Pumpkin Post

I've been meaning to blog. Really. I finally am because the weekly horoscope I never read said I should.

Since it is officially fall, and I love fall, this is a blog about pumpkins. Pumpkins I grew in the garden and cooked up a few weeks ago for later eating.

I've never had a lot of luck growing winter squash in the garden, but this year I made sure they got plenty of water and fertilizer and I got 3 small pumpkins and 1 huge hubbard squash (these are much like a pumpkin on the inside, just a little sweeter).

To store all that flesh for later use, I cooked, processed, and froze. For small pumpkins, I just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, and place the halves face down in a little water in a baking pan. Then I cook until they are soft. Then, I scoop the flesh away from the shell and puree it all in the food processor. Then I just put it in a freezer container for later use.

For the hubbard squash (this one was about 15 pounds!), I had to get more creative. I've never worked with one before, and it was tough. It was hard to get the seeds out because the interior was really solid. And it was so big I had to cut it into about 8 pieces for cooking. And the skin was so tough I decided to try and peel it before cooking - which was hard. But with that all done, I baked the pieces in the same way as the pumpkin. I cooked some pieces longer than others. I cut those that got less "done" into small cubes and froze those in bags to be used in pastas or stews. I pureed the pieces I cooked more and froze that like the pumpkin.

So now I have a lot of frozen squash. Tomorrow I will be making a pumpkin/hubbard pie for my birthday feast. I'll let you know how it turns out!