Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe

 After you carve your pumpkin or make pumpkin pie, you have a bunch of seeds. What do you do with them? I used to be one of those gals who threw out the seeds never really knowing what to do with them. It was only just recently that I learned that roasted pumpkin seeds were the most delicious and nutritious snack I have ever tasted! I have seriously never been so thrilled about my newfound love of pumpkin! Made from scratch, homemade pumpkin pie is much more delicious than store-bought pumpkin pie...but the seeds, wow! So, this is all part of our being thrifty ideology. You should use every part of the pumpkin and even save a few seeds to plant some pumpkins for next year! 

The steps to making the perfect roasted pumpkin seeds are to first scoop out the seeds from your pumpkin and place them in a strainer. This is the fun part...wash the seeds thoroughly as you remove the orange flesh from the seeds. Just try and remove as much of the orange flesh from the seeds as you can. Then, I strain the seeds and place them on a dishtowel. Place a plain paper towel on top of the seeds to absorb the moisture and let them sit overnight. In the morning, the pumpkin seeds will be completely dry and perfect for the next step.

Place the seeds in a bowl and place 2 tbs olive oil on them. Sprinkle 1/2 to 1/4 tsp garlic powder, black pepper, and salt in equal amounts. Make sure you adjust spices for the amount of seeds you have. If you have 2 cups seeds, use 1/2 tsp spices. Make sure you stir the seeds so that the spices coat all the individual seeds. Place them on a foiled lined cookie tray and bake them at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. You will have the perfectly roasted seed that you can eat whole! Packed with nutrients, this is one very healthy and delicious snack! Enjoy and happy holidays!