One Frugal Thing -- Homemade Pumpkin Puree
Remember when I pulled a fancy uncut pumpkin from our shared yard debris bin? Well, yesterday was the day for action, as it was taking up too much real estate.
Look at how pretty the flesh is, a richer orange than a traditional Halloween pumpkin. Also, I'm going to get some flack here, but I really don't like roasted pumpkin seeds, so those went straight into the compost. It's something about the texture.
So even though I'm committing a frugal travesty with my seed wastage, might I inform you of the cost of high end pumpkin puree:
The process to make your own puree is really quite simple, as it's just a matter of cutting the pumpkin into chunks and roasting them in the oven. Take them out when they're soft enough to easily pierce with a fork.
Let them cool enough to handle, then peel off the rind and give them a whirl in a food processor or blender. This part smells amazing!
Pour the puree into a fabric lined colander to drain out the excess liquid. This step doesn't take too long, maybe half an hour or so.
Lastly you scoop the puree into freezer bags. I do two-cup portions, which seems to be the standard amount for most recipes.
Note that I use a canning jar lifter to hold open the freezer bags -- works a charm! I know they sell gizmos for this exact purpose, but I love this hack as it utilizes something I already own!
I ended up with a tad more than eight cups of puree, which now sit in my freezer ready for future pies, pumpkin bread, scones, pancakes or whatnot.
I still have one more pumpkin to process, and maybe I'll get to that today as it's the perfect rainy day activity. Plus it's a bigger pumpkin and is dramatically taking up waaay too much space on my kitchen counter!
Have you ever baked up a Halloween pumpkins? They're all edible!
Yum - just picturing in my head all the pumpkin deliciousness that is to come from your processing of this pumpkin! One of my favorites to make with pumpkin puree is pumpkin pancakes (sometimes with mini chocolate chips). So good!
I really dislike the taste of home-roasted pumpkin seeds, too, but I do love the pepitas sold in stores.
Thanks for the new-to-me tips for straining the liquid and holding open the freezer bags!
If you have non-nuisance wildlife, they likely will eat the seeds.
I have used my Halloween pumpkins for years to make pumpkin puree. It seems a shame to throw away perfectly good food so during the fall season they act as decorations and lend beautiful color to my porch, after that they revert back to food. One of my favorite recipes is a Pumpkin Stew with black beans and corn. It is perfect for chilly fall days and it freezes well, too. It uses the pumpkin raw and cut into cubes.
...way to go! Where I am in Canada, that brand of pumpkin puree is $5.00 for one can.
I haven’t roasted a large carving type pumpkin before but I do roast the sugar pie pumpkins and a lot of butternut squash since those seem to come in my produce box every week. I have a pumpkin bread recipe I make just about every week so the purée gets used quickly.
My one frugal thing is that my sister gave me a coat that no longer fit her. It’s been colder than usual here lately and my regular winter coat wasn’t cutting it. I mentioned it to my sister and she said she had a long (knee length) down jacket from when she lived on the east coast (so made for snowy weather) that no longer fit her. I was happy to take it, it would normally cost about $200! I told her not to get me a Christmas present as that was already the perfect gift.
What a lovely and appropriate gift!
Years ago, when those padded coats were all the rage, I got a black one. The other day, I was looking through some old family photos. In one, I was wearing that coat. OMG! I didn't realize it at the time -- but it made me look like Darth Vader minus the helmet.
But you're right -- those coats are super warm.
That was many years and many pounds ago, however.
When mine no longer fit, I gave it to a colleague who'd gotten a job in Chicago.
I've never cooked our decorative pumpkins. I keep thinking I should, but then I just don't... LOL
My husband received very generous gifts at his work from customers, $75 in gift cards to a restaurant and $20 in cash. We split the gift cards up and put them in the kids' stockings, as that is not a restaurant we are likely to visit. I received a $20 gift card to Wal-Mart from coworkers, and that will go in another stocking.
I like to give my coworkers a small token every year for Christmas, and I usually try to make it. There are 9-10 people (we are down one right now), so it can add up. I used up some stash and made bowl cozies this year. But I waited until the absolute last day, and I had never made these before, so I got a mini mental breakdown thrown in for freeeeee. Thankfully, my hubby knows how to calm me down. He came to my sewing machine and said, "just tell me how to do it, and I'll make them for you." That encouraged me enough to do it myself. LOL
We had the kiddos over for dinner on Saturday night, then played cards. Our granddaughter was the star of the evening, and honestly we all spent more time admiring her than anything else.
I received bowl cozies a few years ago, and I love them!
I bake pumpkins every fall that I get very cheap after Halloween. But J am too lazy to make purée so I just cut them up and roast them ( and the seeds… lol) and use them in soups or just as a baked side dish. Cheap vitamin A and good for you!!
Yum. I'm imagining all the baked goods you'll make.
1. I made a lasagna and took it to my MIL'S house. It fed her, myself and my kids with leftovers to share. It's not the cheapest meal to make but it feeds a lot of people and so much better than restaurant lasagna in flavor and price.
About 10 years ago, when I was in Italy, I was delighted by a pumpkin pasta sauce (it was a regional specialty). I'm not a pumpkin lover, but this was remarkably delicious! Years later, I saw that Trader Joe's sold a pumpkin sauce for pasta - so, if you are looking for more ideas of how to use the puree, I can highly recommend it as a pasta sauce.
Our grocery store has given away for free after Halloween, so I often bring them home & roast, puree & then freeze them.
I'm not a fan of roasting pumpkin/squash seeds either, but I get a little more use out of them before dropping in the compost. I take the scooped out squash "guts" and simmer in water to make a squash broth. Super simple - squash seeds/strings, a pinch of salt and a sprig or two of thyme from the garden. Strain after 20 minutes or so and then I freeze it to add to soup. And all the talk of the Trader Joe's pumpkin sauce makes me think it would be a good addition to pasta dishes, too.
I have processed a large whole pumpkin in my past, when I didn't know what I was doing, and I peeled the whole thing with a potato peeler! Now I know better, but I hardly ever find a pumpkin that hasn't served as a jack o' lantern.
I work seasonally at a farm and get lots of free pumpkins. I am lazy though~ I just wash and pierce the skin and put the pumpkin in the oven for an hour or two until soft when poked with a knife. Let it cool a bit and it’s really easy to scoop out the pulp, which I also freeze in 2 cup portions. Then I use it in soups and baking. Those big Cinderella pumpkins are delicious!
That is just brilliant, how you process the pumpkins! There is a church in our town that has a huge pumpkin patch. They bring in pumpkins from an Indian reservation in New Mexico, and sell them to benefit the farmers there. That particular church is located on a hill, and has a lot of lawn from the street up to the building. It is filled with bright orange pumpkins against the green grass. A customer at my store is from that church and she said they pretty much give away the leftover pumpkins every year. I think I will save these directions for the church lady, so that next November, they could perhaps share the pumpkins with the food bank and give the recipients instructions how to make the puree!
Meanwhile, I've had a massive frugal fail: I thought Ollie's Outlet's members-only big discount night was tonight. No, it was yesterday -- and I missed out on the 15% discount on everything in the store (and 25% off toys and holiday stuff). Darn!
What was I doing last night? Putting up a 55-year-old artificial Christmas tree. (Yes, I know I'm late doing this!) Not only frugal, but sentimental: Mom and I bought it in 1970 when I first got my driver's license. I'd seen it when I was out shopping (an excuse to drive all over town). It was a "Peppermint Pier" tree from Pier One Imports. My family was tired of the aluminum Xmas tree we'd been using for the past 10 years or so. So we got this one and got out the old ornaments. When my parents died, it passed to me. I did a terrible job of setting up and decorating the tree this year: it leans worse that that tower in Pisa, Italy, has a gap where some branches broke and I dropped and broke a couple of glass ornaments.
The other frugal fail: my mom sold the above-mentioned Shiny Brite silver aluminum Xmas tree in a garage sale for maybe $3. So she sold for a great big loss: When I was in first grade (1960), my dad had gone all out to join the aluminum tree fad: he bought it at TG&Y, got a revolving stand for it, and a great big spotlight color wheel. No telling how much he spent on all that stuff, plus the ornaments. (You were supposed to have all one kind of ornament, glass balls all the same color.) Our tree sparkled and revolved! Oh, how I wish I still had it! Aluminum trees today are as rare as hen's teeth. If I still had that whole setup, I'd put it up in the LR's front window (and use the Pier One tree in the den).
I applaud Katy's and everyone else's efforts in processing pumpkins and squash that would otherwise go into the trash. But I'd like to pass along one caution: A neighbor who decorates with pumpkins has taken to buying the ones grown on some farm in North Carolina that injects them with chemicals to make them last longer. I know this because she left the bar codes plus the stickers with this info on the bottoms of her pumpkins last year. But in case other people are doing this and have been removing the stickers, I have reluctantly given up using trashpicked pumpkins (a big "no thank you" on the chemicals). It's not as if pumpkins and squash weren't cheap at my Regional Market, anyway.