Pumpkin Alchemy

Along with running errands, today was Pie Making Day.  I had 8 pumpkins still sitting in my garage I had gotten from the farmstand last month.

I have a confession to make.
Up until day, I have NEVER MADE A PUMPKIN PIE from SCRATCH.
My pumpkin puree has always come out of an orange container, yes....but that container wasn't roundish with a stem....it was cylindrical and said "Libby's" on it.

At my advanced age, it was about time I made my own pumpkin puree.
So I was off to perform some Pumpkin Magic!

First, we chose our hapless unsuspecting victim.....

*Imagine me stroking it like Gollum and saying, "My Precious, preeeciousss....".*

 Then we performed a vivisection on him....my surgical technique left alot to be desired.
More like Night of the Living Dead than Gray's Anatomy....

Next we used one of our kitchen multi-taskers to gut him.
Pumpkin gutting tool aka ice cream scoop.....Alton would be so proud.....

 This was followed by spraying a sheet pan with oil, plopping the two halves down on said sheet pan(outsides up) and putting it into a preheated 350 degree oven.

Let's take a look at the pumpkin guts while our little orange fellow roasts, shall we?....

You have 4 options with this mess here.
1--Throw it out.  That's easiest but the less desirable choice.
2--Salvage as many seeds as you can, roast them, toss with salt or other seasonings and you have a frugal tasty snack.
3--Take a food processor to this lovely glop 'o pumpkin innards and add it to your dog's dinner bowl.  The seeds and the fiberous nature of pumpkin innards will help clean your doggies innards out and make his bowels happy. (I got this tip from my buddy Alex M over at Living Without Money.)
4--Salvage as many seeds as you can, dry them and then store them away in a dark place until planting time, then attempt to grow from seed your very own pumpkins.

Back to our pumpkin....
When he is done(about 40 min., the flesh should be soft and give way easily when poked or pressed on), take him out and let cool.
After he cools off, we pulled off his skin and cubed the flesh up.

Then we took our Stick Blender to this bowl and blended away until it looked something like this......

Actually, the stick blender didn't render the mash smooth enough so I dumped it, in 3 cup allotments, into my Waring Blender.  Since we roasted and didn't boil the pumpkin it wasn't wet at all, so we needed to add some tap water so we didn't burn out the blender's motor. (About 1 cup of water per 4 cups of mash.)

This 1 pumpkin gave us approx. 7 cups of puree.  Most pie recipes call for between 1 3/4 cups and 2 cups per pie.  We made 2 pies so the leftover puree went into a Ziploc bag and into the freezer.

We added the usual additional ingredients to our puree, poured the mixture into a pie crust and baked it according to the recipe's directions and ........

.....Here is the finished product!
If I don't say so myself, it looks good enough to eat.  ;-)

The teens have been eyeing it for the last 4 hours.
I may have to sleep with one eye open tonight to keep Mr. Pie from falling into their evil clutches before morning.

Pass the Whipped Cream,

Sluggy

GREEN & THRIFTY THURSDAY...Eating Locally & A Cool Video!

It's GREEN & THRIFTY THURSDAY so here's today's GREEN TIP.

What is better for the planet than eating locally?
Ok, some foods can't be grown where you live and must be shipped to your locale. Illinois weather is not conducive to the growing of cocoa beans & banana plantation won't thrive in Connecticut's environment to name a few examples where eating locally wouldn't apply.
But why must apples be shipped from California to sell in New York, when New York grows perfectly good apples already? Heck, some companies in the food industry are such massive behemoth corporations that foods regularly get shipped to their warehouses or distribution centers halfway across the country, just to be repacked and shipped right back for consumption in the home state where they were grown.
I find that crazy and just W-R-O-N-G!
That Florida tomato may be consumed in Florida but what's the point in taking that tomato for a crosscountry road trip before you get to sink your teeth into it?

It may be good for the business, but it's certainly bad for the environment & YOU.
Think of all those petrochemicals used & carbon monoxide generated by transporting that tomato & his little tomato buddies thousands of miles!

Additionally, it's not doing anything for the taste of that tomato. Tomato/Tomahto may no longer be as 'fresh' after it's travels AND the company has to grown a type of tomato for it's longevity rather than it's TASTE.
If you've ever eaten a store bought tomato you KNOW what I am talking about!

So here's to eating locally! Eat what is grown closer to home if given the chance. To make sure it's not well-traveled, buy your food from smaller suppliers right in your community(like local farm markets, farm stands, food co-ops, etc.). With the weather warming up, it will be possible for most parts of the country to eat more locally obtained foods.

An online friend sent me the video above. Her step-nephew and some friends call themselves the Organic Gangsters (The Real OG's). They created it to enter the "My Co-op Rocks" Video Contest. Now, I'm not phishing for votes for them, but give it a view. I thought it was quite good! And it has a GREAT message to impart.
Word.

Sluggy