Time to Kill the Fatted Pumpkin

Today I decide to post a fun Friday Extra. This is a blast from the past, originally posted in 2012. My mom was a great cook, but used a lot of short cuts and convenience foods. So when I left home I started exploring things like scratch baking, making my own bread, canning and yes, cooking and freezing my own pumpkin. Is still do this every year. In fact my 2021 pumpkin is in the freezer now in nice little 1 cup packages.

Enjoy this post and remember you can browse older posts at any time using the search engine

Every year around this time I go through the autumn tradition I call killing the fatted pumpkin.  This is when I cook wonderful fresh pie pumpkins and freeze the puree for  the rest of the year.

Cooking fresh pumpkin is easy:

1.  Choose a nice orange pie pumpkin.

2.  Cut pumpkin in half.

3.  Scoop out seeds.

4.  Place cut side up or down (either works) in a baking dish with about 1/2 – 1 inch of water.

5.  Cover with foil and bake 1 hr. at 350 degrees.

6.  Remove from oven. When cool enough to handle scoop out cooked pumpkin.  Mash pumpkin or if very soft just give it a good stir.

7.  Prepare 1 and 2 cup containers of pumpkin for freezer.

8.  Freeze and enjoy homemade pumpkin goodies all year.