Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Last weekend was our family's yearly pilgrimage to the Pumpkin Farm, (of which there are many in this area, pumpkins being a popular local crop), and we came away with several HUGE beasts for our jack-o-lantern carving enjoyment.

Upon returning home, we immediately set up a pumpkin-cleaning-seed-retrieval station on the backyard picnic table and ended up with several cups of beautiful seeds to roast for our most favorite and anticipated snack EVER!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds!!

I was posting about it later that evening on Facebook and was surprised when several people mentioned they'd never made or experienced Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

If this is a new idea, you simply MUST try it, whether it's seeds from a squash you're baking, a pumpkin you're roasting for pies, or your kids' jack-o' lantern project - all of these seeds work!

These are not the bland, unsalted, unroasted, green (shelled) pumpkin seeds (pepitas) you see in the store; Homemade roasted seeds are the whole, white, in-the-shell pumpkin seed, roasted until crispy and toasty-browned, sprinkled with salt and eaten just like that, no cracking, no shelling needed. And they are OH-SO-VERY good.

So..... if you haven't had the pleasure, or even if you have, here's our VERY simple recipe.
Enjoy.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

1 1/2 cups raw whole pumpkin seeds
1 Tablespoon good olive oil
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Spread seeds on baking sheet. Drizzle with oil. With your hands, mix seeds until all have oil on them. Spread evenly on sheet in a single layer.

Check seeds EVERY TEN MINUTES to make sure they're not over-browning, and stir on the baking sheet.
Bake for about 45 - 55 minutes total, checking frequently towards the end, until seeds are toasty and medium brown in spots.
(Taste a few, they should be crisp on the outside, but still just slightly soft and nutty inside).

Remove from oven when browned to your preference, sprinkle with salt to your taste (other seasonings are good here too - curry, cinnamon sugar, cayenne, lemon-pepper, etc..).
Enjoy warm or cooled.

Have a GREAT, and very "PUMPKIN-Y" Weekend!!

Sage and Pumpkin-Seed Pesto (again).

If you're thinking this recipe sounds familiar, it just might be. I came up with it exactly a year ago for some Pumpkin-themed cooking contest which I hate to admit, I don't even remember the outcome of!

Must not have been that big a deal. The contest anyway. The pesto sauce, however, has been a huge hit in our household ever since.

I was reminded of it when looking in my freezer at all the fresh basil pesto I'd frozen over the summer. I was craving pesto, but didn't really want to break into my freezer "stash" yet...

Since the sage in my herb garden grows pretty much year-round, (AND I had pumpkin seeds in the freezer) I was able to make this fresh tonight. YUM!

Pumpkin seeds are awesomely good for you, by the way; a quarter cup of raw seeds has 46.1% of the daily value for magnesium, 28.7% of the DV for iron, 52.0% of the DV for manganese, 24.0% of the DV for copper, 16.9% of the DV for protein, and 17.1% of the DV for zinc.

Sage Pumpkin-Seed Pesto recipe here.

The only things I did differently (you knew I would) were: I served it over pasta (obviously) instead of polenta, I did not blend it so smooth, and I mixed in some cracked black pepper and a couple tablespoons of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese to make it a creamier and lighter sauce...

PERFECT for fall. Enjoy.

Happy Weekend

Hahahaha... OK, I'm feeling rested and way too weird after 5 days off. What can I say? Thought you'd get a smile out of the cartoon. My sister sent it to me.

I don't have any amazing recipes or meals today, just a couple of nibbles from the weekend.
...
So, I was talking to someone the other day who had never tried
persimmons because she didn't know what to do with them.
Actually I don't "do" anything with them except EAT them. It seems a waste to hide the delicate taste of these fruits with other ingredients...
...
They are so wonderful!
If you haven't tried one, now is the perfect time, they're seasonal autumn/winter fruits, so should be available in most markets right now...
.
Here are a couple pictures of a beautiful Fuyu persimmon I had for breakfast this morning. Just don't confuse them with the larger Hachiya persimmons. (You MUST wait for the Hachiyas to get very soft and dark orange before eating,) while Fuyu persimmons are eaten when firm.
...
Just remove the leafy stem, slice and eat (I add a little lime juice). They're crisp and mellow-sweet.
.....

Also this weekend, we cleaned out some of the last pumpkins and toasted the seeds with sea salt and olive oil... DELICIOUS!

Two cookie-sheets full and they're almost gone, but I guess that's better than some of the Holiday desserts that are still hanging around!

Hope your weekend was wonderful, tasty and restful too!