Homemade Pumpkin Puree

Soo, my fantastic mother-in-law sent me up some fresh spaghetti squash, zucchini, and one LARGE baking pumpkin. I mean, look at this thing! You could almost carve it.

It doesn't take me long to find uses for these yummy Fall starches. For lunch yesterday I made spaghetti squash with tomato sauce (yes, there will be a blog).  But then I was left with this ginormous pumpkin. What do to?

Well, you know I'm obsessed with everything pumpkin (who isn't, really?),  so I figured I'd puree it to use in...well...EVERYTHING! So, if you're feeling adventurous, here's an options for some of those left over Halloween  baking pumpkins!

My pumpkin was super large! I washed him off....

Look! He's got a knife in his head! Great Halloween costume, Mr. Pumpkin!

I sliced him like a cake. Except he's a little tougher than a cake..

My 13 slices of pumpkin. Yes, A LOT!

I spooned out his innards 

And placed them on a paper towel for later!

C, for Carlie!

S, for Shawn!

Ok, enough playing with my food. Time to bake! I placed on aluminum foil to keep my pans cleaner. 350 degrees for 45min-1 hour.

In the meantime I collected my pumpkin guts...

...took a creative picture of my pumpkin with canned puree....

And washed my seeds! Like I said, these will be featured in a blog very soon!

All done! When you can stick fork in them gently...

...and easily pull away the meat, they are done

I used a knife to cut away the skin, similar to how you would a cantaloupe 

Now time to puree. I cut into chunks and placed in my food processor. If you don't have one, you could use a blender or a potato masher.

Pulse

All pureed! 

Almost looks like a mango applesauce...yum.

Ok, this pic requires an explanation. It's important when your puree is watery, to try and drain it the best you can. Watery puree will not help your baking. Nope. You could use a cheesecloth or sieve and drain, but I don't have either of those. So, I took my salad spinner, and placed a coffee filter in it and let it sit that way. I allowed each batch to sit until I went to the next (about 5 min)

Look how much juice I got after 5 min!

Then I got REAL creative (or weird). I used my colander, with a large bowl under it, and covered the areas with holes with my coffee filters. You could also just layer strong paper towels. 

I then let it sit for 1 hour. (Depending on the wateriness of your pumpkin, you may want to decrease/increase this time.

Puree and pumpkin juice. I am going to try and use the juice for something too. It's pretty yummy! 

Now, you need quart size freezer bags

Fold the bag kind of inside out and prop it up like pictured. This will make it MUCH easier and less messy to fill!

I measured 1 cup into each bag, that way it'd be super easy for baking. 

I then sealed up the bag with just an inch or so opened and pressed all the air out. Then I sealed it.

See? Doesn't take up much room and it's easy to store. 

I labeled my bags with the ingredient, amount, and date

I ended up with 12.5 cups!! That's a lot of puree! 

Even so, look how nicely it fit into my freezer. This will be awesome through the holidays. I can't wait to make pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cupcakes, pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin.....ahhh!

 I can't take credit for all of the tips and baking instructions for this recipe. I used The Pioneer Women's recipe. She's awesome.


So, any suggestions or ideas of what I can do with my pumpkin puree?