Naturally, October is National Pumpkin Month – October and pumpkins go together like peanut butter and jelly.  As you carve up pumpkins into jack o’lanterns or roast pumpkins to make fall goodies (like Miranda describes here), save the seeds for a tasty snack.  Pumpkin seeds are delicious and nutritious – they are filled with great minerals like Zinc, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Manganese, Iron and Copper.  They are also a good source of Vitamin B, E, K – I could go on and on but let’s get to the fun part.

To prepare the pumpkin seeds, I put the seeds and guts in a bowl of water.  The water seems to help loosen the seeds but you’ll still have to pick some out.

Next, I rinse and drain them.  Then soak them in heavily salted water overnight.

In the morning, I lay them out on a towel to let them dry.  I then toss them with oil or butter and season them.  There are many seasonings that taste great:

• Cinnamon and sugar
• Parmesan
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Cayenne
• Seasoning salt
• Creole seasoning
• Table salt 🙂

Next, you can either roast or dry them.

To dry them, either lay them out on a dehydrator at 115-120 degrees or in an oven on the lowest setting for 3-4 hours.  In the oven, stir them frequently to ensure you don’t scorch them.  To roast them, preheat your oven to 250 degrees and roast them for 10-15 minutes.  Keep a close eye on them to ensure you don’t burn them.

Thats all there is to it and you have a yummy, seasonal snack with loads of health benefits.