Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Sunday afternoon as Darrell and I were carving our pumpkin, Darrell revealed a shocking fact--he's never eaten roasted pumpkin seeds. Now, I never grew up carving pumpkins (we always painted ours), so eating pumpkin seeds was not a tradition at our house, but I had them quite a few times at school or other events. So, I decided that it would be the perfect time to roast some myself for Darrell, especially since I'd recently run across a recipe with some unique variations in my October Everyday Food magazine. Allow me to tempt you with:

Brown Sugar Spice pumpkin seeds and

Curry Lime pumpkin seeds.

We did have to modify the recipes significantly since each seasoning blend calls for 2 cups of pumpkin seeds and our measly pumpkin only had a half cup of seeds total, but they still came out pretty tasty (although I definitely preferred the brown sugar blend to the curry lime--loved me the little bit of sweetness!). And--always a bonus in my book--super easy and essentially free since we were using the pumpkin anyway!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Seasoning Blends
(from the October issue of Everyday Food)

Combine 2 cups pumpkin seeds, 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, and a seasoning blend. Spread in a single layer on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet and toast at 300* until seeds are golden and crunchy, about 20 minutes. Stir half-way through.

Brown Sugar Spice Blend
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Curry Lime Blend
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp salt

And, for those of you who didn't make it to our house for trick-or-treating last night (which would be like all of you), here's the scene we had to greet the candy goers!

It's not much, but I had to show off our spider-guy. Totally an impulse buy at Target last year, but we love it. And we had kids who kept reaching into the bucket that he is holding trying to find more candy... I think next year we're going to try to find something slimy to put in there for the curious folk. Any good suggestions?