Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Halloween Friends!! I hope you have some spooootacular plans today!

One of my closest childhood friends had the mom who always had some homemade something around the house. Many of these treats were holiday traditions, or things she would make for special occasions. Considering I practically lived at their house in elementary school ( think America Girl dolls, Beanie Babies, Salute your Shorts, and old school Nintendo) I in affect adopted a love for many of the treats her family had, in addition to my own family's food themed traditions. One of my favorites that I adopted and made my own parents incorporate into our own holiday tradition repertoire was roasted pumpkin seeds. It was the perfect food tradition to tie with carving pumpkins every year.

Considering how serious I take my holiday traditions (I may or may not be a bit of a holidayzilla) this year I knew that carving a pumpkin meant I had to do it right. Now, I think I nailed the pumpkin I was going for using some power drills. So I was pretty thrilled when I ended up having enough pumpkin seeds from tha adventure to warrant making a batch of roast pumpkin seeds just like when I was growing up.

Normally one pumpkin isn't enough to get enough seeds, but I had picked a particularly seedy one which was great. Typically I would recommend to plan on having at least two pumpkins to gut to get enough seeds for this.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2 cups fresh, raw, straight from the pumpkin seeds
1 teaspoon Worester Sauce
1 teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Butter, melted.

You are going to clean off those seeds until all the guts of the pumpkin are off. I try to clean off as much gunk as possible as they are coming out of the pumpkin and then use a colander that has bigger drain holes to wash them for dayz. Then you are going to boil them. Ten minutes. Just plop them into salted boiling water and away you go.

Now you need to get them good and dry. Like NO moisture, or the salt will clump up on you. I put to paper towels on top of a grated drying rack and move them around for a few days until they are dry. If the paper towel holds any moisture, you'll want to change that once a day. Mine took two days to get completely dry.

Once dry, mix the melted butter, salt and Worcester sauce. Include the pumpkin seeds and stir to coat.

Heat oven to 225F. Spread seeds out on a pan and roast for 1-2 hours. Mine typically take 2 hours. Take them seeds out to check for burning and to stir on the pan every 20-30 minutes.
Voila! Amazingly tasty roasted pumpkin seeds!

**As a side note, if you want to make these without the pumpkin mess, or in say, like July, check out the option to order plain seeds that you could just start at the step where you throw them in the mixture. 

Posted with Blogsy

Pumpkin Drilling

It has been awhile since I carved a pumpkin. Three years to be exact. Last year I didn't even think about it. Halloween came and went, sans pumpkin. The year before, the BF showed up at my apartment door with a surprise pumpkin. It was a beaut! It was the perfect big pumpkin I had when I was little. It made my apartment so festive, which I loved.

This year I had seen a whole bunch of pins floating around on using a power drill to "carve" a pumpkin.

Three words:

Sign me up.

One of the perks of co-habing...having access to power tools. You can just call me Martha....

The starting point. Let me tell you... I forgot how much effort it is to cut the top off a pumpkin!

My weapon of choice.

 

 

All done!

 Final product in all its Halloween glowing glory.

 

If only we had a stoop or outside space to put my amazing work of art. To enjoy I turn off most of the lights while I eat dinner and dine al-la pumpkin light. #apartmentlivingproblems.

 

Anyone else getting in the mood for Halloween this year?

Is It Really That Thing Called Monday Again Tomorrow?

This weekend just slipped through my fingers. I feel like I hardly did anything in the past few days, and it was a week that I really needed a solid weekend after. Needless today say...I am a bit bummed to be headed back to work tomorrow (granted working on a Sunday night in pjs on ones couch isn't much better).

It snowed yesterday which was crazy. There have been a lot of Halloween costume sightings. Particularly in the morning...watching a bumble bee carry her heels to the bus stop never gets old in my book.

To rewind, a few weekends ago we were having brunch at a place down the street from my apartment and I encountered this:

"This" meaning a double yolked egg.

I am fairly certain this is my first and only double yolked egg I have ever encountered. What a stroke of good luck I thought to myself! Well, while I will stick to my idea that this is an omen of good luck, after some online google research I was quick to find the double yolked eggs are not only associated with good luck but also with:

• an omen of marriage or a proposal
• the birth of twins
• a tragic family issue

Let's stick with the omen of good luck shall we?

With Halloween tomorrow I have been admiring people's fall decorations and their Halloween spirit. The other weekend in Old Town I saw these two houses that had done a classy little decorating for tomorrow's holiday. 

Some cute little pumpkins always add that perfect fall touch to any doorway.



I hope that you all have fun, festive and safe Halloweens tomorrow. I have plans to hand out some candy at a friend's house, bake some sweet treats and watch Hocus Pocus. (I'm providing a little clip for your enjoyment)!

 

It's October and that Means Pumpkins

I eyed this last year on Martha Stewart.com and kept saying I would go buy a pumpkin and give it a shot. Obvis. we never got around to it or I wouldn't be sitting here saying I need to really do it this year. Anyways how classy would a monogrammed pumpkin be?

Photo from MarthaStewart.com

Classy and fabulous. I think yes.

Would it be overly ambitious to think I could do two initials? Or maybe even three?



Halloween 2009

I must say for Halloween (not exactly my favorite holiday as I get older) this one was pretty fun and at the same time, low key.

Friday my office had a in-office happy hour (yes I know you are jealous that we drink beer at 3pm in the office, on the offices wallet too!). My boss and I actually stepped it up, compared to our loser (i say that with sarcasm) co-workers and dressed up. When Lindsey and Dan were visiting me the weekend before (blog on that weekend coming soon) Lindsey came up with the brilliant idea for me to go as a "Hot" Potato. I wore brown leggings, an over sized brown shirt that I belted. And to create the inside of the potato, I attached curled ribbon to me (sour cream/potato insides), with orange and green pipe cleaners ( chives and cheese) and a sponge that was my butter. Add a Grown in Idaho logo and a Idaho Potato pin...swirl, spin and viola! Insta-potato. It thought it was good.

Idaho....No.. UDaho!

Where in the world is Carmen SanDiego?

Anyways...that night I headed to a house party than Erin threw to celebrate Halloween AND her Birthday. This year I didn't make her a banner, but I did take her cupcakes from Hello Cupcake during her lunch. Erin and her bf Paul rocked some amazing "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" (which brought some discussion with people about who was the host and the phrase "Let's go to the Map!").

The next day I lulled around in bed which was amazing ( I have been exhausted lately!), took care of some laundry and cleaning issues and then headed to elevation burger (there will need to be a follow up post to this since this has been a long time in the coming), and then to Dairy Godmother for some PUMPKIN custard...ohmygod, Thanksgiving in a cup!

Later in the evening I found myself drinking some beer, making fun of other people's costumes and participating in a pastime I haven't had a lot of time to do: Buck Hunting.

Nothing like shooting some animated animals to get me all riled up!

Back in Idaho, Wyatt wins the prize for cutest baby and cutest costume. He was a BEE!!!

Flying bee!! (Look how happy he is!) Love it!

Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!