Tasty Tuesday

I haven't posted a Tasty Tuesday in awhile. I've been so busy I've been neglecting  my poor blog.

I had bought 3 pumpkins for Halloween 1 Jack-O-Lantern and 2 pie pumpkins. I let the kids paint the pie pumpkins. Last year I didn't know what to do with the pumpkins after Halloween so I just threw them away.

This year I decided to try making something with them. I HATE to waste anything so I figured I'd give it a try. I havent done anything w/ the Jack-O-Lantern yet but I got online and figured out how to cook up the pie pumpkins.

Now, something you all should know, I am a terrible baker! I can cook almost anything but when it comes to baking, I burn brownies out of the box. I just can't do it.

In this post I'll show you how to cook the pumpkin to get it ready to use in any recipe and then I'll give you the recipe for the pumpkin roll I made last night. I'm making a pumking pie tonight, then pumpkin bread, then pumpkin cake...Lets just say we'll be tired of eating pumpkin by the end of the week! But I will have good recipes for a months worth of Tasty Tuesdays!

So I took pictures of each step to show you exactly how it looks. I'm a picture kind of person. It's easier to understand if there's pics :)

Cooking the pumpkin:

I used Gages pumpkin first. Don't mind the marks all over it! He colored it :)

First you cut the top off the pumpkin, cut in in half and pull out all the gunk. (Save the seeds, I have directions on how to roast them. email me if you want it)

I took a little bit of butter and rubbed on the inside.

I couldn't tell you if it made a difference though.

 I wasn't able to tell.

This is what it looked like when it came out of the oven:

Place the pumpkin halves skin side up in a pan with about a half

inch of water in the bottom. (So the pumpkin stays moist and doesn't burn)

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until you can pierce the skin with a fork.

Let the pumpkin halves cool a bit and scoop out the middle with

a spoon or an ice cream scoop.

Puree it in a blender. Mine is broke so I had to use a mixer. It looked a little thicker but it turned out fine.

(this would make a great baby food by the way!)

You can either refrigerate or freeze the pumpkin puree until you're ready to

use it.

Pumpkin Roll recipe:

3 eggs

2/3 cups pumpkin

1 cup sugar

1tsp. cinnamon

3/4 cups plain flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 cup nuts (I used pecans)

1 (8oz) cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1T. vanilla

2T. butter

Mix eggs, sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon, flour, and baking soda together.

Put dough mix in a pan (I used a baking sheet)

Chop up the nuts and sprinkle them on top of the dough.

Bake at 350 degrees about 12 to 15 minutes. When it comes out it'll look like this:

After it's out of the oven, flip it out of the pan onto a dish towel that is sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Roll up and cool for 2 hours.

Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter. Unroll bread,spread the cheese mixture on the bread. I sprinkled a little powdered sugar on top just to make it pretty. It wasn't in the recipe!

Roll back up. Cover with foil and refrigerate.

As bad as I am at baking I thought this would be a disaster. I thought it would be hard to make but it was so simple. Cooking the pumpkin was the hardest part. Honestly, if I can make this, anyone can. I was suprised at how yummy it was! I've had it before but I knew I'd mess something up. It turned out perfect! I'm kinda proud of myself :)