Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

As I've already mentioned, Halloween is my favorite holiday - it has been since I was a kid.  I still love it for much of the same reasons as I did as a child... namely, being scared and eating lots of candy & pumpkin seeds.  I mean, costumes are fun too but horror movies and treats take the cake!

As long as you don't eat too many and get a big belly...

I know.  You wish you could look that good in a penguin suit.

I don't dress up much these days, but I did make an exception for my nieces' joint birthday party yesterday - they turned one and three years old.  Here they are with their dad and grandpa (better known to you as my stepdad Chris Vittles):

I thought about resurrecting The Penguin but instead went as a witch.

Mr. Vittles was a hockey player, which is not much of a stretch, as he "dresses up" in that costume about once a week for his Mens' League hockey games.  But I thought we might have another hockey player on our hands when Chloe asked Mr. V if she could borrow his hockey stick:

Are elephants and Winnie the Pooh balls are allowed on the rink?

After the party, Mr. V and I finally picked up some pumpkins for carving.  We didn't get any when we went apple-picking because we were afraid they'd be rotten.  But then apparently we waited too long, because every place we tried to get them Friday night was all out!

We did eventually find them yesterday, and we each got one to carve.  Considering today is Halloween and it was already so late in the day, I planned on doing something simple.  But Mr. V (who is apparently a bird whisperer now) said that our parrot CJ "told him" she wanted me to carve her likeness into a pumpkin.

I'm pretty sure the only thing CJ tells anyone is "Hi," but I can't resist a good challenge.  So I made a silhouette of her on a branch outlined by the moon.  It certainly won't be winning any prizes but you get the idea:

Mr. V made a very creative one as well - he decided to pay tribute to our boat:

However, during the carving process I noted that he is definitely not down with the pumpkin seeds.  He wanted nothing to do with picking them out of the pumpkin guts, apparently because he doesn't like to eat the roasted seeds. 

Now I love me some pumpkin seeds, so I was dutifully fishing each one out and saving them in a plastic colander.  But at that rate, Mr. V would be done carving his entire pumpkin before I finished, so I suggested that if he wasn't going to help me pick out the seeds then he should clean out the inside of my pumpkin.

Naturally he chose seed hunting, but he was not a happy camper.  "This is a pain in the *#$," he complained.

I pointed out, "So are you."

"That's true," he conceded, "it takes one to know one.  But so is this."

We only do this one a year though, so it was all worth it.  CJ agrees.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Boil seeds in heavily salted water for 10 minutes.  Drain in colander, and spread seeds on paper towels.  Blot dry.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Spray rimmed baking sheet with nonstick Canola oil spray.  Spread out seeds in a single layer and spray with more Canola oil.  Sprinkle generously with salt.

Bake 45 - 60 minutes or until browned, stirring seeds every 15 minutes and re-spraying & salting as necessary.

Recipe origin unknown