) leaves, and Halloween & Thanksgiving.

I have been craving pumpkin flavored things so I set out to find some canned pumpkin. My search turned un-fruitful. It turns out (according to all local supermarket employees) that there was a pumpkin shortage last year. Who would've thought?

After driving all over town in search of the canned pumpkin, I decided to try my hand at making my own. I purchased my very first pie pumpkin. Wanna see him?

He is a little thing. Maybe the size of a small cantaloupe. What he doesn't realise is that he is about to be roasted! Now mind you, I have roasted many types of vegetables...just never a pumpkin. So first I had to read up on how to prepare him.
1. wash your pumpkin
2. line a baking pan with aluminum foil
3. cut your pumpkin in half
4. remove all the "stringy stuff" and seeds (an ice cream scoop works good for this)
5. bake your pumpkin at 375 for about an hour (mine was about 2lbs)
6. remove from oven and let cool
7. scrape the "flesh" from the rind (again, use an ice cream scoop)
8. store in the fridge for a few days or freeze

I divided mine into 1/2 cup servings and froze it in freezer bags.

I will say that when I see canned pumpkin, I will laugh! For I now know that fresh is waaayyyy better than canned!

Quote of the day- Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

Listening to: Angel Eyes by The Jeff Healey Band

3 comments:

  1. hey fredda....i thought the kind of pumpkins you cooked with were those pale looking pumpkins???? i was always told that the orange ones weren't the ones you made pie out of or anything. so how did it turn out??? and btw...i LOVE the picture at the top of your blog. you know i'm a sucker for a black and white picture!!! do you have anyway to subscribe to your blog??? i'll have to look around your page to see if i can find anything.

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  2. Sue, I have to say I had No experiance in pumpkin roasting until this. I will say that at Wal-mart (where I bought the pumpkin) the pumpkin had a sticker on it stating that it was a "Pie Pumpkin" and a recipe for pie filling. I wanted the pumpkin for my protein shakes and a sugar free pumpkin cheesecake recipe. I used the pumpkin in my shake and froze the rest for the cheesecake. It was very yummy and smooth after I ran it through the food processor. I have also heard that you can use butternut squash in place of pumpkin in recipes and no one knows the difference! I may try that next!

    There is a button to "follow" me on the left hand side of the page. Thanks for visiting me :)

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  3. i guess you learn something new everyday huh??? makes it worth getting up in the morning. i've had a love affair with pumpkins for years. big ones...little ones...pretty ones...ugly ones....just love pumpkins. love carving them. have never tried cookin one tho. maybe i'll try it this year. i've got a blogspot acct. if i can remember what my login stuff is, i'll sign up to follow your blog. i was hopin i could just put my email address in and it would notify me when you posted something but i don't think that's how it works here in blogspot world.

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