All Things Pumpkin

Have you ever noticed that in the fall literally everything is pumpkin flavored? I mean honestly, they even have a pumpkin flavored milkshake at some McDonald's, even though its almost too cold to enjoy something like that. Dr. Moghissi likes to take a little bit more of a healthy approach to all things pumpkin by making her own roasted pumpkin seeds. They are extremely easy to make (though it can sometimes take a while in the oven)...

First, go get a pumpkin! Next year, you could try this one with the insides of the pumpkin you carved for Halloween but since I was late on getting this out, you'll have to get another one.

These are our super awesome pumpkins from last year. Yes that is the Kool Aid man (that ones mine).

Ok so, gather all your ingredients together. You will need some olive oil, sea salt, butter and of course a pumpkin. You'll need to clean off the pumpkin seeds so they don't have any of the orange pumpkin goop on them.

After you clean your seeds, combine 3 parts butter, 3 parts olive oil and one part sea salt in a bowl and mix with your seeds. Dr. Moghissi used 3 tablespoons of butter, 3 tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of salt for four cups of seeds. 

Spread the seeds out on a baking sheet. Since they are mixed with butter and olive oil, you don't need to use no-stick spray. Now, you really could do this with almost any kind of gourd seed. Dr. Moghissi decided to add butternut squash seeds to one of her batches.

Pop your seeds into an oven that has been preheated to 250 degrees. Cooking times can vary, but Dr. Moghissi pulled hers out after 90 minutes, and she gave them a quick toss every thirty minutes they were in the oven. 

Fresh out of the oven pumpkin seeds

Her butternut squash seeds roasted a little bit faster than the pumpkin seeds. They were ready to come out after 60 minutes of cooking.

Once you pull the seeds out of the oven, let them cool a little bit so you don't burn your tongue and enjoy!!