I also live in a dry area, and last weekend for the first time I made pumpkin puree because I couldn't bear the thought of wasting all the stuff around the seeds I had grown pumpkins for! I used my counter-top roaster with water, set it to 250 and it took almost 2 hours to cook a pretty good sized pumpkin cut into 4-5" chunks. Meanwhile I soaked my seeds in a brine overnight then roasted - yum! Now I am trying to find a good pumpkin cookie recipe, and a good pumpkin yeast bread recipe - preferably one that will work in my bread machine (Zoji). Tried a Harvest Bread recipe which was okay but not as savory as I wanted. Suggestions welcome! Pumpkin yeast bread: you might try our Cranberry-Pumpkin Rolls, cut back by 1/3 to fit in the Zo. Not sure how it will work, but it's a start. And how about these Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies? Enjoy - PJH

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