Cooking Those Excess Pumpkin Seeds - It’s almost Halloween. Are you excited already?
You probably have started to make you preparations for this festive event, decorating the house, searching for the right/scary/creative costume, bought candies for your trick-or-treaters, and carved your pumpkin Jack-O-Lantern.
How many Jack-O-Lanterns did you make? And perhaps you’ll be making a couple more because some of your pumpkins have started to dry out already. Once you’ve removed the seeds from the pumpkin, don’t throw them away. You can still cook and eat them. Not only do they go with the Halloween but pumpkin seeds are tasty and they are rich in vitamins, minerals, and protein. You can toast or roast your pumpkin seeds and you can have them salted, sweet and spicy, or curried. Here’s how to do it simply.
Separate the seeds of a freshly carved pumpkin from the pulp and other stringy membrane. You can rinse them with water or if you want to keep the pumpkin flavor, you can use a kitchen towel to wipe off the seeds. Let them dry for a few minutes.
Heat the oven to 300-350 degrees F.
Toss the seeds in a bowl with one to two tablespoons of melted butter or margarine, or you can use cooking spray instead.
Place them evenly in a single layer in an oven-safe dish or on a baking sheet. Sprinkle it with salt.
Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, or until they start to brown. Keep stirring every 10 minutes.
Let it cool before serving. Enjoy!
