Homemade Pumpkin Purée

finally: it's officially fall.

**sigh** :)

'Tis the season of butternut squash soup, apple crisp, chili & cornbread, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cookies, oh wait, I see a theme.... PUMPKIN.  Mmmm. :)  One of my FAVE fall flavors.

I've been desperately trying to find cans of good old "Libby's Pure Pumpkin" in the stores now for some time, and to no avail, there.. just... isn't any. :(  (I've checked Meijer, Kroger, you name it!)

from Meijer's website. Look: it even says "out of stock"!!!

So instead of just giving up... I just figured I could do it myself.  We made homemade pumpkin purée in Rome, where there is like... NO canned pumpkin whatsoever (except *very expensive* cans imported from the States!)--- and we used to make something like 16 pumpkin pies for a massive Thanksgiving outreach party for all our Italian friends!  So why not turn around and use the knowledge I gleaned in Italy right here in the U.S.? :)

I started with purchasing 2 "Pie Pumpkins" from local Michigan farms at Meijer... (again, my dig. camera is *still broken* --- wah wah! --- so I'm having to borrow other people's lovely pictures). 

The pie pumpkins looked like this:

from

Notice how pie pumpkins aren't as small as the cutesy ones people use to decorate... but at the same time, they aren't as big as the "jack-o-lantern" type pumpkins that people carve!

After researching several recipes, I decided upon the roasting method (rather than steaming or boiling them on the stove top).  One probably isn't better than the other, I just didn't have a lot of time/energy to stand by the pot and babysit the boiling pumpkins, so sticking them in the oven felt more freeing for me.

Here are my 10 Easy Steps for Pumpkin Purée:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F... and get out a baking sheet and your carton of aluminum foil.

2) Wash dirt off outside of pumpkin.

3) Carefully cut stem/top off, discard.

4) Cut pumpkin in half, from top to bottom.

5) Everyone has their own preferred "de-pulping" method, but my favorite is to first, take out all the seeds (using my fingers)... Then use a combo of a serrated knife and big serving spoon to cut/scrape out every last string I can get to.  In my opinion, it is so worth it to spend a lot of time getting the strings out.  Who wants stringy purée?  Not this girl. And probs not you, either.

6) When you're done, you'll have 4 pumpkin halves, de-seeded and de-stringed.  Cover each pumpkin half with a piece of foil.

7) Bake in oven till tender (check on them like you would a baked potato)... Let them go for at least an hour, mine probably were in there 1 1/2 hours.

8) Let cool for 15 or so minutes.

9) Scrape out pumpkin flesh from the skin.

10) Time to purée: I **tried** first to put my pumpkin chunks into our blender (the awesome KitchenAid one I wrote about a few posts ago), but something just wasn't meshing between the blender and pumpkin... it just didn't work.  SO I changed direction and put the pumpkin in a plastic container that came with our immersion blender, and puréed the chunks until smooth.  This worked out PERFECTLY and if I ever roast pumpkins again, I will skip the big blender altogether and just stick with my immersion/hand/stick blender.

OR, if you have a food processor, obviously that would be a great kitchen tool for processing your pumpkin.

Voila'!  10 Easy Steps to taking a whole pumpkin and ending up with perfect purée!

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Happy Fall to All--- the season of pumpkiny goodness! :)

[extreme] couponing

ever seen the shows on tv with the "extreme couponers"?  these women (and sometimes, men!) who go into stores and buy HUNDREDS of dollars worth of groceries/toiletries/cleaning supplies/you name it... and then walk away with a whopping $5.61 bill (or some ridiculously low number). 

bud and i just caught the end of one of these shows the other day. (on tlc).

my reaction: how do they do it? how can i make that happen?

bud's reaction: these people have a problem! look at their basements! and closets! they have some kind of psychiatric issue! they have a compulsive hoarding disorder!

isn't it fun to watch tv with a doctor? :)

anyway..... as a newlywed single-income couple who's "just trying to make it," i'm alllllllllll about saving money.  however, sometimes i look at these shows or read certain money-saving blogs and i think, i could spend my whole life working on this stuff... do i really have that much time?

maybe couponing is another one of the many things that fit into the "this requires a balanced approach" box.  it seems like one of those situations where you ask yourself, what is more precious... my money?... or my time?  and we all know that either answer could work, depending on the week/month/whatever.

i think, though, that i just need to continue to trust the Lord with my money.  it's fun to cut coupons, read adds, figure out where i can get the best deals, sign up for free product giveaways, etc... but ultimately, if I'm spending more time thinking about saving money than worshiping JESUS--- the giver of our money & resources........ there is a problem.

as with everything in life... i believe couponing is a heart issue.  if my heart is to save money--- great.  if that's all backed up and supported by my continuous motive to trust the Lord-------- great.  but if saving money becomes some kind of performance-based, competitive game that i play with myself..... and spend so much time thinking about it/doing it that it becomes what i think about most... worry about most... WORSHIP..... then i need the truth and grace of my sweet Shepherd to herd me back into reality.

what about you? :)

how do you help yourself/your family save money?  are you a coupon-cutter? :)  know any good/easy/low-commitment websites that have great printable coupons?

do you see your budget as something that could really take control of you--- this whole concept of saving money and budgeting as a heart issue?

feel FREE to leave a comment----- i'd loooove to hear from you!

Groupon Rocks!

a few days ago, i bought my first Groupon! :)

if you know what "Groupon" is, you might think, "What took you so long!?" :)... but just in case you don't know, let me fill you in!

Groupon got its name (i think) from "group" + "coupon."  when enough people buy the "deal of the day," the deal gets "tipped" and you pay only a fraction for something that would cost you a lot more $.  Groupon works with companies & businesses to offer huge discounts to consumers!... so not only do buyers (like me) get a big huge price reduction, BUT the businesses, in return, get tons of new customers!  it's pretty sweet.

i bought a Groupon to an online photo processing company called "mixbook."  my goal is to use our Groupon toward the making of some Christmas cards!

feel free to check out the Groupon deals in your local city (if you don't already).  [i have friends who use Living Social, too].