I’m allll about saving money these days, plus there’s not many things more painful to me than throwing away food that went bad just because of my poor planning.   So I was looking around the house today at all our painted pumpkins thinking they were getting old, and I decided to find a way to use them.  So I chopped em up, baked em, and made some pumpkin puree to use for some recipes this week.

Several years ago I tried to make a homemade pumpkin pie from scratch.  I was successful but it literally took half a day.  When I made pumpkin puree that time, I baked the whole pumpkin and tried scoop out the meat of it while it was burning my fingers, but as it turns out there is a much easier way.   I’ve read that you should only use medium sized pumpkins for puree, and that the Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins don’t taste as good. But I have a big one that I am going to try tomorrow and see…

Here’s my pumpkins…(and The Wild One’s).  By the way, do you think that paint seeped into the pumpkin?   Is it toxic?  oh well… 

Just wash and dry them, then chop off the tops. 

The one with green in it didn’t turn out very good.  Guess it wasn’t totally ripe.

Then cut them into quarters and seed them, and put them on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes (just stick a fork in it and if it slides in easily, it’s ready).

The skin peels off really easily after that.  Dump it in the food processor.

Viola!  Pumpkin puree!!  From recycled pumpkins!!

I used this to make a creamy pumpkin pasta, and I will post the recipe tomorrow.  mmmmm… I LOVE Autumn.

I randomly heard a gardening show on the radio this weekend and the host said that winter squashes (pumpkins, butternut, spaghetti, acorn) got their name not because they are harvested in the winter, but because they will last all winter long.  Is that true??  Can I stock up on squash and keep them in my pantry for  several months?  It makes me curious.  Maybe I’ll do an experiment.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!!  Pics tomorrow…