There is nothing like this season to bring out the childhood nostalgia in us all. We spent the weekend carving our pumpkins and roasting pumpkin seeds, and preparing for Halloween to be here.
I remember the excitement of dressing up, gathering with friends and going door-to-door with our bags, trying to collect as much good candy as we could. This year I have a Power Ranger, Princess Belle and a little lion, and as much as wanted to sneak in a family theme, it is so fun seeing how excited they are to put on the little outfits they selected.
We were so excited to carve pumpkins with the kids, as you can see they were not fans of the “cleaning” the pumpkin stage, but loved picked out the faces for “their” pumpkins! But, my favorite tradition these days is bringing back the Roasted Pumpkin Seeds. Just tasting them brings me back to my Mom’s kitchen when I was young, and it was fun seeing the kids taste them too (although, not fans ….).
ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS
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pumpkin seeds, fresh from 1 large pumpkin
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2 TBSP olive oil
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sea salt or seasoning salt
Separate as many pumpkin seeds as you can pull from your fresh pumpkin, trying to get out as much of the pumpkin goo and strings. Preheat your over to 350 degrees. Wash all in cold water in a colander and stir around to remove any further pumpkin pieces. Line a cookie sheet with layers of paper towels and spread the pumpkin seeds across them, pat with paper or dish towel to dry off as much water as possible. Pour seeds into a mixing bowl, combine with olive oil and mix around until coated. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and spread your seeds across in a thin layer, they will bake to be perfectly crispy if you don’t try to cram too many together on one sheet in a pile. Sprinkle liberally with sea salt or seasoning salt. Bake on center rack at 350 degrees, stirring + tossing every 10 minutes to cook evenly until the seeds just start to turn a light hint of brown. You can check their readiness as you go, they should be crispy and crunchy, and delicious. Enjoy!
If you’ve never tried them, they’re super easy and tasty – the hardest part is actually separating them from the pumpkin goo. Hope you’ll give it a try, love to see how your seeds turned out #HEIRLOOMED.
