When my boys were babies...well, younger babies that is, I made all of their baby food from scratch. Not for any other reason than that they ate a TON of food -- I would have had to rob a bank to pay for the amount of store bought jarred baby food I would have had to buy to keep their bellies full! As you might imagine, they are not picky eaters, but what they LOVED the most was when I made butternut squash puree. So, it surprises me when I realize that I have never made my own pumpkin puree!? To think that, after all of the baby food I have made, the fact that the boys' favorite baby food came from the squash/gourd family, and the fact that I LOVE pumpkin anything...it never even crossed my mind to make fresh pumpkin puree!? I guess that's what happens when you get into grocery store auto-drive....just picking things off of the shelf and tossing them into the cart without thinking about whether or not it is healthier, less expensive and even easier to make your own from scratch.
Anyway, thanks to PInterest, my eyes were opened: 'hey, homemade pumpkin puree looks pretty darn easy, inexpensive and good!' I made my first batch last night -- along with some pumpkin bread using my fresh puree -- and I am here to tell you that I will never go back to canned pumpkin! The taste difference is pretty remarkable and I can't wait to try the fresh puree in all of my other pumpkin recipes...pumpkin pie -- oh my!
The process is VERY easy and the rewards are... well, delicious!
Anyway, thanks to PInterest, my eyes were opened: 'hey, homemade pumpkin puree looks pretty darn easy, inexpensive and good!' I made my first batch last night -- along with some pumpkin bread using my fresh puree -- and I am here to tell you that I will never go back to canned pumpkin! The taste difference is pretty remarkable and I can't wait to try the fresh puree in all of my other pumpkin recipes...pumpkin pie -- oh my!
The process is VERY easy and the rewards are... well, delicious!
Here's how to make your own puree!
-PreHeat Oven to 350 degrees.
-Line a rimmed cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.
-Cut your Pie Pumpkin* in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy bits
-Place each half of the pumpkin face down (skin side up) on the cookie sheet
-Cover the pumpkin halves with more tin foil
-Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 60-90 min -- pumpkin is done when you can pierce the skin easily with a skewer and the flesh is soft.
-Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and let cool until pumpkin can be handled safely.
-Flip the cooked pumpkin halves over and scoop out the flesh from the skin (this should be very easy, like scooping butter) and place in a large bowl.
-Mash the pumpkin flesh with a potato masher or fork.
-Use your pumpkin puree right away or store in glass canning jars and place in the freezer for later use! That's it!
*A pie pumpkin can be found at your local grocery store -- they are smaller sized pumpkins, usually around 8 inches in diameter and have more flesh and a less stringy texture than their larger Jack-o-Latern brothers. Although, you may be able to find these smaller pumpkins at your local patch too, that is where I found the one I used.
In the mean time, all of this talk of baby food and purees had made me miss these two little roly-poly baby faces...
-PreHeat Oven to 350 degrees.
-Line a rimmed cookie sheet with tin foil and spray with cooking spray.
-Cut your Pie Pumpkin* in half and scoop out the seeds and stringy bits
-Place each half of the pumpkin face down (skin side up) on the cookie sheet
-Cover the pumpkin halves with more tin foil
-Place the cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 60-90 min -- pumpkin is done when you can pierce the skin easily with a skewer and the flesh is soft.
-Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and let cool until pumpkin can be handled safely.
-Flip the cooked pumpkin halves over and scoop out the flesh from the skin (this should be very easy, like scooping butter) and place in a large bowl.
-Mash the pumpkin flesh with a potato masher or fork.
-Use your pumpkin puree right away or store in glass canning jars and place in the freezer for later use! That's it!
*A pie pumpkin can be found at your local grocery store -- they are smaller sized pumpkins, usually around 8 inches in diameter and have more flesh and a less stringy texture than their larger Jack-o-Latern brothers. Although, you may be able to find these smaller pumpkins at your local patch too, that is where I found the one I used.
In the mean time, all of this talk of baby food and purees had made me miss these two little roly-poly baby faces...
Sniff, Sniff....it's amazing how quickly time flies!
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