Playing with Pumpkin

Dear Liza,

You know I can’t resist a bargain; if I see something useful for a good price, it is hard for me to pass it by. That is how I came to be processing 20 pounds of pumpkin Wednesday morning.

This fine specimen of pumpkin-ness was for sale at Trader Joe’s for $3.97. That came out to about 20 cents a pound! Needless to say, it came home with us, first as a lovely decoration for Halloween, and then as food.

I have roasted pumpkins before, so I know the drill. but this was just…. More. Auntie Bridgett helped me, and we used the electric knife to cut through the thick skin. We scraped the inside and got loads of seeds to roast for later.

We roasted the halves one at a time, because that’s all that would fit in the oven. We let them cool and peeled the skin off, and chopped them into chunks.

Then came the noisy bit. Using the food processor, I ground the pumpkin into a purée, which will be useful for pies, puddings and side dishes for the next several months. I ended up with 8 quart bags full, all stacked in the freezer like gold at Fort Knox. It took all morning, but I feel very rich for making so much food out of such a small investment.