Roasted Pumpkin

It's pumpkin season and after roasting the largest pumpkin that would fit in my oven I'm ready to make as many pumpkin recipes as I want.

I would totally recommend everyone who is planning on making a few pumpkin recipes this season to do this. Roasting your own pumpkin instead of using the canned stuff just brings your recipes to the next level. It's pretty easy to do just takes a bit of time and then you can make pumpkin muffins, bars, cookies, anything and everything you want. Pumpkin is also a great addition to your vegan recipes, as a binder instead of eggs.

Roasted Pumpkin
prep time: 10 minutes
cook time: 40 minutes
oven temp: 400 degrees
yield: varies (depends on size of pumpkin)

1 pumpkin
olive oil


Make sure you wash your pumpkin before beginning. If you're working with a small pumpkin (which i was not) just go ahead and cut the pumpkin in half. across the middle. If not just cut into manageable size pieces. Scoop out all the seeds and insides. (Rinse the seeds and roast the seeds for a great snack.)You want to take the stem off completely before roasting.

 Place skin side up on your baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil. Place into your 400 degree oven for 40 minutes. Once finished in the oven you want to take out and let the pumpkin cool before handling. The skin will just peal off, and can be thrown away. Using a Cuisinart pulse the pumpkin into a puree. The one thing that you should do is remove some of the water that will pool at the top of the pumpkin puree. The easiest way to do this is to place in a container and use paper towels. Just gently push the paper towels onto the top of the puree and you will see the paper towels start to absorb the excess water. You can use the pumpkin right away in another recipe or place in Tupperware and store in the freezer.

Pumpkin is also great for dogs and mine loves it. I'm thinking I'll be making some pumpkin dog treats later this week!