Make your own pureed pumpkin

Now that it's officially pumpkin everything season.. we are adding pumpkin in everything we cook and bake and trying to center recipes around it as a main ingredient. We usually have canned pumpkin on hand which is convenient and easy, but realistically, there's nothing better than homemade pumpkin puree even though it takes a little more work and time... From one cooking pumpkin you can get many cans worth of pureed pumpkin, and enjoy the process of truly making a recipe "from scratch". We always get our pumpkins from the local farmers market, where they are grown with organic practices and pretty affordable. Make sure you use a pumpkin that was grown for eating, not a carving pumpkin which does not have much flesh in it to work with. Here's some really simply steps to make the pumpkin pureeing process as quick and easy as possible! I added a second process here so you can choose the longer method of roasting, or the quicker method of steaming.

Ingredients:

Cooking pumpkin

Coconut oil or olive oil

Sea salt

Method 1- Directions for Roasting:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet (or 2 depending on the size of your pumpkin) with foil and a layer of coconut oil or olive oil.

Cut pumpkin in half, and scoop out the seeds and "guts" in the center. These seeds can be roasted and these soft "guts" can be pureed later or be used as a treat or food add in for dogs if you have them (pumpkin is soothing to the stomach and aids in digestion for dogs just like it does for people). Cut pumpkin flesh into large chunks, by first cutting in half, then cutting in slices or cubes. The smaller the size, the more quickly and evenly it will cook. Even if you just cut the pumpkin into 2 halves it can be roasted but may not cook evenly throughout.

Put pumpkin pieces onto baking sheet and sprinkle on some sea salt.

Once oven is heated, bake pumpkin for 30 minutes, checking periodically by stabbing with a fork until soft. That's how you'll know when it's finished.

Once done, allow to cool and blend together in a food processor. That's it! You can use this blended puree in place of canned pumpkin in any recipe and it tastes ten times better because it's all fresh! Enjoy :)

Method 2- Directions for steaming:

Dice pumpkin into small chunks or pieces. Steam in a large pot with a little bit of water for about 10 minutes. Drain and blend in food processor. Wallah.. even faster!