.halloween fun.

Ok. Let me start by saying, I am SO disappointed! The man and I did tons of Halloween decorating, (and by tons I mean we decorated two pumpkins) then we bought a metric ton of candy (and by that I mean one bag) and then no trick or treaters came to our house!!! Argh! Little brats!

Anyways, the upside to this is that we have kick ass pumpkins, a boat load of candy and..... roasted pumpkin seeds!

It came to my attention that not everyone has had the Halloween upbringing that I did. Perhaps it has something to do with having an October birthday? Regardless, the Man had never carved a pumpkin before in his life! Never! I was shocked and appalled and hell bent on fixing this at once.

Here are the fruits of our labor.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Aw, he did a cute little kitty cat for his first ever pumpkin." And you would be wrong. He spent three labor intensive hours carving a negative space piece of gourd art. And I made the shitty cat face.

He told me, "If I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it right." So, there it is. Yoda's head. In all its shining glory. We have already decided next year we will be doing multiple large pumpkins in a Star Wars theme. That is his request.

I also realized my Halloween fortune when a friend asked what to do with those pesky little pumpkin seeds. When I was a kid we would carve pumpkins every year and then roast the seeds to snack on over the next few days. A little kick of salt helps keep that sugar coma at bay.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
The seeds of one or two pumpkins
1-2 tsp olive oil
Salt, chili powder, garlic powder for taste

Start by separating the pulp and guts from the seeds. This takes awhile but I found it was easiest to do it in the sink with two large mixing bowls. Wash the seeds and dry them slightly with a paper towel.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Toss the seeds with olive oil then spread them out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Sprinkle them with the salt, garlic salt and chili powder, or whatever spices you would prefer. Bake them for 25 minutes or so, checking and stirring them after 10 minutes.

Cook on!