More Things Pumpkin!

Or maybe I should have titled this post "Occupy My Kitchen," since that's what I felt like I did all weekend. (And I had the piles of dishes to prove it!)

First, I would like to thank my friend Denice for allowing us to have several of her home-grown pumpkins. Without her, this post and all these tasty treats would not have been possible. :)

Before this fall, I had never cooked a pumpkin or even baked anything with pumpkin in it. So I think there must have been something in me that felt the need to make up for lost time. Here's a list of all things pumpkin I've made in the last week:
Pumpkin puree (for the baby)
Pumpkin pie (my first!)
Pumpkin-spice bread
Pumpkin pie smoothie
Pumpkin seeds (actually Dakota made those)

Still on the to-do list: Pumpkin pancakes, Pumpkin bars, and Pumpkin-spice latte

But before you can make all those yummy recipes, you have to have some pumpkin! Yes, you can buy it in a can, but I thought cooking my own was fun, plus we got lots of pumpkin seeds this way! Besides, what else were we going to do with our un-carved Halloween decorations after Halloween?

Anyway, if you ever wondered how to cook a pumpkin, it's easy! First, clean a nice small or medium sized pumpkin. Cut the stem down to 1-2 inches. Place it on a cookie sheet and coat it with oil (I used coconut oil). Then place it in the oven on 400* for 40-60 mins. (40 for smaller pumpkins, more time for bigger ones.) When the skin is a deep orange-brown color, it's done!

(I forgot to cut my stem down with this one. Fortunately, it was a smaller pumpkin. Had it been any bigger, that probably would have been a problem.)

Carefully peel back the skin and scoop out the pumpkin flesh. When you get to the seeds and stringy stuff, a grapefruit spoon comes in really handy. Scoop all of the stringy-messy stuff into another bowl and set it aside for later (pumpkin seeds). Then scrape out all the flesh you can get. Put it into the blender with a little water (just a couple ounces), and puree it until it is nice and smooth. At that point you can either refrigerate it, freeze it, or start working on pumpkin recipes right then and there.

Josiah really likes the puree and usually eats some every day. And I've also used it for several good recipes, and more to come! I thought I'd post a couple of the recipes I've tried so far.

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
(This is really done to match your taste preference. So experiment and see what tastes best to you!)
In the blender, start with about 2 parts vanilla ice cream to 1 part pumpkin puree. Add cinnamon and a dash of pumpkin pie spice, and blend until smooth. Serve with a couple graham crackers for dipping. Yum!

Pumpkin Pie
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 unbaked pie crust

Preheat oven to 425*. Put the first 7 ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour into the pie crust. Bake at 425* for 15 mins, then reduce the oven temp. to 350* and continue baking 45-50 minutes. (Until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean)

The pumpkin pie was a big hit. Emma said it was the best pie she'd ever tasted. Ashlyn went a step further and said it was the best food she'd ever, ever eaten in her whole life! Now if that's not a compliment, I don't know what is. :)

I'll try a couple other pumpkin recipes in the coming week and let you know if any of them are as hugely successful. In the meantime, let me know if you have any favorite pumpkin recipes you want to share!