Making pumpkin puree

I have been reading all kinds of books about eating healthy, natural unprocessed foods - how to make and store food instead of buying it.  I will make a post with links to the books I have been reading, so thankful for the library and internet resources to educate me!  Anyway, one of the things Matt loves most is pumpkin pie.  Instead of a cake this year, he wanted a pumpkin pie for his birthday.  So instead of buying the canned pumpkin pie puree or mix, I decided this was the year I would make it from scratch.

 

 

 

When I was looking up ways to cook pie pumpkins, I stumbled on this link - Pioneer Woman makes pumpkin puree.  I love the Pioneer Woman.  And I love how easy this is.  At the Farmer's Market, I bought two pie pumpkins (smaller than normal carving pumpkins).  After cutting them in half, scooping out the gunk and cutting them further, I roasted them on cookie sheets.

The second time I did this, I noticed that adding a small amount of water to the bottom of the pan helped keep the pumpkin flesh moist - almost like steaming it in the oven.  If you choose to do this, only add water until it's about half way up the edge of your pan.

After peeling the skin off the flesh of the pumpkin, I cut it into chunks and blended the meat into a thicker consistency.  From my two small pumpkins, I ended up with ten cups of pumpkin puree.  I froze six of the cups and used four in Matt's birthday pumpkin pie (recipe below).  I can't believe how much it made.  I have done this twice now (and have two pumpkins on stand by) and am still astounded by how easy the process is.  If you have any one that is a pumpkin fiend, like my husband, I highly suggest you give this a try!

Matt's Birthday Pumpkin Pie
(originally from Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Pie Throwdown episode on Food Network)

Let me just say that this was delicious!  I doubled the recipe and made three pies.  Also, I used a regular frozen pie crust and it was still very tasty.  I am definitely going to make this for our Thanksgiving pumpkin pie.