What Do I Do With That Jack-o-Lantern?

I am always sad to see Halloween come and go. No more pumpkins dressing our doorsteps and no more spooky costumes. What am I going to do with that Jack-O-Lantern now that Halloween is over? It is a shame to throw it out and let it go to waste. So you eat it of course! I love all pumpkin things: Pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pancakes. I could go on forever, it seems almost anything can be dressed up with a little pumpkin. So, every year I take my pumpkin and I cook it so I can use it in all these ways. A few of my friends have asked how I do it. So here is my step by step guide on how to cook your pumpkin.

Step #1: Cut the pumpkin into pieces and put into a large pot of boiling water.

Step #2: Let the pumpkin boil until tender. This big pot of pumpkin boiled for about 1 hr. Poke it with a fork to test for tenderness. You should be able to poke through the skin and into the soft meat.

Step #3: Drain the pieces of pumpkin. Press all the water out of the pumpkin with a spoon or a large bowl over top of the strainer. Then, cut the meat from the skin.

Step #4: Let the pumpkin set for a while and cool. Then, drain water from meat again.

Step #5: Store in freezer bag. You can stick this in your fridge if you plan to use it soon, but if not freeze it. Of course, you must drain as much air from the bag as possible. You may blend the pumpkin before, or after you freeze it. I choose to freeze it without blending it, just to save me a step.

THERE YOU HAVE IT! ENJOY!