Kickin' Honey Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

 

With a wide variety of nutrients ranging from magnesium and manganese to copper, protein and zinc, pumpkin seeds are "nutritional powerhouses wrapped up in a very small package." They also contain plant compounds known as phytosterols and free-radical scavenging antioxidants,which can give your health an added boost. Check out this article to read more about the nutritional benefits of pumpkin seeds.

In my last post on making your own pumpkin puree, I said to save the seeds to turn into a crunchy snack. Pumpkin seeds are a great, healthy snack option and and taste a lot like popcorn, so of course we love them in this house. We have made both sweet and spicy batches of seeds in the past, but I wanted something that would hit all my tastes buds this time. Just like my favorite Cajun trail mix, I wanted these seeds to be salty, sweet, and spicy. They were a huge hit, and disappeared in no time at all. 

Kickin' Honey Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup, washed and dried pumpkin seeds 
• 1 1/2 tablespoons raw honey
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with Silpat nonstick baking liner, or parchment paper.
2. Rinse and clean fresh, raw pumpkin seeds after removing from pumpkin. Allow to dry thoroughly on a paper towel.
3. In medium microwave-safe bowl, combine coconut oil, butter, and honey. 
4. Microwave 30-60 seconds, or until butter is melted. 
5. Stir in pumpkin seeds and coat evenly.
6. Add cinnamon, sea salt, and cayenne pepper and stir until well combined.
7. Spread pumpkin seeds in the middle of the lined baking sheet and place into the oven. 
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the seeds are a deep golden color, stirring every 10 minutes. 
9. When the seeds are done, remove from the oven and stir once or twice as they cool to prevent them from sticking into one big clump.
10. Eat when cooled, or store in airtight container.

 

 Rinse and clean fresh, raw pumpkin seeds after removing from pumpkin. Allow to dry thoroughly on a paper towel.

 

 In medium microwave-safe bowl, combine coconut oil, butter, and honey.

 

 Microwave 30-60 seconds, or until butter is melted.

 

Stir in pumpkin seeds and coat evenly.

 

Add cinnamon...

 

...sea salt...

 

... and cayenne pepper.

 

Stir until well combined. 

 

 Spread pumpkin seeds in the middle of the lined baking sheet and place into the oven.

 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the seeds are a deep golden color, stirring every 10 minutes.

These did end up just sliiiightly too dark, but they still tasted great.

Pumpkin seeds, especially when coated with honey, tend to burn quickly and easily. Keep a close eye on them. Stir often and if they appear to be getting too brown too fast, turn down the oven temperature a bit.  

 

 When the seeds are done, remove from the oven and stir once or twice as they cool to prevent them from sticking into one big clump. 

Enjoy once they are cool enough to eat, or store in an airtight container. 

DIY Pumpkin Puree

We harvested lots of pumpkins from our garden this year, so I am pretty sure I will be making lots of pumpkin puree! When baking and making puree, you want to use pie pumpkins, or sugar pumpkins, instead of carving pumpkins. Baking pumpkins are smaller, more flavorful, and contain less water. 

DIY Pumpkin Puree

Ingredients:

• 1 pie pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Wash any dirt off the pumpkin. 
3. Remove stem or cut top off of pumpkin.
4. Cut the pumpkin in half.
5. Scoop out the seeds.
6. Place the pumpkin halves cut side down in a roasting pan.
7. Pour the water in the roasting pan.
8. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minute or until the skin darkens and it can easily be pierced by a fork.
9. Remove from oven and let cool.
10. Remove the skin.
11. Using a stick blender, puree the pumpkin until smooth. If using a blender or food processor, blend half of the pumpkin at a time.
12. Line a colander with coffee filters or paper towels and place over a deep bowl. 
13. Place the pumpkin in the colander and let the excess water drain into bowl over the course of 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. You may also place the pumpkin in cheesecloth and squeeze out the excess liquid.
14. Use the pumpkin puree in a recipe, or freeze it for future use.

 

Grab your pumpkin and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

 

Wash any dirt off of the pumpkin. 

 

Remove the stem, or cut the top off the pumpkin.

I used a folded up paper towel to hold and pop the stem off, because, as you can see, the stem has all these prickly little spines all along it. 

 

Cut the pumpkin in half. I tried several knives, and found the paring knife easiest to do the job.  

 

I cut the pumpkin vertically, however afterward I read that it may be easier to cut the pumpkin in half horizontally instead.

 

Scrape out the seeds and stringy guts. 

 

If you happen to have a grapefruit spoon, they work great for this type of job.

Don't throw the seeds away! Save them to make roasted pumpkin seeds! Later this week, I'll share my recipe for Kickin' Honey Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.  

 

Lightly rub olive oil across the cut side of the pumpkin.

  

Place pumpkin cut-side down into roasting pan and pour the water into the bottom.

 

 Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minute or until the skin darkens and it can easily be pierced by a fork.
Remove from oven and let cool.

Remove the skin, it should peel away pretty easily.

Using a stick blender, puree the pumpkin until smooth. If using a blender or food processor, blend half of the pumpkin at a time. 

 

 Line a colander with coffee filters or paper towels and place over a deep bowl.

 

Place the pumpkin in the colander and let the excess water drain into bowl.

 

Let it sit anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally. You may also place the pumpkin in cheesecloth and squeeze out the excess liquid.

Use the pumpkin puree in a recipe, or freeze it for future use.

 

 I used the puree to make this delicious Pumpkin Cheesecake Pie with Gingersnap Crust from Martha Stewart Living.

DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice

Fall is here! This is quite possibly the only time of year you use pumpkin pie spice, so you may not have it on hand. Or, maybe you're using it in everything, and run out. I was in the middle of making my Pumpkin Spiced Latte Scrub the other day when I realized I was totally out of an important ingredient, pumpkin pie spice! I started to get upset, then realized it would be super easy to just make my own, since I knew I had the listed ingredients in my cabinet already. 

DIY Pumpkin Pie Spice

 Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
•  2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger 
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice

 

 

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine ingredients and mix well.
2. Store in an airtight container.

 

Combine cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice in a small bowl.

 

Mix ingredients until well-combined. 

 That's it!

You could easily double this recipe to get more, but this recipe fits perfectly inside these small pumpkin pie spice containers so I just refilled the one I had!

Hand Pollinating Squash and Pumpkin Flowers

Most of the time, when you plant squash, you have bees that come around to pollinate your garden, including the squash blossoms. However, if you live in an area where the bee population is small, you might have difficulties having squash pollinated unless you do it yourself. To ensure maximum production of your plants, you can hand pollinate your pumpkins and squash by following a few simple steps.

Female flower with small fruit (ovary).

Male flowers lack an ovary.

Hand pollination of squash blossoms requires no special skills or tools. All you have to do is be able to identify male and female flowers. On squash, this is very easy to do. Female flowers will always have a tiny fruit under the flower. Male flowers grow on a long narrow stem. Pictured above are female and male flowers. You can see the presence of a fruit (ovary) at the base of the flower on the female, and the lack of fruit on the flower of the male.

   You can also tell the two apart by looking at the reproductive organs found in the center of the flower. The female flowers contain the stigma. It has several bumpy structures that cluster around a central opening. This  is where you will be applying the pollen when you perform hand pollinating.

Inside the male flower is a slender filament known as the anther. If you touch the anther, you will see that pollen rubs off the anther. This is what makes it so easy to do hand pollinating.

 Cut the male flower off where the flower stem meets the main stem of the plant. Next, gently remove all of the petals from the flower. Once the petals are gone you are left with a stem and exposed anther.

Now find a female flower and use your stem and anther to "paint" the stigma in the center of the female flower. Gently rub the anther over the stigma a few times, as if brushing paint on it. This will be enough to pollinate the stigma, which will then produce squash. Then go on to the next female flower. Each anther can be used to pollinate several female blossoms. However, since there's no shortage of male flowers, we just use one male per female, and leave the anther sitting inside each pollinated flower. This makes it easy to identify which flowers have already been pollinated.

 

 The pollen is being transferred to the stigma of the female flower completing the process of pollination. In nature, bees and other insects perform this important procedure.

After pollination, fertilization occurs and the fruit develops. Fertilization is necessary for fruit formation. If fertilization does not occur, the ovary will wither away. If fertilization is successful, the ovary will begin to swell and a fruit develops.

 

 When you pollinate by hand, realize that you are not wasting flowers since picking the male flowers simply removes those that will never produce a fruit anyway. Only the female flowers can bear fruit, while the males are used for pollination.

After pollination, you can sit back, watch your squash grow and harvest them as they are ready toward the end of summer.