If you are one of the few people out there that like to make Pumpkin Pie from 'real ' pumpkins, or if you saved your seeds from your carved pumpkin, you will have plenty of seeds to make a tasty treat !
Toasted Pumpkin seeds do not take much effort or ingredients and are a really good & heathly snack.
First you need to wash your seeds really well to get all the pumpkin fibers off of them.
Next you will need to soak the seed for at least for 2-3 hours in a salt water brine of 1/4 cup salt to a gallon of water.
After they have soaked then drain them and spread them on a towel either overninght or at least for 8 hours (they need to be good and dry).Now comes the fun part of seasoning the seeds to your taste buds!Spread the seeds out on an oven safe pan that has sides on it. (like a jelly roll pan)
Drizzle a small amount of oil over them to coat all seeds well.
(I like to use olive oil as it adds a bit of flavor to the seeds, or even a garlic oil would be great!)The seasonings: For those that can handle 'salt' use any or all of the following:*Lowrey's Seasoning Salt*Garlic Powder*Paprika *Tabassco sause*CayanneFor those of use that need to limit our salt intake:*Mrs. Dash (original blend)*Garlic Powder*Paprika*Tabassco Sause*CayanneSprinkle the different seasonings of your choosing over the seeds and stir well to make sure all the seeds are coated well with the oil and seasonings.Time to Cook :Pre-heat your oven or toaster oven to 250~ , cook the seeds for 20-30 minutes and stirring them every 8-10 minutes. The seeds wil change color a bit at this point. After 30 minutes turn the oven up to 350~ and cook for another 20 minutes stirring the seeds every 8-10 minutes still until the seeds turn a nice toasted brown.(To test for done-ness : Take out a couple seeds and let cool, they should be crunchy, if still chewy let them cook for another 5 minutes and test again)Once the seeds are done, remove the seeds to a towel to rub the seasoning off or you can toss in a colender to remove all the excess seasoning.Well, there you have it!
And to think you didn't even have to crack a shell to get these wonderfully tasty seeds.
