Pumpkins

So besides all of the candy, which I usually buy and proceed to eat myself, the one thing I really enjoy about Halloween is pumpkins.  And no, not in the I gotta have Pumpkin Spice Lattes or Coffee sort of way.  I like the carving the pumpkins.  I am not exceptionally good at it.  Although, every year I think I do a better job then the year before.  I like searching for a pattern, tracing it out, and pretty much forcing the pumpkin  to it's cut up demise.

This year I decided to go for a more simple pattern but one that I find inherently funny.

Can you tell which one is mine?  I somewhat force my husband to play along and carve a pumpkin as well.  But I usually pick out his design as well.  Since you can't see the actual pumpkin when it is totally dark, here they are with a little light.

Carving isn't the only thing I like about pumpkins.  You are probably thinking - bring on the pumpkin pi (haha, pie) recipe already!  Nope, I am not a big fan of pie.  I really like going through the innards and collecting all of the seeds.  Then I like to toast them.  So here is the recipe...

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

Pumpkin Seeds
Water
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Steps

1.  Dump seeds into pot and cover with salted water.  Bring to a boil.  Once it has begun boiling, set heat to simmer and cook for 2 hours.
2.  Strain water and pat seeds dry with paper towels.
3.  Heat oven to 250 degrees.
4.  Spread seeds over a baking sheet.  Drizzle olive oil over seeds then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Use your hands to make sure it is all evenly mixed.  Re-spread out seeds on sheet.
5.  Bake in 250 degree oven for 1 hour.
6.  Let cool and Enjoy!

Sadly, this year my two awesome pumpkins did not yield a lot of seeds.  I am very disappointed.  I might just go out and buy some more...maybe carve them but definitely steal their yummy seeds and toast them.