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What do you do with your Halloween pumpkin once the day passes? Some people toss them into their compost pile, others simply throw them in the garbage can.
But why not think about baking your Halloween pumpkin?
Some communities have a Pumpkin road, some long road out in the outskirts where people bring all their Pumpkins to dot the sides of the roads.
That looks pretty cool and it becomes a tradition in these towns.
Families drive together down the road and look at all the pumpkins; at night, some are even lit. The pumpkins will decompose or provide food for wildlife.
Since we don’t have a pumpkin road, I’m going to take our Pumpkin and turn it into pie – it’s not hard to do. We didn’t carve out our Pumpkin this year, so there is no candle wax dripping down all over the inside.
I would never use a carved out Pumpkin that held a candle to turn into Pumpkin Pie.
Instead, I used a black Sharpie and just drew the face on. I’m not very artistically gifted, so his face is pretty basic.
I like him, although he does have a couple dental problems.
Remember too, grocery stores will put all their “leftover” pumpkins on sale this week.
If you have the time, buy 6 or 8 if you can get a great price on them. Then get started preserving them for using over winter.
Why you want to bake your Pumpkin
Mostly, for the convenience. Set aside an afternoon and that morning, put them in the oven. In the afternoon, process all them.
You’ll be done before dinner and have several bags of pumpkin puree in the freezer.
How to Bake a Pumpkin
Cut a “cap” out of the top of the pumpkin, using a large sharp knife. You will want a large enough hole, so you can get inside and scrape out all the pulp and seeds.
I like to use a large, heavy metal spoon to scrape the sides and the floor of the pumpkin.
You could also cut the pumpkin in half, much like you would a squash. Either way, once it is all scraped out, put it in an oven set at 350F.
Let it bake for awhile.
The time needed to bake really depends on the size of your pumpkin. Large pumpkins can take a couple of hours to cook all the way through.
Once the Pumpkin is soft and mushy, it’s ready. Test it by poking a fork in it.
Remove the pumpkins from the oven and let them cool. Then, just cut or break them apart. Scrape all the flesh into a bowl.
Throw out the outer skin. You will have already removed all the stringy stuff and seeds, so this part of the process is very quick and easy.
Use the Pumpkin flesh to make a pie, cookies or a loaf or eat it as a side dish with dinner.
To preserve some, just fill Ziplock bags, remove the air and pop in the freezer. I like to freeze mine in quantities for making Pumpkin Loaf or Pumpkin Pie.
And why not set six seeds aside and plant them next year for Pumpkins in the garden?
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