My Martha street cred

My Martha street cred has gone through the roof.  Seriously. 

Let me explain: my goal is to be like Martha Stewart as much as possible, and when I can't do something just like her, I'll put my own spin on things.  This applies to anything Martha does: homekeeping, crafting, entertaining, gardening, decorating and more.  Now, though, I've truly done it. 

I made homemade pumpkin pie, using puree made from PUMPKINS I GREW IN MY OWN GARDEN. 

Just. like. Martha. Stewart.

I have achieved Martha-ness.  I grew something, harvested it, AND TURNED IT INTO A PIE.  Let me tell you, it feels amazing!  This must be what it feels like to rule the world!

Ahem.  Sorry, I got carried away there.

The great news in all this is that not only have I achieved (if only for a few hours) Martha-ocity, but you can too!  Making pumpkin puree is actually quite easy, and you don't even have to grow your own pumpkins to do it.

I simply followed the directions on Martha's website.  Start with a small sugar or baking pumpkin.  Pierce the pumpkin all the way through with a sharp knife, and bake it for 60-90 minutes at 400F.   Martha's directions state to put the pumpkin in a baking dish along with an inch of water, but my pumpkins were too big for that. I placed them on a foil-lined cookie sheet with a bit of water, and just added more water as necessary.

The pumpkins get nice and soft, and the rind starts to separate itself from the pulp.  Very easy!

When the pumpkins were cool enough to handle, I cut them apart.  Seeds and stringy stuff when into the compost bin, and pulp went into a big bowl.  When I had enough in the bowl, I ran it through the food processor.  Of course, I should have put the pulp right into the food processor and not dirtied up a dish, but I didn't think about that until the process was over.  See what I mean about putting my own spin on things?  That's just how I roll sometimes!

Puree went into quart size freezer bags.  Four pumpkins gave me approximately eights quart bags of pumpkin puree.  The puree from the fully mature pumpkins will need to be squeezed out before I use it, but that can be done easily using a cheesecloth.  Or, I might turn that batch into pumpkin soup.  The rest of the puree will be used for pies, Martha's delicious Pumpkin Donut Muffins, Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing and more.  Yum!

Here's where that amazing "Oh-my-God-I-am-just-like-Martha-Stewart-gaze-upon-my-creation-in-awe!" feeling began to wear off and turn into a "gee-whiz-that-is-a-ridiculous-amount-of-pumpkin-puree-and-I'm-really-tired-I-could-use-a-break" feeling:

Achieving Martha-ness is awesome, but it sure does make a mess.  Next step: acquire Martha Stewart's staff of 40 to start cleaning up after me.  And then the student will truly become the master. 

A girl can dream, right?