Friday, November 18, 2011

What to do with that pumpkin...

Many of you might have leftover pumpkins from Halloween, or your garden.  Well, this is what I did with mine...


I had a few smaller pumpkins, so I found it easiest to cut them in smaller pieces and then clean them out with a knife and spoon.  If anyone knows an easier way to clean out a pumpkin...please share! :)


And, here's my pan full of pumpkin...I put a little bit of water in the pan to prevent the pumpkin from sticking and burning.


We have chickens, so I took all of the seeds out to soak in salt water and then fed the rest to the chickens.  They love it. 


I baked the pumpkin for about 40 minutes on 350.  If your pumpkin is larger, you will need to cook it longer.  You can check it with a fork to make sure it is soft.



Next, I scraped out the inside of the pumpkin and put it in my blender:  I added just enough water to help it blend.


And here's the nice smooth pumpkin...


Now, I have an amazing recipe for pumpkin bars (that will be my next post) that uses 2 cups of pumpkin, so I measured out 2 cups of pumpkin and put it in a Ziploc bag to put in the freezer.  This way when I want to make them, I can just take the bag out, thaw the pumpkin and use it in my recipe.  


I haven't baked my seeds yet, they are still soaking on my counter.  When I do, I will put them on a baking sheet sprayed with oil and bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes--just until they are slightly browned. Then turn my oven off and let them sit in there while it cools.  They are absolutely delicious!!



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1 comment:

  1. Best way to clean out a pumpkin is to either use those ones that you can get at Halloween time with the pumpkin carving kit.

    OR, I also use an ice cream scoop. Has a sharper edge than a regular spoon does.

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