This year, I resolved not to just throw our pumpkins away after carving them like we usually do. Here's what we did instead.
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
{Adapted from here}
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
{Adapted from here}
Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Spread pumpkin seeds on a foil-lined baking sheet. Toast for one hour at 250 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon, ginger and salt with two tablespoons of sugar.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir until the sugar melts.
4. Pour seeds into the mixing bowl and stir until coated. That's it!
2 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
6 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions:
1. Spread pumpkin seeds on a foil-lined baking sheet. Toast for one hour at 250 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon, ginger and salt with two tablespoons of sugar.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and sprinkle the remaining sugar over them. Stir until the sugar melts.
4. Pour seeds into the mixing bowl and stir until coated. That's it!
Pumpkin Puree
{Adapted from here}
{Adapted from here}
Directions:
1. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. If you're not using a pumpkin that served as a jack-o-lantern in it's former life, make sure to scoop out the guts and seeds.
2. Place the pumpkin halves on foiled-lined baking sheets. Since our pumpkins were fairly large, each half got it's own sheet. Cover each half with foil and bake at 325 for about an hour.
3. Scrape the pumpkin meat from the shells and throw it into the blender. Puree until smooth.
4. Pumpkins, like all forms of squash, are really watery. If the excess liquid isn't drained from the puree, the recipes the puree is later used in won't turn out right. So, transfer the puree to a colander and let sit overnight to ensure all the liquid has a chance to drain. Then, just store in the freezer.
1. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. If you're not using a pumpkin that served as a jack-o-lantern in it's former life, make sure to scoop out the guts and seeds.
2. Place the pumpkin halves on foiled-lined baking sheets. Since our pumpkins were fairly large, each half got it's own sheet. Cover each half with foil and bake at 325 for about an hour.
3. Scrape the pumpkin meat from the shells and throw it into the blender. Puree until smooth.
4. Pumpkins, like all forms of squash, are really watery. If the excess liquid isn't drained from the puree, the recipes the puree is later used in won't turn out right. So, transfer the puree to a colander and let sit overnight to ensure all the liquid has a chance to drain. Then, just store in the freezer.
In the picture above, that's the amount of puree we got from each pumpkin half. Multiply that by four and that's how much pumpkin we have in our freezer. So...we should pretty much be good till next fall, I would say.
My mom has 22 pumpkins from their garden in the garage waiting to be taken care of--imagine THAT much pumpkin! (I can't!) Keith and I have a pumpkin that we'll use eventually ... right now it's just sitting pretty on the porch. :)
ReplyDeleteOoh I can't wait to hear how it works out when you make something with the pumpkin puree! I've always heard it's hard to get it as good as the stuff in the can (I think because of the wateriness?). Anyway, I'm super curious to see how it turns out!
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