Two Little Pumpkins

After reading The Pioneer Woman's entry on roasting your own pumpkins, I was intrigued. She made it look easy and it sounded like a good activity for a crisp fall day. Today was the day. I had the pumpkins, so I went to work.
After realizing that I would need my biggest knife and a mallet, I headed outside to take my pumpkins apart. The boys were asleep and banging with mallet inside just didn't sound like a good idea!
I cut off the top and quartered my "pie" pumpkins and cleaned out the goo. That's the fun part...there's just something satisfying about playing in pumpkin guts! I saved all the seeds to roast later (a nice benefit to roasting your own pumpkin).
After baking them at 350 for 50 minutes, I let them cool for a while, peeled off the skin, and gave them a whir in the food processor a few chunks at a time. Some I will set aside for pumpkin waffles for this weekend and pumpkin granola. The rest I plan on freezing in one-cup portions for later cravings.
Was it worth it? Well, I've not actually eaten any yet, so I'll have to wait and see. Otherwise, it wasn't difficult, but it did take a little time and a little bit of a bicep workout. Altogether, it was a fun afternoon project. I'm sure I'll enjoy the pumpkin waffles even more!
If you'd like see the original post and the nuances to making your own pumpkin puree, as well as how to roast those seeds, visit
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/10/make-your-own-pumpkin-puree/