Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Pumpkins

Cooler weather means more time inside, and less work to do. I finally have time to deal with those 6 pumpkins I bought back in October. Just in time too, it seems. The one on the right had a couple of bad spots that I had to cut off.

Cleaned out and cut up into chunks in my roasting pan. I baked it for about 5 hours at 250°F.

A nice bowl of seeds. Washed, soaked in salt water, then baked below the pupkin for about 20 minutes.

I mashed the pumpkin as it was cooking. I didn't skin it. The skin is edible, so I decided to try it out and see what happens. I run the mashed pumpkin through the magic bullet before using, so that should grind up any chunks that hand mashing missed.

Now what to do with it? Two large pumpkins yielded 11.5 2 Cup servings, stored in 500mL sour cream containers.

I've frozen it this way in the past, but freezer space is still at a premium. I'm afraid to even walk into a grocery store right now. The only way those remaining roosters and turkeys are getting their heads knocked off any time soon is if they're going directly into the oven.

Of course there are pies to bake, and pumpkin bread, but this is a lot of pumpkin to use up, so I went in search of some new recipes to try. The ones I thought looked interesting are linked below.

Pumpkin Bread

1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 Cup flour

Mix everything up to the salt. Stir well. Then add the baking soda, baking powder, and flour. Mix well. Pour into greased loaf pans. Bake @ 350°F for 50 minutes. I play with the flour somewhat, since home made pumpkin puree is not always the same consistency.

Recipes To Try:

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Pumpkin Cookies