Pumpkin, Part 1

Over the weekend I babysat some wonderful little girls, and we carved pumpkins.  Those of you who know me, know that pumpkins are one of my favorite parts about this time of year.  I love gutting, carving, and cooking pumpkins.  Pies, breads, cakes...pumpkin anything, but today I was working with seeds.  Roast pumpkin seeds are absolutely amazing! 

Not only is it fun to gut the pumpkin and separate the seeds from the goop, but cooking and eating those seeds is wonderful too. 

Since I don't have too much to say on the topic to convince you of how great they are, I'm just going to keep this entry short and leave you with a simple recipe so you can try them yourself!

You Need:
1or more pumpkins to remove the seeds from.
Cookie sheets
Veggie oil or butter
Salt

Start by removing the goop from the pumpkin, and remove the seeds from the goop.

Wash the seeds under warm water until all of them are goop free and sparkly clean.

Dry seeds and spread in a thin layer on a cookie sheet.  Use cooking spray or tin foil to keep the seeds from sticking.

Sprinkle about one to two teaspoons of veggie oil or melted butter evenly over the seeds.

Sprinkle on salt as desired.

Bake in oven at about 300* for 20 minutes.  Pull out and stir seeds, then bake another 20 minutes or until seeds are browned.

Let seeds cool, and soak up excess oil if desired.  Add salt if desired.

Then, eat! 

I am going to experiment with other "flavors" with my next batch.  My husband suggested garlic pumpkin seeds, or honey roasted.  I'll have to try a few different styles.  Experiment!  Yay!

So, I hope you will give this recipe a try, and enjoy your pumpkin seeds.
Its quite likely that several more blog posts before Thanksgiving will contain recipes, so keep your eyes peeled if you enjoyed this one.  <3