Need Help with Pumpkin Pie

[SimplyRawesome]

Help! I started reading through all the posts containingn "pumpkin" but I'm afraid that with Thanksgiving approaching at lightning speed, my older son home and all of us headed to the mountains on Wednesday (6 hour drive) Thanksgiving will be here before I get my answer!

I got as far as slicing open my pumpkin and I don't know what to do from here!
1) What part of the pumpkin do I use for the pie? (Can you tell I've only used canned pumpkin in the past!) ;)

2) How do I go about removing it???

3) I'd like to save the seeds; do I have to do anything to prepare them or just let them sit out and dry?

Thanks a million!!!! :)

[Rawkinlocs]

I "think" you're supposed to get the "guts" (the seeds and slimey stuff) out and then as far as getting the pumpkin flesh out, don't know because I've never done it before (always do sweet potato pie, not pumpkin).

The seeds, not sure but I think when my mom used to roast the pumpkin seeds, she'd rinse all the slimy stuff off and then spread them out on a cookie sheet (not sure if it was lined with paper towel or anything) to dry out before salting and roasting them.

Sorry I wasn't of much help

[SimplyRawesome]

Thanks Rawkinlocs, it's more than I knew. I'm wondering if dehydrating the seeds would be better than roasting ... or if I should just let them air dry??

[flutterfly]

When I make my pumpkin pies I just juice sweet potatoes and carrots and use the pulp. That way you have no waste and the pie turn out perfect. Drink the juice and you have a double healthy treat. ;)

[SimplyRawesome]

Great idea flutterly! I'll definitely do that next time. In the meantime, I have this ominous pumpkin sitting on my counter! LOL.

[Sharon in Colorado]

You can dehydrate the seeds plain or seasoned with sea salt or nama shoyu.

Discard the stringy stuff, and the peel the outer skin so you can grate or slice up the flesh.

Hope that helps!

[Allison]

Hi! We made the pumpkin pie a couple of weeks ago. I got it cut open and then scraped all of the seeds and stringy stuff out. But getting the flesh out was hard! I used a spoon and dug out as much as I could get. One pumpkin ended up being just under the amount I actually needed. I'm sure if I had any feeling left in my fingers from pushing the spoon so hard, I could have gotten more out. But as it was, I just put a sweet potato through the Champion with the blank plate on and added that to the pumpkin to have enough. I tried peeling the pumpkin as someone else suggested, but that did not work for me at all.

As far as the seeds go, you can always add sea salt or spices (like garlic powder or chili powder) to them. We love them like that. I would dehydrate them.

Allison

[Sharon in Colorado]

I'm sorry. It is easier to peel a butternut squash. You'd have to actually cut the skin off of the pumpkin.

[SimplyRawesome]

OKAY! Well ... sounds like I'll have to involve my two strapping teen-age sons in this venture! ;) Hmmm... thanks so much for all your input. I guess I'd better get busy!

Thanks again everyone! :)