How to Prepare a Fresh Pumpkin

I don’t know very many people who actually know how to prepare a fresh pumpkin, and this is only my second time.  I thought you might like instructions, along with pictures.  Just in time for the holidays!  It does take some time, but it’s not terrible, and it’s really fun if you do it with kids.  Here we go!

First, using a sharp knife, cut a circle around the stem and remove it.  Then stick your hand in and pull out all the slimy pulp!  (Gabriel LOVED this part!)

When you’ve gotten all the seeds, and slimy pulp out of the pumpkin, you can wash the seeds off in a colander and then spread them out on a pan for roasting!  We put a little sea salt on ours, and then put them in the oven at 325 degrees for 7 minutes, stirred them around and put them in for 10 more minutes.  They were yummy!

Next, cut the pumpkin into chunks, put it in a baking pan skin side up with about 1 inch of water, and cover it.  Bake it at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. (Another recipe I found said to cut the pumpkin in half and bake at 450 for 45 min.)

After the pumpkin is done baking, take it out of the pan to cool.  After it is cooled, peel the skin off and cut the pumpkin into chunks.  You can either mash up the pumpkin, or puree it in your food processor.  I mashed it up.

We made VERY YUMMY Harvest Pumpkin Bronwnies with cream cheese frosting.  I substitute organice ingredients whenever I can, so our Pumpkin Bronwnies were actually organic.  Here’s the finaly product: