Friday, December 27, 2013

It's A Sad Day When the Pumpkin Runs Out

I grew pumpkins this year but only one actual pumpkin grew.  It turned orange really early and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  Squirrels destroy any pumpkins I have ever set out for decoration and I tried making a pumpkin dish from a fresh pumpkin once and it was awful.

It was a little too small to give to my mother to put on her step.

I'm not a jack-o-lantern fan, myself.

So, I cooked it up and decided that I'd try it in pumpkin muffins and see what would happen.  My sister roasts hers and I did mine in a similar way.  Check her suggestion here. The only thing I did different was cut it in half and scoop out the seeds first.  Roasting is definitely the way to go.

It was totally fine.  It was probably even more moistening for the muffin recipe than canned pumpkin and it lent the right pumpkin flavor.

It made enough to put 1 cup of cooked squash into 4 ziploc bags and freeze it. 

And Christmas eve, I made the last of the muffins to take to k-ster's mother's for Christmas morning.  I have a couple of the muffins, but that's it.

Back to canned pumpkin if I want to make them for the rest of the year.

I will definitely roast and freeze all of the pumpkins I grow from now on.  They are great in baked goods.  Just don't let me get all crazy and try to make a pumpkin main dish!!

I have read in several places that the pumpkins at the grocery store that you buy to make jack-o-lanterns are not safe to eat.  Something about the chemicals they use on them are not necessarily food grade because they aren't meant to be eaten.  Who knows if it's true, but that's all I need to hear!  They do sell small pumpkins for eating, usually called sugar pumpkins or pie pumpkins and I would feel ok using those to eat if I didn't grow any.

The portioning out into 1 cup amounts in ziploc bags is brilliant and I have started doing it with pureed zucchini in the summer too.  Otherwise, you end up with a huge amount that you have to thaw and not use all at once.  It seems most recipes only want a cup.


Linking up here:
http://www.cherishedhandmadetreasures.com/2013/12/creative-corner-blog-hop-94.html#more
http://www.flamingotoes.com/
http://www.skiptomylou.org 

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