A Lovely Pumpkin

This year my mom had a beautiful pumpkin for Halloween.  We decided  to draw a face instead of carving a traditional jack-o-lantern, so it was still intact on November 11, a week and a half after the holiday.   The pumpkin's hour had come!  It went home with me to be cooked.

I was happy to discover when I cut into Sir Pumpkin (longitudinally, around its equator) that it was as lovely inside as out.  About half the seeds were large and mature and the other half not even begun to set.  It smelled sweet and fresh.  

I baked the two halves of the pumpkin on cookie sheets at 350 Fahrenheit for 45 minutes then turned off the oven and left the it alone for another hour while it cooled enough handle.  It was easy to spoon out the cooked squash.  I pureed the squash in the food processor before setting it to drain in a colander over night.  

The next day I made a lovely dairy free pumpkin pie to share with my mom.  Yum!