Freezing Pumpkin Puree

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**This post has been entered in Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as MOM!**

I decided that this year, I wanted to make my own pumpkin puree.  I usually buy a can or two each winter to make pumpkin bread, but of course there are issues with BPA in the can liners.  Making my own seemed to be the best solution!

I bought some nice pie pumpkins at a local farm last week when I went apple picking.  Making puree (while I was also working on my applesauce!) was very simple.

First, I cut the tops out of the pumpkins and sliced them in half.  Then I removed the seeds and pulp:

I saved the seeds from this, too.  I’ll talk about those in another post.

The pumpkins were baked, cut side down on baking sheets for about an hour at 350. 

Below is them after they were baked.  I probably left them a bit too long because there were some burned parts around the edges when I was finished.  Oh well.

Then I scooped out the pumpkin puree into a bowl, mashing it just slightly (it was already very soft and the water had been released during baking).  I put 1-cup portions into freezer bags to use later for bread.  Very simple!

I also happened to have 6 sweet potatoes, which we don’t really like to eat.  I went ahead and washed them, poked holes in them, and baked them at 350 for about an hour and treated them the same as the pumpkins — scooping the puree and freezing in 1-cup portions.  I can now make bread out of either sweet potatoes or pumpkins, which will be wonderful this fall!

How do you use pumpkins and sweet potatoes?