From Michelle:

With all of the talk about eating local these days, I thought some of you might be curious about how to turn your locally grown pumpkins into something edible. It's a snap, especially if you have already hacked one open to roast the seeds anyway. For optimal flavor, use sugar pie pumpkins (they are round and small); alternatively, you could use a regular pumpkin and add brown sugar to taste.

How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out the top of your pumpkin and clean out all seeds and strings from inside. Reserve seeds.

2. Slice pumpkin vertically into 3 inch wide strips. Place strips onto a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for about 1 hour, until pumpkin is soft.

3. Once done, scrape the pumpkin from the skins, then beat with a mixer or puree in a food processor until smooth.

Save The Seeds

The seeds can be used either to plant pumpkins next year, or roasted to eat this year! Place them in a bowl of water and rub them between your hands to remove orange bits. Pick out the orange pieces that are floating, and discard them. Drain the water and spread the seeds on a dish towel or paper towel to dry…and voila! They are ready for next year’s planting or to roast.

Chocolate Chunk Pumpkin Bread

Once you have your puree made, try this amazing recipe. It’s scary how fast it will disappear! Also, you can make muffins out of the batter if you want them to cook faster or if you like smaller portions. Just adjust the baking time accordingly (start checking around 15 minutes).

Ingredients