Baked Pumpkin Seeds, reminds me of Halloween and Fall Do you have any favorites?

In Michigan our family has a tradition of baking pumpkin seeds. It seems so simple, but it really wouldn't be fall or Halloween with out the pumpkin seeds.The family really enjoys the flavors and the smell. It also warms the house, it starts to really cool down this time of year.

It's really a simple thing, after the pumpkins are carved, and the "guts" from the pumpkins are in a large bowl, you clean 'em up and put them on a towel to dry.

Put them flat on a well olive oiled cookie sheet. Spray some olive oil on the top side of the seeds, salt them, into a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. They are real tasty.

Are there any fall/Halloween flavors or drinks that bring the season to life for you and/or your family?

a reply to: seasonal

Pumpkin beer! Preferably Saranac.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Never had it, is the name where it is made?

a reply to: seasonal

Yea, it's the brewery. Delicious stuff. It's not sweet, it's a well balanced ale that has a pumpkin spice finish.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

I take it that is a seasonal brew?

Sounds nice, I'll have to try it.

My granddaughter made a pile this year. We also have enough pumpkin in the freezer for seven pies. It is going to be a pie eyed year this year. We have blueberries for six pies, cherries for four pies, blackberries for two pies. We also have a bunch of canned pie filling. This post makes me feel like making a pie.

a reply to: rickymouse

Wow, that is a nice looking freezer.... full of lovely, lovely eats.

I love my freezer after a 1/2 of beef or a couple of deer.

That's how I like my seeds with Olive oil and salt....but I have experimented with olive oil and garlic salt on them.......and I've used olive oil and old bay seasoning for spice ......and one time I used butter until baked almost crispy and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked alittle more until crispier .,..,

We love pumpkin seeds!
Fall to me means apple cider & homemade raised donuts! But only real apple cider without the sodium benzoate preservatives in it. It makes me sick & has a noticeable aftertaste to it. But it's getting harder to find the good stuff.

Anything made with apples! Applesauce, cake, pie, tarts, streudel, candy apples, baked apples, apple butter, spiced apple rings, apple pancakes, apple chips...
There was a really good crop of apples here in PA this year.

As soon as the days start getting chilly I get hungry for, well, chili! Homemade preferably.
With a nice dense, crusty, still warm, homemade bread slathered in real butter to dip in it.

All kinds of squash, especially baked acorn squash, stuffed with crushed pineapple, brown sugar & walnuts.

Dang it, now I'm really hungry!
WOQ

a reply to: Meldionne1

utter until baked almost crispy and then sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and baked alittle more until crispier

That's an idea right there. Next year.

a reply to: wasobservingquietly

Anything made with apples! Applesauce, cake, pie, tarts, streudel, candy apples, baked apples, apple butter, spiced apple rings, apple pancakes, apple chips... There was a really good crop of apples here in PA this year.

I live in the middle of a corn/apple orchard. Apples off the trees are awesome. When they have a bumper crop you can literally fill up the back of a pick up for 15$.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: rickymouse

Wow, that is a nice looking freezer.... full of lovely, lovely eats.

I love my freezer after a 1/2 of beef or a couple of deer.

We get a side of beef each year but I don't go deer hunting anymore, I was the only one who ate it and while I ate venison steaks, the wife ate the T-bones and porterhouses. I like my grass fed organic beef.

We actually have two freezers, a twenty one cubic foot and a seventeen cubic foot. We also have the old freezer in case there isn't enough room when we get our beef. It is also a good thing to have a backup in case one of these newer freezers take a dump, they only have a five to seven year life expectancy now, our old one we just retired is twenty six years old and runs better than the new one. But it has been using more juice the last three years or so and we had a thirty percent jump in the electric rate a month ago. The difference in the electrical use should cover the cost of the new freezer, we won't come out ahead if it only lasts seven years. The new freezers are junk, even the more expensive ones. I suppose that a commercial one with remote compressor would have been the best way to go. But they are very costly.

a reply to: rickymouse

That is the worry with all that frozen food, dead freezer.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: rickymouse

That is the worry with all that frozen food, dead freezer.

We have an all refrigerator so that is why we need two freezers. But it does allow us to save a lot on food by buying things when they are on sale. We have seven chickens in the one, plus some breasts and thighs. Got the Whole chickens for .88 a pound, the Breasts for a buck a pound and the legs and thighs for .30 cents a pound. It saves a lot but with electric going up and freezers being bought, it does cut into the savings. The thing is, saving by not going to the store too often and buying a bunch of impulse buying saves us the most.

I also keep a lot of salt, canning jars and lids, and vinegar in stock in case things get back. We can can and salt the meats so they do not get wasted....or throw a big party for the friends to pig out on meats.

a reply to: seasonal

Apple pie with whipped cream and a scoop of ice cream.

a reply to: rickymouse

When thing go on sale is an excellent time to jam the freezer a little more.

It was bad when beef went through the roof. It was real expensive to even make tacos.

originally posted by: seasonal
a reply to: rickymouse

When thing go on sale is an excellent time to jam the freezer a little more.

It was bad when beef went through the roof. It was real expensive to even make tacos.

The kids and grandkids love the peach and strawberry jam we make. We buy the Strawberries from someone who grows them about sixty miles away and we buy the peaches from the fruit stand when the Michigan peaches come out. They have less chemicals on the one the fruit stand gets, but you have to get to them right away, they are picked a lot riper.

The peaches usually go for about .75 a pound, the berries are about three bucks a quart and we bought forty quarts this year. A quart of berries weighs almost two pounds and they pick them ripe so they have good flavor. Gee, I should make some shortcake and take out some frozen strawberries, we froze over twenty pounds of them for eating and smoothies.

I doubt if we could go back to one freezer again. We also have shredded zucchini for about fourteen loafs of bread in there and some homemade frozen applesauce. I kind of think we have gone a little nuts. Definitely, we have four bottles of salted nuts in our closet.

originally posted by: Tarzan the apeman.
a reply to: seasonal

Apple pie with whipped cream and a scoop of ice cream.

We had Apple pie two times so far this fall, they were cheap and in season. We also had pumpkin bar and Apple bars. I am starting to crave berries, getting kind of tired of apples.

a reply to: rickymouse

I have a big pressure cooker, the last thing we did in it was venison stew with port wine. Oh boy was that something, we also canned some ham. It was 89 cents at aldis. And that was very good as well.

People who haven't tried canning are missing a world of excellent food, on the cheap. When we sit down my kids try to guess what the same home prepped meal at a restaurant would cost. They get it.

My hope is my kids never get into the kind of debt that some of the people we know are in. You become slaves to it, but i digress. I love cooking. I love cooking French oven cooked dishes. Kinda easy and are they good.

a reply to: seasonal

The wife and I figure we need to learn how to can things before we get too old. We are already in our sixties. My kids and grandkids like the jams and stuff but don't want to go through the work to get the stuff made. They go to the store and get veggies and fruits that were picked half raw and do not appreciate the vine ripened home grown foods unless I bring it over all finished. Talk about lazy, they do not want to learn themselves how to do things.

We have been living in a time of plenty for about thirty years or more, that can go to hell at anytime and we need to teach the young how to survive it if it happens. Otherwise you have to kiss butt and beg for scraps waiting in line during emergency times. We are not as secure as we think we are, there is always a need to pass on experience to the kids. Fishing and hunting are two of those things as are preserving meats and food without need for electricity.

I am old enough to remember that most people stocked foods and everyone had jars and salt and vinegar. Also everyone kept some reserve water in stock. Now. fftt. people think it won't happen to them yet it is happening all over the place in this country and aid for disasters is very slow.