How To Make Your Own Pumpkin Puree

Stop buying pumpkin puree from the store!  Instead, pick up couple of small pie pumpkins and get crockin'!!!!!!!  I bought 2 small pie pumpkins from the Farmer's Market for $3.00.  I made approximately 6-8 cans worth of puree!  Holy Cow!!!  And let me tell you, it wasn't hard!  Want to know how I did it?  Keep reading!

Servings: Makes approximately 6-8 cans of pumpkin puree

Ingredients:

2 pie pumpkins

water

Directions: (Use a 5 quart or larger slow cooker for this)

Wash your pumpkins and cut off any blemishes.

Cut the stem off and either scrape the seeds out, or cut it in half and then remove the seeds.

Cut up your pumpkin, skins on and everything and put the pieces into the slow cooker.

Cook your pumpkin on LOW for 6-8 hours or on HIGH for 3-4 hours.

I tried this a couple ways from here.  I tried pureeing it with the skin on.  I couldn't get it smooth enough, but I was using a little food processor.  If you have a good one, give it a try.  It keeps all those important nutrients in there!  If not, do like I ended up doing....let the pumpkin cool.  Once it's cool, use a spoon and gently scrape the pumpkin from the skin!  It will come off like BUTTER!  

Put it into a food processor or blender with enough water to make it move.

Put it into freezer bags according to how much pumpkin you typically use at a time.  I did approximately 1 cup baggies.

Freeze them until you're ready to use them.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Chili - Gluten-Free

Wow!!!  Every now and then I have a crazy amazing idea.....not all of them work (if you've been following me on FB, you know I've recently had two non-successful crazy ideas!)  You win some, you lose some.  THIS was definitely a WIN!

Not only is everything in this chili good for you, but it's also super easy to throw together and INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS!  This was a serious HIT in my house!  Ella, my 5 year old, had 3 helpings of this!  3!!!!!  What?!  Home run for mom!!!  My husband thought it was fantastic, and Gavin, well he eats whatever I put in front of him!  LOL

You know what really makes the difference in this chili?  The fresh tomatoes!!!!  My mother-in law gave me tons from her garden and this was a great way to use them!  Hit up your local farmers market if you don't have any of your own!  It's amazing what a home-grown tomato can do for a recipe!

Tis the season for pumpkin, so grab your homemade pumpkin puree, or a can and get cookin'!  You will LOVE this chili!  And you'll love yourself afterward too because it's NO GUILT chili!  Nothing bad for you here, folks!  ENJOY!

Servings: 8-10

Ingredients:

16 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 large onion, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1 lb. ground turkey

15 oz. can pumpkin puree

4 cups fresh chopped tomatoes

3 Tbps. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. Ancho Chili Powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cumin

1/4 tsp. pepper

4 beef stock cubes (I used Massel)

5 cups water

(If you can't find beef stock cubes, use beef bouillon cubes, or beef stock instead)

Directions:

In the bottom of your crock, place the beans, onion and green pepper, and chopped tomatoes.

Crumble the uncooked ground turkey on top and add in the pumpkin puree.

Add in the garlic powder, ancho chili powder, salt, cumin, pepper and beef stock cubes.

Pour the water on top

Give it a stir.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours, or on HIGH for 3.5-4 hours.

Enjoy!