Pumpkin Seeds - 3 ways - Mostly Under Control

I’M BAAAAACCKKK!

The following things are the events / people that you have to thank for my almost one month absence….

*The arrival of this little baby girl…

*The purchase of our NEW HOUSE!

Put the 2 together (note: baby is fussy and requires my full attention – and laundry. so. much. laundry) and you have the current state of my craft room:

BUT, did you read that?! MY CRAFT ROOM!! It’s not just my stuff in bins in the basement! Well, it is right now, but eventually I will have a functioning room, right next to the kids’ play room. I seriously cannot wait. My bedroom is still a disaster. We finally got our kitchen unpacked buried out and the bedroom is well on its way. The kids have beds and a hamper…that’s all that matters, right?! 😉 At least we are no longer sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

My first priority was the play room. And it looks amazing (blog post soon! Still have some decorating to do) and then the kitchen. The kitchen is DONE. I told my husband if I found one more box marked “kitchen” I was going to go back in time and kill my past self. And then I went to a Pampered Chef party the next day – haha.

Aaaaaanyway….

Halloween was a few nights ago. I am not a huge fan of carving pumpkins and every time we buy them, I plan on just gutting them and roasting up the seeds. But we always end up carving them. This year was no exception. HOWEVER…whoever dubbed pumpkin carving as a children’s activity obviously never had kids. It literally consisted of D picking what he wanted on the pumpkins (3 big and one tiny), my husband cutting off the top, him and I gutting them (D put his hand in one and decided that was a little bit of a sensory overload for him) and then D running around the basement while we tried to keep him from sharp objects. Oh, and he was naked. Thank God the baby slept through it all. I didn’t even take pictures of the pumpkins after. I just wanted to be done.

I decided to experiment with seeds this year. Usually I just do kosher salt and olive oil. But on Halloween night we made breakfast for dinner and we bake our bacon. I left the bacon grease in the glass dish so the next morning I could just scoop out the grease. So when I got up to start the seeds, I noticed the grease. FATTY LIGHT BULB! I used the bacon grease as the oil.

**NOTE: The night we carved the pumpkins, we separated the seeds from the guts and soaked the seeds in salt water. The next morning we laid the seeds out on paper towels to let them dry. We let them lay out all day.**

Then I just went crazy and searched my cabinets for more flavors. Enter: Ranch seasoning & Taco seasoning…..So, here we go…

Bacon Garlic Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
*1 cup of pumpkin seeds (brined – see note up top!)
*3 tablespoons bacon grease
*1 tsp garlic powder
*1 tsp kosher salt

Directions:
*Preheat the oven to 400.
*Put the bacon grease into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds or until it’s all melted.
*Add the seeds, salt and garlic powder.
*Spread them out evenly on a cookie sheet (use a sheet with a lip on the side)
*Place them in the 400 degree oven for 20 mins. I like my pumpkin seeds well done, so you may not want to put them in this long. I stirred them and then let them go for another 7-10 minutes.
*Place the seeds on a paper towel while they’re still hot to soak up some of the extra grease.

My second batch comes from my love of Ranch seasonings. Mmmm…raaaaanch….

Roasted Ranch Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients:
*1 cup pumpkin seeds (Brined – see above note!)
*2 tsps extra virgin olive oil
*1 1/2 tablespoons dried Ranch seasonings

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400.
*Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
*Spray a pan with cooking spray.
*Spread out the pumpkin seeds in an even layer.
*Roast for 15 minutes, stir, and roast for an additional 5 (again, I like mine well done.)
*Place them on paper towels until cool.

And finally, Taco seeds! These actually were my favorite, and I was expecting it to be a total fail.

Ingredients:
*1 cup pumpkin seeds (Brined – see note above!)
*2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
*1 tablespoon of your favorite taco seasoning

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 400.
*Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
*Spread the seeds out on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
*Roast for about 10 minutes, stir and then roast for 10 more minutes (I like mine well done)
*Place the seeds on a paper towel to cool.