We’re getting ready to carve our pumpkins for Halloween. All that wonderful gooey stuff in the middle. As Garfield says “It looks of the lasagna persuasion!”. I don’t think I’ll try and turn this into lasagna. If any one has a pumpkin seed lasagna recipe, give it up! 

This is an easy snack made out of something everyone throws away. I went to the store to see how much pumpkin seeds cost. $3.95 a pound! And that’s without any flavoring. Just plain old blah pumpkin seeds. Let’s have some fun with our “pumpkin innards”, shall we?

You’ve already paid for your jack-o-lantern, so save the 4 bucks and make your own roasted seeds.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

It’s pretty easy to do. Get all the stringy stuff off your seeds. You can pull most of it off by hand and wash the rest off in the sink. Get your seeds white and clean and place them on a paper towels to dry off.

You will also need:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Two tablespoons of a gluten free seasoning*

Now, on with the toasting

Place the pumpkin seeds in a large zip type bag. Pour in the olive oil and one tablespoon of the seasoning. Mush and mix together. Pour the seeds out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir to coat. Bake for about 7-10 minutes, until light brown and crispy.

The important word being CRISPY! You don’t want limp seeds. Yuck!

I tried five different seasoning blends. I used an Italian blend with Parmesan cheese (yum), a Chipotle seasoning (toasty in the mouth), a BBQ seasoning (this was really good) and a cinnamon sugar blend ( I tossed this one with the seeds after they were toasted otherwise I think the sugar would have burned). 

I liked them all, but I’m partial to the Italian seasoning with Parmesan cheese.

The point of the story being, use what you have at home! Try anything once and see what you think. I didn’t think I would like the BBQ one, but it was great. So…. go crazy and try something wild and then let us know about it.

Happy Roasting!

Kathy

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