Baking down your Jack O'Lanterns

After Halloween is over a lot of people just toss out their pumpkins because they are molded or they think it is too hard to puree them into pies. It really isn't that hard.

We carve our pumpkins the day of Halloween, that way they don't go bad and I can turn the Jack O'Lanterns into pie..or bread...or...well, I really like pumpkin pie and bread!

I tried two different methods this year: Baking and boiling. Below will be each methods beginning and the bottom will show the end directions...because they each have the same end results.

How to bake a pumpkin:

What you'll need:
* Oven set at either 375 or 400 (my sisters and I debated this) When I originally googled it, it said 375.
* Cake pans, pie pans, any pan. fill it with water
* A good knife

 * Your pumpkin hollowed out.



Hollow out your pumpkin (if you haven't already carved it). and cut the pumpkin into strips or squared to fit more pieces. place the pieces skin up into the pans (filled with more water than what's seen in the picture below- at least half way)

When your oven is ready for baking, place all the pans into the oven. For 375 degrees it took me  55 minutes of baking. I'm sure if your temperature is up (400) it will take about 20 minutes.

The pumpkin is done baking when you poke it with a fork and it feels soft. You'll also notice that the pumpkin is a very pretty orange color after it has been baked.

How to boil:

what you'll need:

* A good knife
* A pot filled with water and a lid.


Hollow out your pumpkin (if you haven't already carved it). and cut the pumpkin into strips or squared to fit more pieces. place the pieces into the pots filled with water. Put the lid on and turn the stove top on.

 let it boil for 15-20 minutes until you poke it with a fork and it is soft.

 Pureeing the pumpkins

 You'll need:

* Strainer
* Paring knife
* Plate
* Either a blender, food processor..or in my case: A smoothie maker
* Food sealer (optional)
* Containers to put the pumpkin in (only if you don't have a food sealer)


When the pumpkins pieces are done cooking, empty them into a strainer (be careful, it's hot). Let the pieced cool down for about ten minutes before putting them onto a plate & cutting the skin part off of the pumpkin. (not pictured- it's hard to cut things one handed)

Next place the pieced of pumpkin (skin free) into your mixer.

After you have purreed your pumpin ( should take no more than 5 minutes) it should look like this:

You can either bake with the puree that same day ( I would let it cool for at least 30 minutes) or place it into your containers, ziplocs (it you're daring)  or food sealer bags. I love my food sealer- it has paid for itself in full.

 Freeze it until you are ready to use it. Here are some recipes for pumpkin food you might enjoy.
Pumpkin Recipes