Thursday, November 4, 2010

Try New Adventures Thursday: Cooking My First Pumpkin

My adventure for this week was to cook up my own pumpkin. I have always used canned pumpkin in the past, but decided to give the real deal a whirl after hearing Sarah tell how easy it is! I bought two pumpkins, and here's what I did:

Cooking Pumpkin
Sliced them in half. 

Scoop Out Pulp
Scooped out the pulp. This was probably the hardest part. If you have a spoon with a sharp edge, that would be best. I spent quite a bit of time doing this. In hindsight, I wouldn't worry so much about getting ALL of the pulp out--once the pumpkin cooks it will come out easily.

Ready for baking
Then I placed them face down on a baking pan and filled the pan with 1/4 inch of water.

All cooked
After I baked them at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, my pumpkins were mostly done. Next time I'll cook them for 5-10 minutes more, since their were still a couple spots that weren't soft. But overall, it baked wonderfully!

Pumpkin Puree
I scooped out the pulp and mashed it. Now I have lovely pumpkin puree! I'm using it today to make pumpkin cake. :)

What new adventures have been happening in your neck of the woods? No adventures is too small. Link up your blog post, link back to me, and visit the other TNAT participants! If you're not a blogger, feel free to share in the comments section.

As always, you can follow along on twitter using the hashtag #TryNewAdventures.





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15 comments:

  1. You are brave and that IS an adventure! I have not tried pumpking yet, but I feel like it can't be THAT much different than doing squash. They were like little black pumpkins. This looks pretty good!

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  2. Oh, fabulous!! Let me know how awesome the cake is with the fresh pumpkin! You will love it!

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  3. Sarah, I just finished eating a sliver of the cake. FABULOUS.

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  4. I'm gonna have to give this a try! Do you know how well it's work on a slightly larger pumpkin? I have one that's not jack-o-latern sized, but isn't baking size either. I don't want it to go to waste, but a little concerned it won't taste right either...

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  5. Sarah, I've been curious about that very thing! I've read that the smaller the pumpkin is the sweeter it is. Would love to hear anyone's experience with a bigger pumpkin...

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  6. Oh yes it is a bit more work, but worth it, if you have extra's it also freezing well.

    As far as which pumpkins to you, the smaller pumpkins like the ones you used, called pie pumpkins, are better, but you can certainly use a larger pumpkin, it just has more water and a little less flavor.

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  7. Hi Alicia,
    In Holland there is no canned pumpkin, so I always use fresh pumpkin. But getting the skin of was difficult, this is a great idea!!! Thanks a lot!
    Love Amelie
    Ps. I sometimes get your new posts in my dashboard when you haven't posted them yet (can't open them) but next day the post comes up again in my dashboard and then I can read them, you might want to check that out...

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  8. Amelie,
    That happens because sometimes I accidentally press "publish" before I'm done...then I have to erase the post that was published. Then it shows up in the feed. So annoying! Not sure how to fix that.

    Glad the post was helpful though!

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  9. I have not done it this way before. Thanks!

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  10. My cousin just called me on Wednesday to find out if she could puree a large pumpkin and the produce manager told her they were perfectly edible. I bought some pie pumpkins in August and the skin is so tough, I barely could slice through it. I need a hack saw or something...I haven't tackled the second one yet! :)

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  11. This is a great way to avoid buying Libby's pumpkin, which I am boycotting because they are owned by the infamous Nestle corportation.

    I haven't made pumpkin puree for several years, but it would be good to do again. Thanks for the lovely tutorial!

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  12. I have a pie pumpkin sitting on my counter waiting for me. :-) So thanks for the motivation to get me to cook it TODAY! :-D

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  13. I know this is a few days after the post, but I cook mine, seeds and all, for 1 hour 15mins. Then, I let it cool in the pan. Seeds come right out and the skin pulls right off in one piece. Also, the pumpkin is super soft. I tried it for the first time this year, too, and what a taste difference!

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  14. Thanks for sharing this.. I am going to try it this year!

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