Sweet and Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Because the girls can't agree on anything, they insisted they each get their own Jack-o-lantern for Halloween this year. Then they each chose the biggest one they could find.

While I'm grateful we didn't have to pay by the pound for these massive things, it still meant a huge amount of work for me, because each of them also wanted an intricate (based on my abilities) design and for me to scoop, clean and roast the seeds for them.

I got smart this year and bought a carving set with proper tools and stencils. I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself (again, based on my complete lack of talent in this department). The cat is Little A's and the witch is Big A's.

When I asked them whether they wanted sweet or spicy roasted seeds, Little A said both. I asked if she meant half sweet and half salty and she clarified that, no, she actually wanted them both sweet and salty. And Big A actually agreed with her!

So, their wish is my command! These smell as good as they taste. I had tons of seeds because of the size of our pumpkins, so feel free to half the recipe if you don't have as many.

Sweet and Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

4 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed
2 tbls coconut sugar
1 tsp fine grain sea salt (or more, to taste)
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Dropper full of vanilla stevia (optional)

Toss seeds with other ingredients until well coated. Spread in an even layer on baking sheet.* Bake at 350F for 10 minutes and they stir. Bake another 10 minutes, stir again, and then turn heat down to 275F, bake for another 10 minutes or until seeds are dry. Make sure not to let them burn! Keep in an airtight container.

*They will stick a bit to bottom of baking sheet when sugar caramelizes. I found they come off easily with a spatula, but if you want to avoid this, you can try using parchment paper, just make sure they are completely dry and adjust cooking time if you need to.

I hope you have a happy, healthy Halloween tomorrow. I won't have a post because I'm driving to Kingston to visit my dad who just had surgery. More on that later.

See ya Friday!!

This recipe was shared with Gluten-Free Friday and Wellness Weekend.

Comments

Book Review: The A to Z of Children's Health

Hey there, welcome to Monday! We had a delightful, relatively quiet weekend. How was yours? Hopefully no one in your home was sick...there is a lot of nasty stuff going around these days. If you're a parent, than you have probably spent far more time that you would like to desperately searching Google and/or parenting books trying to figure out if your child's rash, cough or fever warrants a trip to the doctor or if there is something that can be done to treat it. It's hard not to worry that it could be something more ominous that just an every day infection and while you'd make yourself (and everyone around you) nuts if you panicked every time your kid has the sniffles, as a parent, you naturally want to do everything in your power to prevent your child from harm. Recently I was sent The A to Z of Children's Health , written by doctors Jeremy Friedman, Natasha Saunders, and Norman Saunders, of Toronto's very own Hospital for Sick Children . One of th

How to Look Like a Celebrity

Okay, I know you're going to be interested in this post! I am sure virtually every woman in North America has wondered how Hollywood celebrities achieve such 'perfect' bodies. Well, at CAN FIT PRO last week, one of Hollywood's top fitness trainers, Eric the Trainer , was there to tell us fitness professionals the secrets! Eric the Trainer, gave several presentations, and I caught the one on Celebrity Secrets, and it was most interesting!!! I also found some of what he said rather disturbing. First off, he was very upfront about the fact that celebrities come to him for improve their appearance. Not to improve their health or athletic performance. To look their best. He admitted that his approach then, is entirely dedicated to that end. Male and female celebrities are trained in completely different ways because Hollywood wants women to be lithe and thin and in his words, "look like they dropped out of heaven looking this way without every having ste

Blackfly Coolers: Product Review

Summer is over! Well, at least if you're a student. Officially it doesn't end for a few weeks, and it certainly still feels like summer. Yeah, I hate it. This f*cking hot, humid weather needs to end NOW! We made the most of our last weekend of the summer with our annual trip to the CNE on Friday, with a crowd of friends. It wasn't unbearably lot, thank goodness, and the girls and their friends had a blast on the rides. Saturday I had to work, and Sunday was errand day. Monday we took the girls berry/apple/pear picking but didn't last long due to the heat. I organized the house to prepare for the construction workers starting back up yesterday, while Adam took the girls for a swim in our neighbourhood pool. Yesterday was the first day of school. Grade 2 and Grade 5. Yep, the girls are growing up. We are fortunate that the girls don't have much anxiety about school, they are so much more confident than I ever was as a kid! But now, in the midst of our reno ch

Healthy Life Lessons

Search This Blog