No, I do not know why there were post-its in the bathroom.

A note to myself: to be read Fall of 2009

Look, I know how wholesome and lovely the pumpkins look. How they fill your head with thoughts of warm cooking smells, nutmeg-scented goodness, and hearty stews. I know real cooks are always talking about how EASY it is to make your own pumpkin puree, how SIMPLE and FABULOUS it is and how much BETTER it tastes and how it will make you TALLER and possibly clean your kitchen baseboards, which we all know are the worst baseboards in the house, except possibly the ones in the boys' bathroom. Ew. 


And maybe not those last two things, either.

It's just not a good idea. It never ends well. You have to let the pumpkins go. As Clay rightly points out, the cans of pumpkin are something like a buck fifty. And you might have noticed that opening a can of pumpkin puree has never left your kitchen counters littered with tiny shreds of pumpkin rind, nor a bowl of slimy seeds and pumpkin guts (because GOD FORBID you fail to roast the seeds, what are you, a FALL HATING COMMUNIST?). Canned pumpkin has never consumed an entire afternoon, leaving you with a sink full of dishes and pumpkin strings in your hair. 

Look, remember the butternut squash? Remember how you would fall in love with it every year, just as the leaves started to turn? You can't really be blamed, entirely. All the cooking magazines and blogs you read are FILLED with impassioned odes to the wonders of the butternut squash, every autumn. Plus recipes. And you would rush ahead, stars in your eyes, to serve your loving family something wonderful of the butternut squash variety. Soups! Roasted squash with pasta! Stews! It didn't matter, they hated it all. You're not stupid. After enough quiet meals, where everyone pushed their food around on their plates, and made awkward, attempt-at-polite comments (for example, in Max's case, "If I have to eat this I will THROW UP RIGHT NOW, AND I MEAN IT."), you learned. You gave up on the mighty butternut. Except for the rolls. And the pie. And everyone likes the pie and they can just deal with the rolls, because you like them THAT MUCH.

My point is that you can learn from your mistakes, and it's time to learn from this one. I don't care if you do have three little pumpkins from the field trip to the farm last week. Make your children use them for the lamest little jack-o-lanterns ever. You, my dear, are DONE WITH THE PUMPKIN. Embrace the can.

Aw....shoot. Maybe just ONE more time...

Comments

Amma D

I EMBRACE THE CAN!!! My epiphany was the year my sister-in-law, Lavern, who is one of those women-who-make-cooking-look-easy said "Just cook the pumpkin and throw it in the blender, and you have pumpkin all ready for a pie." So I cooked it for - oh, seventy hours, and threw it in the blender, and somewhere in there, the blender lid went astray, and the kitchen cupboards, walls and floor were clothed in pumpkin. And I realized - Hey!! That had never happened with a can! I dearly love Lavern, (even though she led me astray) and I dearly love the can.

Groovecatmom

Just yesterday I had a similar epiphany about butternut squash. I looked at all the recipes and realized, none of them sound that good to me, except maybe the rolls and pie. And shoot, you can use a can for them. If I am being totally honest, I do not like butternut squash soup. I eat it because I thought I was supposed to like it, because it had culinary cash-ay, and blah blah blah. I am not going to make Hungry Girl's butternut squash fries. I want my children to think I'm a culinary rock star, so I will make them rolls and pie.

And I hate slimy pumpkin guts. No pumpkin guts from a can! Plus you can recycle it.

Christine

Ewwww, slimy pumpkin guts... nastiness that clings to your arms and dries with such quickness that you're forced to chissel it off. Who's gonna miss THAT?

I too have a love-hate relationship with the butternut. Love the taste (in most things) HATE to cut/peel/dice it. I am intrigued by the rolls however... do share! KS has these awesomely overpriced little packages of already cut and cleaned BN squash and while I won't dole out that much $$ to just toss them in a soup, if they turn into BREAD... I'm in.

Ray

Oh, pumpkins and butternut squash are so beautiful! And as long as I don't have to clean up the kitchen, I LOVE to mess with them (I like slimy pumpkin guts). Alas, my kitchen doesn't clean itself.

I am thankful for the can.

Karate Mom

I'm all about the can! Because, as cute as those pumpkins were on Pioneer Woman's site, and as easy as she makes it sound, there are just some things that I have to lay aside. And I think pumpkin puree is one of those things!

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