"pumpkin seeds" news and stories

'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL KitchenDaily's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.

Last night, as I was searching for pictures of onions on Flickr, I came across the photo you see above. It looked so delicious and appealing that I clicked through, hoping that the photographer might have been kind and posted the recipe to the dish along with the image. I was in luck, as under the picture was a link, indicating that the recipe was available on the photog's blog.

Clicking over to Eat Like A Girl, I found the recipe, along with more tasty-looking pictures of pumpkins and Israeli couscous. Reading through the recipe, it seems simple, seasonal and very promising. It looks like a good potluck dish and would be a great item to take with you to a non-traditional Thanksgiving buffet. I'm adding it to my file of things to remember when I'm in search of a new grain/pasta salad.

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I have very strong memories of carving pumpkins when I was a kid. My parents would cover the dining room table in newspaper, bring out strong serving spoons (for scraping down the inside of the pumpkin) and put a large metal mixing bowl in the middle of the table. All the pumpkin innards would go into that bowl and while my sister, dad and I were happily carving our pumpkins into goofy, spooky faces, my mom would get the not-so-nice job of separating the pumpkin guts from the seeds.

She was meticulous about liberating every last seed from the slimy strings of pumpkin entrails. She'd rinse the seeds well and dry them in a single layer on a kitchen towel. Then she'd spread them out on a rimmed baking sheet, sprinkle them with salt and roast them in the oven until they turned golden brown. I loved taking a little container of these roasted pumpkin seeds to school with me for an after lunch treat and I was always sad when they were gone.

Yesterday I toasted up the seeds from a small baking pumpkin I had. I didn't do it quite the way my mom used to. Instead, I melted a small pat of butter in a medium non-stick skillet. When it was melted, I added the seeds and let them start to toast. When they were getting near the brown color I was going for, I added some kosher salt, cracked pepper and crushed, dried rosemary leaves. A couple last tosses in the pan to combine the seasonings and they were done. Just like childhood (if even slightly better).

Find more ideas for pumpkin seed recipes on KitchenDaily.

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• This month's recipes: Sweet & Spicy Chicken Curry, Cashews with Crispy Sage and Garlic, Potato Chips with Chevre, Pepper Jelly, and Bacon, Smoked Mozarella Spread with Flatbread Crackers, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin and Yellow Split Pea Soup, Savory Cranberry-Walnut Biscuits, Dr. Pepper-Glazed Ham with Prunes, Roasted Turkey with Italian Sausage Stuffing, Apple Cake with Toffee Crust, and Slow Cooker Sour Cream Cheesecake.

The pumpkins that are the best for carving are not the best pumpkins for eating. They tend to be water, string and rather flavorless, as they are bred to be large and light, with the maximum surface area for carving and the minimum amount of "goop" (as termed by a very young neighbor) inside. All too often pumpkin seeds get tossed out with the rest of the pumpkin innards when a jack o' lantern is being carved out for Halloween and although the rest of the pumpkin isn't that appetizing, the seeds can be a tasty treat.

Pumpkin seeds need to be washed and dried before you start to work with them. Once they are clean, they can be prepared in one of two ways. The first method comes from Simply Recipes and involves boiling the seeds briefly in salted water before toasting them. The second method is much like the one used for the candied pecans I made last week, where the seeds are mixed with egg white and spices before being baked at 375F for about 12 minutes. This is the method used by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks and she provides three different spicing combinations to get you started, although you can use any sweet or spicy combination that strikes your fancy.