The perks of being busy...Pumpkin Puree!

So what does being extremely busy and pumpkin puree have to do with each other?

Well...nothing...usually

But today they collided in what may be the most delicious procrastination I have ever tasted.

I bought Greg and I each a little pumpkin to carve on Halloween, but we put it off and put it off until the 31st, but I ended up having 2 exams this week and Greg worked late until 10pm on Halloween night helping put in a new sound system at his work...

So needless to say we never got around to it...so I have passed those silly little pumpkins every time I walk in the front door, and I am bummed they never got carved.

Until this afternoon I was making a shopping list and I put "can of pumpkin"on it, and then thought...what am I doing? I can make my OWN puree!

So I set out to make those neglected pumpkins into the season's staple ingredient!

So halve those puppies and cut off the stem. Scrape out all the "guts" and I suppose if you want, bake the seeds and eat them, but I personally hate pumpkin seeds...so into the trash them went.

Set the oven to 400 degree and place the two halves on a middle or lower rack.

If you want you can rub them with butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc

I'll be super honest with you, I didn't time how long I put them in for, but I believe it was around 30 mins.

Test them with a knife down the thickest part to determine readiness, when the knife slides through easily, you know they are done!

The outside "skin" of the pumpkin should just sort of fall off once you peel it away, and you can spoon out any extra "guts" you missed in the beginning. Put into a small bowl or food processor to puree.

I had about 3 other things cooking simultaneously so I didn't want to make an even BIGGER mess and bust out my food processor, so I just pureed mine using my small hand mixer.

Store in a tupperware or mason jar in fridge or use right away for pancakes, pie, cookies, bread, etc.

Hope you enjoy your homemade pumpkin puree!

I will be doing a tutorial on these fancy jars coming up in the next week so stay tuned for that!