I’ve never grown pumpkins before so it’s been extremely satisfying watching these beauties grow from seed to finished product. It will be even more satisfying when I turn the puree I made from my ripe pumpkins into pumpkin pie (and bread and cookies and…).

I wanted to start with just one to get the hang of it, and also because I need to get more bags for my vacuum sealer before I get too ahead of myself. So I found a basic recipe that gave me a nice, thick puree to use right away.

I started by cutting the top off and slicing the pumpkin in half…

Then I scooped out the guts and separated as many of the seeds as I could so I can dry and save them for planting next year…

I placed both halves face down on a cookie sheet I had covered in tin foil (since I am out of parchment paper). Then I put them in the oven at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, which was perfect timing according to how easily the knife slid in and out of them…

Once they cooled, I peeled the skin off, fed that to the pups and then cut the rest into chunks. Next I used my trusty Vitamix blender to puree it…

And voila! Done!

Now I just need to figure out what I want to make first. If I make pie, that means I have to clean the blender so I can make my homemade almond milk. It also means I have to roll out a pie crust and then make some homemade whipped cream and I don’t know if I want to put out that much effort after all the work I’ve already done in the kitchen today!

So it might have to wait until tomorrow.

We picked two dozen pumpkins total so I’ll be repeating this process a few times over the next week. I plan to freeze a lot of the puree I make because there is no way we can eat that much pie and bread and cookies in the immediate future.

Well, there’s no way we can eat that much and still stick to our diet, that is!

Plus, I might want to make pie and bread and cookies during Armageddon so I need them in my emergency food storage. Call me crazy but if the world is coming to an end I am going to want some homemade pumpkin pie to see me through it. 😄