pumpkin mania

I've always loved any type of food with pumpkin in it.  Pumpkin bread? Check.  Pumpkin cookies?  Most definitely.  Pumpkin cinnamon rolls?  Delicious.  Pumpkin gelato, ice cream, truffles, pie, cake, you name it, I have probably eaten it and loved it!  I told this to my host family one day, kind of lamenting the fact that it was fall but that no one in Mexico really eats pumpkin the way I do at home.  

Well, be careful with your words!  My mom came home on Monday afternoon with two giant grocery bags filled with pumpkin chunks from Walmart, telling me that she bought it all for me so I can bake pumpkin pie.  I just kind of looked in astonishment at the sheer amount of pumpkin sitting in our kitchen, at a loss for words as to what to do with all the chunks. 

This is about a quarter of the pumpkin that I had to work with, and this is how it comes from Walmart!

As a disclaimer, I have never cooked with fresh pumpkin before.  I love creating pumpkin baked goods, but my pumpkin has always come from a can.  So I looked at this as an adventure!  I've also been a little sad with the fact that I don't really get to cook or bake at all in my house because my family loves to take care of me.  But that all changed today!

 I spent almost 4 hours in the kitchen today, cooking pumpkin, roasting pumpkin seeds, creating the pumpkin puree, and packaging it for easy access in the freezer.

some of the pumpkin cooking in our tiny oven

pumpkin puree

the finished product!  8 cups of pumpkin puree

As I was working with the pumpkin, my mom looked over and remarked on the quantity.  She commented that I will be eating this pumpkin all year.

I sure hope so!