Roasting a Pumpkin

 

I have a blog that I subscribe to that I love and get some great ideas for it! I could never be that good. If you have never checked it out...you should: http://simpleorganic.net/

That is where I got this great idea from and now I'm sharing my own experience:

The fall is such a wonderful time for warm, familiar scents and foods. And I LOVE pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, breads and cakes. (I'm not a pie fan, but my husband covers that area.)

I have always used canned pumpkin. It never occurred to me how easy it would be to make my own. We went to a pumpkin patch this year and carved two out of the three we picked before Halloween and today I roasted the third. The best thing about this is teaching my son where parts of his food come from (instead of straight from a can) and avoiding uncessarry preservatives, etc.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 400'. Place pumpkin on a cookie sheet and coat with oil.



Step 2: Roast pumpkin for 45 minutes. (See top picture.) The pictures don't do the wonderful color justice.

Step 3: Cut in half to let cool.



Step 4: Option 1, Scoop out seeds and roast with various recipes. Option 2, discard them along with the strings.

Step 5: Peel off skin. This was fun, but too messy to take pictures.

Step 6: Add chunks of the pumpkin "meat" to blender with a little water. Blend and get LOTS of puree. Next comes the fun and yummy baking!