Sunday afternoon, I decided to tackle the 2 pumpkins that had been sitting next to the heater for almost a week. I got a recipe for making your own pumpkin puree from the Pioneer Woman and decided to try it for myself, since we are pumpkin eaters and go through a big chunk of Libby's every year. When the pumpkins went on sale for 50 cents apiece after Halloween, I grabbed two.
Well, I didn't bake the pumpkin pieces quite long enough and they took Forever to puree. The motor on my processor got hot to the touch and started to smell like burnt plastic. Greeeeat. I still had two more pans of pumpkin to go. Each pan took over an hour to bake, so consider that as well. At 11 last night, I was still going at it, even though I only gave the processor a few short breaks to cool off. At about midnight, I put the last cupful of puree in a freezer baggie and plopped it in the freezer. Then it was cleanup time. No fun. Did you know that when pumpkin strings or seeds or pieces dry, it is like Gorilla Glue? It expands and sticks like
freckles on a redhead (and I should know). Those suckers don't come off. Not even with harsh chemical agents (the pumpkin doesn't either, I tried). The pumpkin, as I found, does come off if you drown it in a puddle of water and let it soak. At least until your husband comes in with muddy boots. Then it's a whole other ballpark. 
That being said, we now have enough pumpkin puree for about 8 pies. Or 16 pumpkin rolls. Mmm. 
I was talking to a friend last night who asked me why I was going to all that bother. I didn't know what to say. The satisfaction of making it myself? The fact that I actually have an excuse to use my food processor? The triumph of finding a cheap pumpkin? Probably not, but it sounds good.
At least now I can say I made pumpkin pie from the gourd. Oh yeah. I even decided to document my progress, as you can see.And pay no attention to the nasal aspirator in the one picture. It was clean out of the dishwasher and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. No, wait, I changed my mind. It was there to show the scale of the picture, right Rachel? Like those
geologists do when they put a hammer or something next to a rock. So the nasal aspirator is there to show you how big pile of pumpkin skin is? Suuuure.
There. Witness my insanity. And all for a pumpkin pie that I probably won't even get to taste.
4 comments:
Great pictures! I especially like the one of the handsome boy whom I hope to join in the pumpkin consumption. :D We will try to leave you a taste atleast.
You could start your own "Pioneer Woman of Okie" website! I imagine it adds time to the already time consuming job of the actual process by stopping at intervals to take pictures. I enjoy your efforts.
Thank you for sharing. Do you remember helping me make bread when you were little? There's nothing like homemade. :}
I am impressed and greatful that you remember to keep a photo diary of these adventures :-)
I think you do all of this to simply conquer...your own extreme adventure.
my own extreme adventure? that makes me feel so...agoraphobic. It makes me want to do my next post on that time we went river rafting, or sailing in the Caribbean, or on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic with a Korean youth group (the missionaries only spoke Korean and Spanish). But that's okay. My kitchen creations are definitely an adventure to everyone who has to eat it. :D
Okay...you have been on extreme adventures. Hey, I was on that boat sailing through the high seas with you...ugh turning a bit green.
And in my humble opinion taking on cooking all of that is an extreme adventure. But, I have been accused of not being the most domisticated one in the group :-)
But really I was grasping at straws on any reason why anyone would want to tackle that much pumpkin. Perhaps it was the years of financial training from Mr. Ed... the cheap pumpkins over took you :-)
Miss you!
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