Cooking a Pumpkin

 A couple of weeks ago Thing #3 went on a field trip to the local farm here and did all the fun stuff like hay rides, mazes, crafts, and of course picking out their own pumpkin. When he came home that day he was adamant that this pumpkin was not for carving this one was to be made into a pie. I have never cooked a pumpkin before, but I told him I would. And the pumpkin sat on the counter until this weekend. Last week I went to the grocery store and they were clearing pumpkins out at 25 cents each! Well I bought more pumpkin and decided that it was now or never to try this. Here are the pumpkins I cooked. The nice looking one with the stem is Thing #3's.

 It turned out it was really quite simple. I got out my trusty Joy of Cooking book and did just what they said.

Step one: Wash your pumpkin.

 Step two: Cut in half and remove seeds. Place on baking sheet, shell up.

Step three: Bake at #25 degrees for one hour or until soft. These pumpkins were not that big so one hour was plenty.

Step four: scrap out the insides. I used a ice cream scoop and it was super easy.

Step five: Process pumpkin until it looks like the baby food you buy. I used my bender for this, you do not even need to add any water. I then scooped out 2 cups of mix and put them in bag and labeled them for the freezer. Super Easy

I guess it is a good thing that learned how to do this because where I live pumpkin is a seasonal item and only around in the fall. So now I am stocked up! Stay tuned, now that I have cooked the pumpkin the kids are asking when I will make pie or bread or something with it!