Pumpkin Shortage?

I never knew.
I came across a link to this article on another blog site not too long ago (sorry, I can't remember which blog it was since it's not one I usually read).  She was ecstatic because a couple of people she knew had managed to track down some canned pumpkin for her to use in a recipe.
In fact, according to this article, the shortage may extend to this year's supply of canned pumpkin as well.
I didn't know there was a shortage because I made my own pumpkin puree last year. I had more than enough pumpkin for anything I wanted to make.
As far as this year goes, well, I doubt very seriously there will be a shortage at my house.
You see, I went and bought a few pumpkins a couple of weeks ago. 

There are six pumpkins here - one is peeking out from around

the side of the box and one is still in it. I just wanted to show

the range of sizes and added the apple for comparison.

But, I didn't think that would be enough. I had five last year and they were a little bigger than these. Add to that the fact that I wanted to try 2 or 3 new pumpkin recipes this year (and will make them again if I like them) and I decided that I would need a couple more.

So.....I sent my hubby pumpkin shopping.  Actually, he was going to visit his cousin and would pass right by the stand I bought my pumpkins from last year so I thought it would just be easiest for him to stop in and get a couple more. He ended up going to a different stand and I got a call from him asking about the pumpkins I wanted. He couldn't remember what type I used, and the lady there had three varieties she said were for cooking.

He was trying to describe the varieties there.  

I was trying to describe the ones I usually use.

It all ended in more than a little confusion, with me telling him that it was okay for him to get one of the "mammoth" pumpkins to try out, but PLEASE get two of the dull orange ones since his description sounded like the ones I usually buy.

Oh my...

This is the mammoth pumpkin. 

 I've never known anyone to use a bright orange pumpkin

for cooking. Usually they use dull ones, or types that are

unusually colored.  This one is smooth, and it is large, but...

this one is huge!

This is one of the two dull colored  pumpkins he bought

The other one is smaller, but still much bigger than the others.

See?  No shortage of pumpkin here.

Now compare one of last year's biggest pumpkins with

the one my hubby just brought home.

This one doesn't look all that large, but remember, my sink

is pretty big. Here's the one Ri is holding in the other picture:

It took me forever to hack that thing apart.

I began work on the pumpkins yesterday. I cut up and started cooking three of the ones I bought and was going to work on some of the others while the first batch was cooking.  My hand was so tired after cutting up the large one that I decided the others would wait for Saturday - at least - they may not all be done 'til Monday.

It looks as though I'll need to find a bunch of new, exciting, and hopefully tasty pumpkin recipes to try out.

If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.