Happy Halloween, and Pumpkin Seeds

Hope everyone has had a Happy Halloween! Here are some photos of the kids in their costumes this year.  Both dressed up for school. We were too disorganized to arrange a party or find a trick or treat location, so we decided to celebrate at home this year.  I’ve roasted piles and piles of pumpkin seeds (see below for recipe) and we have a pumpkin pie for dessert later too.

Halloween morning…

 

For the pumpkin seeds, I decided to try something a little different this time. I tend to always overcook them, so last night, I washed the seeds and set them out to soak in plain water over night. I rinsed them this afternoon, and then boiled them in salty water for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400F

I divided our seeds into 3 bowls. I added about 2-3 tbs of olive oil to each bowl and stirred it in. Into the first bowl, I added about 1-2 tbs of salt and stirred it in.

The second batch had ‘sweet’ spices: sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, anise

The 3rd batch was to be ‘spicy bbq’. I added 2-3 tsp of honey bbq sauce, some carne asada spice mix, chili pepper and paprika.

I cooked each for about 10 minutes, stirred them, and then put them back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remember, I soaked these all night and they were coated in oil, so they had a lot of moisture. If I hadn’t soaked them, 20 minutes at 400F probably would have burned them! The shells came out soft but ‘done’. They don’t crack well… but I just eat them shell and all anyway, so I’m happy with the result. 

Here are the salty ones. They came out perfectly.

The sweet ones were a bit of a sticky mess, but very tasty.

The BBQ burnt just slightly, otherwise they are great too. Mmmm!

Happy Halloween!!