The Great Pumpkin

Get ready, here come the holidays and nothing says the holidays like pumpkin.

Everyone loves a pumpkin pie. In our house, it was always a tradition that the holidays were never complete without. But....do you know how much more you can do with pumpkin than just bake pies?

Lets start with the basic of all pumpkin recipes. Pumpkin pack, and I'm not talking about that dried up canned stuff you buy in the store that is probably left over from a couple of years ago. I'm talking about the real homemade stuff, and it's a lot easier than you think.

Start with a cooking pumpkin. This is your smaller variety, those ones you carve up into jack-o'-lanterns are too bitter. Cut the pumpkin pole to pole and clean all the seeds and muck out of the middle. Pre-heat the oven to about 450. Place the pumpkins hollow side down in a baking dish and put a little apple juice in the bottom. Bake these for about 30-45 minutes until you can pierce the skin with a knife easily. Let them cool enough to handle them.

After sufficient cooling, you can easily remove the meat from the skin. Place the meat into a stockpot on your stovetop over medium heat and add a little more apple juice to the bottom. You can use water, but apple juice will bring a little more sweetness to the party. Cook the pumpkin until it gets nice and tender. Then...mash it up. I like to use an immersion blender for this, but a good old-fashioned potato masher will work just as well. It doesn't have to be perfectly smooth, I like to leave a few lumps in it just for texture. Season it down with sugar, Cinnamon, Allspice, and Cloves to your taste.

Next. We move to my old stand by. A crock-pot. Place the seasoned pumpkin pack into a crock-pot on low heat and let it cook for 10-12 hours, uncovered. It will reduce down to a thick consistency just like apple butter. As a matter of fact...you can use apples instead of pumpkin and make apple butter, use peaches and make peach butter...this is really versatile. But...that's for another day.