Pumpkin Time!

My weirdo pumpkin this year

It's that time of year again where apple cider runs rampant, the leaves are accumulating in the backyard, and all of the sudden you have three large pumpkins on your front stoop, just waiting to be carved.  Being a bit of a creative freak, not only do I LOVE carving pumpkins, but I like roasting the seeds as well.  I haven't figured out what to do with the stringy stuff besides the garbage, but it's gross and that seems like a good place for it.  Turns out I need to slow down on shoveling the seeds down my pie hole, cause my teeth are starting to hurt.  Two recipes below!

*HINT!* I found a salad spinner works pretty well for drying the seeds after your excess pumpkin has been washed away.  Whatever you do, do NOT open the spinner while it's still spinning... you'll end up with pumpkin seeds all over your kitchen.  Not that I know from experience or anything...

Roasted Cinnamon/Salt Pumpkin Seeds

1-2 Cups cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds
1 tsp Olive Oil or melted butter
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar

Preheat oven to 275º.  Toss the cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds with just enough olive oil or butter (ooooo butter WOULD be good on these) to evenly coat the seeds.  Sprinkle in your cinnamon/salt/sugar and toss again to coat.  Taste one and adjust your seasoning.  Pour these into a baking pan in one even layer, bake at 275º for about an hour.  Feel free to toss on a little more salt/cinnamon after they're done- I did, and it was worth it.

Matt's Slap Ya Mama Seeds
1-2 Cups cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Matt's Mix (or salt, or another seasoning salt)
1 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp-1 tsp Slap Ya Mama (or any other cajun seasoning mix)

Preheat oven to 275º.  Toss the cleaned and dried pumpkin seeds with just enough olive oil to evenly coat the seeds.  Sprinkle in your Matt's Mix, pepper and Slap Ya Mama and toss again to coat.  Taste one and adjust your seasoning.  Pour these into a baking pan in one even layer, bake at 275º for about an hour.

I preferred the kick in the pants from the spicy seeds, but the sweet and salty ones were a nice change from most pumpkin seeds you try.  

And now a word from Buster- my favorite pumpkin I've ever carved!