Imagine rolling hills with plump orange pumpkins scattered as far as the eye can see. A tractor pulling a hay-filled trailer with children bouncing gently back and forth. Families huddled together with warm cups of freshly made hot apple cider and hot cocoa. This is the time of year where everyone goes to the pumpkin patch, the time I get so passionate about. This is the time that pumpkins overtake the produce department of the grocery store and I begin preparation for pumpkin purée and delicious pumpkin foods!
It finally happened on Saturday. We went to the grocery store for a few things that needed picking up and just inside the door were these beautiful plump baking pumpkins! A huge case of them! A quick trip to the store had very quickly brightened up my day! I picked out four beautiful plump pumpkins to begin making purée. All of this purée will be made into pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soup, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin coffee syrup. Oh the list goes on! If you know of some other pumpkin-y delicious foods you want me to make let me know because I am always in the mood to try new recipes!
I know I’ve told you before that Michael is from Florida, born and raised. He lived in the northwest for about ten years before we got together, so I’d say that he had time to acclimate. When our first Fall season rolled around I shared with him my joy for cooking pumpkin and making delicious foods with it. It was slightly confusing after that because he started asking a lot of questions until all of a sudden he asked “Wow, you can really cook pumpkin and eat it?”. I clearly thought he was joking but apparently nope, he was serious. He had no clue that you can make edible food with pumpkins. All that time he was walking around on this planet thinking that the sole purpose of a pumpkin is for carving. Oh Michael…
So obviously that is all cleared up and now when fall season comes around he starts looking forward to pumpkin purée just as much as I do. He loves to see the whole process and he makes sure to tell all of his friends, family and co-workers about his amazing wife that can magically make food from pumpkins. My only hope is that he doesn’t start-up a blog and talk about my quarks… eek! Happy Pumpkin Puree, Everyone!
- Medium sized cooking pumpkin
- Cut pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds.
- Line a large baking dish with foil. Place pumpkin halves face down on foil. Cover top with foil.
- Cook in a 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until pumpkin meat is tender.
- After pumpkin has cooled, scrape meat from pumpkin and mash with a fork or puree in a food processor. Discard skin. Add to various recipes and enjoy.
