SPOOKTACULAR PART 3: SEEDS!

Posted by Ethne~

Little Monsters making a scary house with
Mommy and Grandma D

Sunday was pumpkin carving day in the D household, and what fun we had!  The girls had their usual attention spans of 10 minutes, so long enough to tell daddy that they wanted girl or boy faces and what types of eyes, etc. 

Cabbage Patch baby Jaida watching Daddy carve pumpkins

KD and Easy Mac's pumpkins

Then they wanted to mash the ‘guts’ and ‘slime’ with me.  I was picking the seeds out for baking.  They were spilling the seeds all over for messing.

Easy Mac had a semi-mean girl face.  Her attention span was nearly gone by the time instructions came.  KD had an evil boy face.  Mommy had Jack Skellington.  Shaun said “I figured as much” when I told him that’s what I wanted him to carve.  Daddy’s pumpkin was slightly rotten and Shaun elaborated on it by making a googly-eyed thing.  Of course it was adorable.

We put tea lights in them last night and of course the girls loved them, for about 2 seconds.  That was their pumpkin-loving attention span.

Jack Skellington on the left - PERFECT!

All our hard work paid off.  It really is fun to carve pumpkins, and Shaun and I really love pumpkin seeds.  We had a Pumpkin Seed Throwdown.

I think there are probably a zillion ways to cook pumpkin seeds.  You’re welcome to comment on here and tell me your secrets, but here’s how Shaun and I threw it down:

Ethne~

I rinsed my seeds really well and let them sit in the colander for an hour or two (not in water and not in salt).  I put the seeds on tin foil and sprinkled them with salt (kosher); then they baked for what seemed like hours at 275°, till they were slightly golden and crisp.  Not crackly crisp.  They are tasty, but not perfect, as Shaun was wont to point out.

Lots 'o' seeds: I made applesauce too while I was baking

Shaun~

Shaun soaked his seeds in salt (really salty) water for a couple of hours.  When I was finished baking mine, he cranked up the oven to a whopping 300° and baked his for what seemed like hours till they were golden and snap-crackle-popping.  Prior to baking, he sprinkled them liberally with regular iodized salt and ancho chile powder for zing.

Ancho chili powder not on yet.

Yum-o

~I think my seeds were a little lackluster.  Maybe not as salty, maybe not as crispy.  I think I might toss them in a teensy bit of oil tonite, and some spices, and toast them a little more.  We’ll see!


A few other Halloween things I just thought I'd show you:

Pre-Trick-or-Treating

We've got the 'Trick-or-Treat' down pat now

Haunted cemetery at Thrifty Nana's neighbor's: let's
just say they gave parents apple cider with rum...

...and I got the best picture of the night. :)