My wife and I have been using butternut squash in place of pumpkin for some time now and it works great. Butternut squash is readily available even when pumpkin is not in the grocery store. We find it has a slightly sweet and creamy texture. To prepare it, we cut the squash lengthwise into quarters, remove the seeds and peel it using a vegetable peeler. Then we cut it into 1 inch squares and place these in our vegetable steamer. It takes 10-15 minutes to get to a fork tender stage. After steaming we push the squash through a sieve to make sure any fibers are broken up. We clean out the sieve and put the puree in the sieve and set it aside allowing the puree to drain. Once the is done, we make pie. If we don't use all of the squash puree for pie, it makes a great side dish for dinner. Thanks so much for sharing this. My mother in law often made squash pies, this brings back memories. ~ MJ

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