Fresh Pureed Pumpkin

As I mentioned before, the Iowa Farmer grew lots of yummy stuff this year. He has a huge lot of cinderella pumpkins so we turned one into a stagecoach. Just kidding, but we did turn it into soup, crunch cake, muffins, and added it to applesauce. We even used the seeds too!! We started out by making into a puree...

Pureed Pumpkin

What you'll need:
1 large pumpkin (the baking kind not for carving; I actually never really knew the difference)
1 heavy duty knife, and maybe a nice strong man to cut it for you

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut the pumpkin into fourths and poke with a fork like you would a baked potato. Put the pumpkin in a 13x9 baking dish with a 1/2" layer of water at the bottom. Bake for 1-2 hours until the pumpkin is soft in the middle (poke with a fork). Remove from the oven and let cool. After is has cooled separate the flesh from the shell and place into a food processor. Blend until smooth. There you go now you have pureed pumpkin for all those Fall and Holiday recipes. Super simple, a little time consuming but totally worth it based on the difference in taste. Check back to see what other recipes we used it in.

Note: 1 can of store bought pumpkin equals 2 cups, also fresh pureed pumpkin has more water in it than store bought.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I mentioned we even baked the seeds at the same time as the pumpkin...yummy!!

Preheat the oven to 350-375. Place foil on a baking sheet. Mix the pumpkin seeds with olive oil and a garlic seasoning mix. Pour everything onto the baking sheet and bake for 2 minutes, check on them and stir 'em around. Bake another 2-4 minutes until you hear them pop!