Pumpkins

 

About the first of October, we bought three pumpkins, some hay, and some mums to brighten up our front yard.  They looked good until last week, when two of the pumpkins rotted and collapsed.  I brought the third one to the kitchen while it was still firm and good.

We like pumpkin bread and muffins, so I wanted to save some of the pumpkin.  I cooked the smaller half, and gave the other half to the birds.  Mama used to give them to the hogs, but we can't have any hogs unless we move, so I'll just give it to the birds.

Look at the size of those seeds.  People with more energy than me pick them out, clean them, and roast them.  They say they are very tasty.

Here is how I cook pumpkin.  When it is clean, cut the pumpkin into chunks, like this.

Put them in a 6 quart crock pot.  I cooked it for about 5 hours on high.  In the past, I have put it in the crock pot on low and let it cook overnight.

It will look like this (below) when it is done. It will be soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Put it in a bowl to cool.

Look how much liquid came from the pumpkin!  I did not add any liquid when I started it.

When it is cool, you can pare the peelings off easily.

I go ahead and put it in the mixer, so that it will be ready to go when I need it.

I measure one cup per freezer container.  Most of my recipes call for one cup.  It took me several years to figure this out.

Today, from 1/2 medium pumpkin, I made six 1-cup containers of pumpkin puree for the freezer.  Plus...

one cup extra to make something good. Reckon what it will be?