Last Thursday, Kansas Dad and I baked a pumpkin. Well, I asked him to cut it in half for me because I was a little nervous to handle the knife myself. Then I baked and purred it. It made a lot! You can read a nice post on baking and processing your own pumpkin here. I mainly followed these instructions. I just baked them cut side down (no water or anything) in the oven for an hour at 350. The ice cream scoop mentioned on the Money Saving Mom post was much easier than a spoon, but I didn't bother cutting off the stem. It pulls right off after baking if it seems to be in the way. (All based on my vast experience with one pumpkin on Thursday and one today.)
I think Kansas Dad said we grew Connecticut Field pumpkins. They may not be the best for baking, but we've been enjoying everything so far. We've made:
Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread and Muffins from Whole Grain Baking
(I modified the recipe and didn't like it as well as I remember. I'm going to try it again without modifications.)Pumpkin Muffins which were light and fluffy. I topped them with turbinado cane sugar instead of the brown sugar mixture and they were delicious. (I keep it on hand for our sour cream blueberry muffins so it was easier than mixing something up for a topping.)
And the Ultimate Pumpkin Waffles, which really are tremendous. Mmm...
Of course we saved the seeds. I made the Fiery Pumpkin Seeds from How To Cook Everything
and the Savory Seeds mentioned here.First Son wouldn't try one, but here's First Daughter enjoying a pumpkin waffle:
There are lot of other recipes I want to try here and maybe this one, too. Oh, and these and this! I may also try out Money Saving Mom's pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.
I've got pumpkins on the counter and on the floor and about twenty cups of puree in the freezer, so there will be lots of pumpkin for experimentation.
