Sweet and Savory Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
It's Halloween. You've carved the pumpkin and have made a royal mess. Now what?
Clean up! But don't throw out that goop you scraped out of the pumpkin. It's great for an easy and tasty snack!
Pumpkin seeds are a rich source of many vitamins and minerals, such as vitamins B and E, zinc and magnesium. They are high in protein and mono-unsaturated fats, which lower your LDL cholesterol level and raises your HDL level. They are high in calories, so don't eat the whole bowl in one sitting!
Saving the Seeds
First, you will need to separate the seeds from the stringy flesh. I did this manually as best I could, then I ran the seeds under water while rubbing off the rest of the goop.
Next, the seeds will need to dry. I laid mine out on a cookie sheet over night, but you can put them in a warm oven for a few minutes.
Seasoning
Now here's where we get creative.
The options are endless when it comes to seasoning your seeds. Determine if you want sweet or savory. I'm a sweet person all the way, so I pulled out all of my "sweet" spices.
"Sweet" Seeds: add melted butter, cinnamon, grated ginger, nutmeg, cloves, sugar
*I used stevia instead of sugar because I am trying to limit the amount of sugar in my diet (besides the 5 pieces of Halloween candy I snarfed earlier in the day!) and stevia is a great, natural sugar substitute.
Savory Seeds: butter, garlic salt, pepper
Spicy Seeds: butter, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper
Natural: butter, salt
Or add any spice mixes you already have in your pantry! Have fun with it!
Steps
1. Set oven to 275 degrees. Then, put all of the seeds in a bowl and mix them with melted butter. This gives the spices something to stick to. Plus, who doesn't love butter?
2. Add your spices. I eyeballed the amounts and tweaked to taste. Mix well.
3. Spread out the seeds on a cookie sheet in a single layer and put in the oven for 10-30 minutes, giving the pan a quick shake every 5 or so minutes. *Check frequently as the seeds can burn easily. I checked every 10 minutes and took them out after 20.
4. Enjoy!
