The Great Pumpkin Challenge

The benefits of pumpkin to your diet are obvious by its bright orange color which is an indicator of a food rich in beta-carotene which is a very important antioxidant. Beta-Carotene coverts to vitamin A in your body which may prevent certain types of cancer and heart disease.

Here is the breakdown:


Pumpkin Nutrition Facts
(1 cup cooked, boiled, drained, without salt)

Calories 49 Protein 2 grams Carbohydrate 12 grams Dietary Fiber 3 grams Calcium 37 mg Iron 1.4 mg Magnesium 22 mg Potassium 564 mg

Zinc 1 mg Selenium .50 mg Vitamin C 12 mg Niacin 1 mg Folate 21 mcg Vitamin A 2650 IU Vitamin E 3 mg

So you may ask why make home made puree. The first reason is also evident in its bright orange color. Home made puree is loaded with this powerful antioxidant. Also once you have tasted home made puree you will never go back to canned. It has a rich much deeper pumpkiny flavor then the canned does. Also it is way cheaper.

You also might object with, there is no way that I can use that much pumpkin puree. One average sugar pie pumpkin yields about 5 to 6 cups of puree and the ways that you can cook with that are really limitless. So what I am going to do is to challenge you, dear readers, to puree a pumpkin tonight and I will post one recipe per day between now and Thanksgiving. I guarantee that your kids will be delighted with all this pumkiny goodness and you will use up your puree before I exhaust my supply of recipes. Please comment if you accept my challenge.

How to Puree a Pumpkin:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Choose one Sugar Pie Pumpkin (usually available at any grocery store this time of year)
Cut off the stem and the bottom of your pumpkin
Halve pumpkin
Scoop out seeds (can be roasted and salted later)
Place pumpkin halves in a 9 x13 cut side down in about an inch of water
Place in preheated oven and roast for about an hour or until soft
Take halves our of the water and let cool
Peel skin off (this should just peel away easily with your fingers or a pairing knife)
Puree meat in a food processor or blender
Then I like to measure out the puree into zip lock bags. One bag with two cups (hint pie) and the rest with  one cup, then freeze or refrigerate until you are ready to use.