Processing a massive pumpkin and shrimp dinner

After our hike yesterday, we did a lot of grocery shopping and chores and prep. One thing we had been meaning to do for a long time was roast this 20+ pound pumpkin Chris had bought some weeks ago.

Turned out well for not as much work as I had anticipated!

First we roasted the seeds. I scooped them out of the pumpkin, cleaned them off a little bit, tossed them in a drizzle of olive oil, black pepper, and garlic powder and then I spread them out on parchment paper on a roasting sheet for ~15 minutes at 325°:

Then we cut the gigantic pumpkin in half and alternately roasted each have for between one and two hours (one half was much smaller than the other) at 365°:

 

I then cut the skin off - instead of trying to flip it over and scoop out the insides like I do with other squashes. This thing was massive.

The one pictured got a little overcooked, the other half was firmer and not as shriveled, which made it easier to cut the skin off. Got to keep on eye on what you are roasting!

 

I cut it up into manageable pieces and drained it a little (I think because we had a monster pumpkin, it was a little absurdly high in water content). Then threw the pieces into the food processor to make a puree.

 

I ended up with well over 10 pounds of pumpkin puree!! And it tasted really good - better than the organic canned pumpkin I've been buying (on sale at the co-op). I didn't add anything to the puree, so that we can use it either sweet or savory in the future.

 

I already made my flax milk/banana/pumpkin smoothie with it and it turned out GREAT. The fresh pumpkin flavor is really noticeable.

So Chris bought this pumpkin for $6 and we got a tupperware filled with tasty roasted pumpkin seeds and over 10 pounds of pumpkin puree (and the cans I buy are over a $1 a can for less than a pound of pumpkin puree.. so we totally SAVED money by buying and processing this pumpkin!).

We had a fun day in the kitchen - we also made a quinoa pasta dish, tossed with butter garlic shrimp, sausage, tomatoes and basil. A real restaurant type treat! I was surprised at how well the shrimp came out as it was my first time ever cooking shrimp.

Here's the cooking story in pictures (no recipe with this one, just looked up how to cook shrimp and added tasty things to the pasta for an Italian type flavor profile):

We did a lot of other things (things NOT involving food, haha) on our day off - house repairs, cleaning, playing with the dog and cat, I even took a luxurious bubble bath with a good book) and I am much refreshed!

Namaste <3