Home Cooked Pumpkin Puree

Home cooking your pumpkin at home can be a great alternative to buying canned pumpkin from the grocery store.  It can be substituted in any recipe calling for canned pumpkin, and gives recipes a fresher taste.  Its all a matter of opinion, but I think home cooked pumpkin makes everything taste better!  You can freeze the puree and store it for use later also, and its super easy.  

Ingredients:

Sugar pumpkins (2 sugar pumpkins generally fit on a cookie sheet once cut in halves)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2. Cut the pumpkin in half, stem to base. Remove seeds and pulp. Place face down on a roasting pan.  Fill pan with a small layer of water.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 1 hour, or until tender.
4. Scrape pumpkin meat from shell halves and puree in a blender. Strain to remove any remaining stringy pieces. Store in the freezer in freezer safe bags if desired.