I wouldn't consider trying to eat one of the modern jack-o-lantern pumpkins. They're tasteless pulp. When I was a kid we could eat the jack-o-lantern, and typically did, because it was a different type of pumpkin. (They were also very hard to carve because the flesh was so firm). It was kept in the fridge and cut up and cooked when needed, or cooked and frozen, ending in a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. We get a brownish pie pumpkin here also, probably come from Maryland (!).

I steam my pumpkin then peel it. I don't steam it for so long that it's mushy. Cut into inch or so square cubes it doesn't take long to steam. Baking sounds very good, though. I also freeze it.

I have a wonderful pumpkin bread recipe--it's in the Joy of Cooking. I remember a fancy pumpkin pie recipe that calls for slicing and layering about a 1/4 inch of Philadephia cream cheese in the bottom of the uncooked crust before filling it with the pumpkin filling.

I've subverted the craving for pumpkin pie by pulling out a little Banquet Chicken Pot Pie for lunch. I'll get a little crust and fewer calories than as much pumpkin pie as I'd be likely to consume.

SRS