Or: How to Spend Your Entire Sunday.
When your four year old suggests cutting up “her” pumpkin to make a pumpkin dessert, be advised this will be a marathon undertaking, and you may want to rethink a blythe “that sounds like a fun idea!” response.
Step one: Heft the weighty pumpkin up to the house, stopping once or twice to catch your breath, staggering and deftly avoiding stepping on any dogs or small children who are oblivious to your Herculean efforts.
Step two: After cutting said pumpkin in half, with gigantic vegetable knife, demonstrate how to remove pumpkin guts.
Step three: Finish task yourself when children wander off halfway through.
Step four: Muscle pumpkin into the oven and bake at about 350 for an hour and a half, more or less.
Step Five: Carefully wield pumpkin over to the sink, not spilling a drop of the pumpkin juice that appears during baking process.
Step Six: Let it cool, while saying “when it’s cool” to eager helpers who ask every 30 seconds when you’ll cut up pumpkin.
Step Seven: Cut into chunks, peel, and drop into food processor.
Step Eight: After first few batches, make pumpkin mousse and let children lick the spoon.
Step Nine: Sigh at the prospect of doing the rest of this half, plus the other half that is now baking in the oven.
Step Ten: Cheer yourself with thoughts of pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread, pumpkin desserts, pumpkin pies and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Step Eleven: Take the first two buckets of pumpkin guts out to the chickens, who are delighted with their treat.
Step Twelve: While you’re out there, collect eggs.
Step Thirteen: Finish project at 9 o’clock at night.
Step Fourteen: Talk your husband into carrying it downstairs to the deep freeze.
Step Fifteen: Fall into bed weary and happy and dreaming of pumpkin treats.
Super easy and delicious pumpkin mousse: 4 c pumpkin, 1 container whipped topping, 1 small packet of vanilla pudding. Mix, refrigerate until thicker. Super tasty with something like grahams, ginger snaps or nilla wafers
WOW! That looks like a TON of work, but great memories and results for your family. Nicely done!!
I would not have had one idea in the world on how to do what you just did. You’re amazing – and it looks delish!
That’s awesome! It all sounds delish. I want a gigantic pumpkin now.
And that is why I don’t do homemade pumpkin. Actually I just don’t do pumpkin period, except of course for fun pictures of little girls digging out the gooey insides.
WOW – that looks like so much fun – but I don’t know if my kids would eat this!!
That is a huge pumpkin. I am going to make a homemade pumpkin pie this weekend BUT my pumpkin is much much much smaller.
i NEVER do the pumpkin work! i usually get the cans…i know, i know.
i love the chickens!
i would have totally made jim take it to the basement for me!
Megan
I think… I’ll pass and just continue to buy mine at the store but I wouldn’t a huge pumpkin for a huge jack-o-lantern.
Wow…you are good!
That pumpkin was enormous.
I’ve never done homemade pumpkin before, but I think I’d like to try, maybe on a smaller scale;)
Do you think a blender would work if you don’t have a food processor???
The pumpkin endeavor looks fun, but I’m not a big fan of pumpkin dishes.. I did the daybook thingy if you want to check it out.
Muscle it in is right! That is an enormous and yet nice and circular pumpkin. Here, when they manage to grow that big they get all squishy and fat at the bottom.
The mousse sounds yummy, and the pics of your daughters are darling. Life on the farm looks so idyllic.
By the way, the haircut from a few postings back looks SUPERFAB!
Yum!!!
Wow that’s a big pumpkin 🙂
Looks like what we do here! I never buy canned pumpkin, when one good one can give you so much scrumptious pulp for pie, rolls, cookies….whatever.
We don’t do “jack-o-lanterns” because I feel like it’s so wasteful. And we just don’t do Halloween altogether!