Happy Novemberween?

Okay, so I'm about a month late with all of this Halloween stuff. However, it's my all-time favorite holiday, so I figured I could steal a little bit of wiggle room...

Pictured, below, are the pumpkins that we carved (and summarily used to to fill our bellies).

Over the years, I've carved tons of pumpkins, but have never quite gotten the "seed thing" right. They always ended up tasting too salty, like the salt was only on the outside of the shell (yuck), or too bland and seedy (if you know what I mean). In fact, I've never had really good pumpkin seeds - made by me or anyone else - until now.

This was the year that I discovered the "salted water boil" secret, which despite adding to your prep time, results in the perfect pumpkin seeds. The trick is to boil your seeds in generously salted water for 10 mins. prior to roasting them. Something about this method locks the salty flavor into the seeds before they roast, so you don't wind up with completely bland or touch-'em-and-the-salt-falls-off seeds.

The basic ratio is: 2 cups of water for each 1/2 cup of seeds, and 1/2 T. salt for each cup of water. A slightly more detailed explanation can be found here.

After boiling and draining your seeds, simply pour them into a bowl and coat with a bit of olive oil and whatever seasonings you prefer. (The seasoning types/amounts are entirely up to you.) Once they're adequately seasoned, put the seeds on a baking sheet and stick them in a pre-heated 300 degree oven for about 40 mins. Just remember to keep an eye on the seeds - sometimes they tend to cook quickly - and remove them when they're browned to your liking.

roasted pumpkin seeds, before & after

This year I divided our pumpkin seeds into 3 piles, using my favorite taco seasoning for some, garlic salt and pepper for some, and seasoned salt for the rest (because old habits die hard). CH liked the garlic salt/pepper seeds the best, while I was partial to the seasoned salt ones. However, the taco-spiced seeds turned out well, too!