Thursday, October 29, 2009

Pumpkin Fun




Last night we had our ritual carving of the pumpkins. Things have certainly changed over the years. Todd and I used to carve triangle eyes and a nose and some sharp teeth and it was great. Now they want complicated things...Drew had a skull, Garrett ended up with a bat, and Grace wanted a puppy. We were short on time (and artistic ability) so she ended up with a scary face. It is always a fun time when we do this, as you can see by the photo that Todd took. For some reason, Drew lost his shirt in the process.

The reason I am posting this hear is because this year, for the first time, I decided to roast the pumpkin seeds. You can find recipes for this anywhere on line, but since you're here right now, I'll tell you what I did.

First, I dug through all the slimy guts and picked out as many seeds as I could. I rinsed them, getting all of the pulp off them. I then put them on a large cookie sheet and let them dry overnight. Today, I tossed them with some olive oil, salt, garlic powder and onion powder. I didn't measure, just threw some in. Any spices could be used here; some cayenne pepper if you are so inclined, or maybe some cumin would be lovely. Put them back on the cookie sheet and bake at 250 degrees for about an hour, stirring every 15-20 minutes. Wa-la. You're done. You are snacking away on the salty goodness. They were nice and crunchy and kind of addictive. I will definitely do that again sometime.

Speaking of pumpkin, I found a recipe for Maple Pumpkin Bread in this month's Vegetarian Times. I love cooking anything with pumpkin, but add some pure maple syrup, and I'm in heaven. I think I will make the bread tomorrow, if I get the time.

GO VEGAN!!

2 comments:

  1. Mmm, maple pumpkin, that sounds good! Bread is usually easy to make, even for me, so I wonder if I should try making that recipe.

    I always loved carving pumpkins as a kid, and still do on the rare occasions I get around to it, because the mushy pumpkin guts were always so much fun to mash my fingers through.

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  2. I still haven't made the bread, but I will today and I'll post the recipe for you. I love carving pumpkins, too!

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