Thanks for listening to my little rant yesterday. I feel better and I'm going to love every minute not trying to make myself something I think others would like.
Growing up, we never carved our pumpkins. We painted them with acrylic paint so it could be washed off and my mom could cook the pumpkins. I picked up a couple of leftover pie pumpkins the other day because, well, we never got around to buying any for Halloween.
In case you ever wanted to know, this is how to bake a pumpkin... or at least how I do it!
First, wash your pumpkin. Then cut it in half with a good sharp knife. I've heard a serrated knife will slip less. I have no idea if that's true or not, but be careful. I actually put an oven mitt on my left hand that was holding the pumpkin as I cut with my right. Scrape out all of the seeds and flesh. A grapefruit spoon, you know the spoon with the little teeth on the end, works great for this. Place the pumpkin cut side down in a baking dish or roasting pan and poke a few holes in the skin with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees until your pumpkin is done. This little pie pumpkin only took 30 minutes. When it's done you'll have soft steamy goodness that can be used where ever you would use can pumpkin. When it comes out of the oven, I flip it over, cut side up and let it cool, then spoon it out of the skin and refrigerate for a couple days or put it in the freezer to keep longer.
