The 13 Days of Pumpkin: Happy Hallowe'en!

Hallo, my friends!  It is the best day of the whole wide world: HALLOWE'EN!  It's even Yankee Dog's favourite day, since all kinds of friends come to visit him.  This year, he was dressed as SpideyPaws, the rare 10 legged spider, and since he was in costume, figured he could run off to the next house with a horde of children--and not just TO the house, but INTO the house.  He also tried nabbing candy out of the hands of countless children and knocked over a jack-o-lantern (very daintily and without fiery crisis), so needless to say, it's been an exciting evening for him.  An exciting day for me, too, because it meant carving aforementioned jack-o-lantern, and not just the one but FOUR!  I love love LOVE carving pumpkins, not just because it's fun to stick my hand elbow-deep in pumpkin guts and not just because they look mega awesome in the dark lit up, but because it means pumpkin seeds.  And so, without further ado, recipe #13: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

SpideyPaws!  SpideyPaws!  Does whatever a SpideyPaws does!

Save the seeds of your pumpkins as you scoop out the guts.  Separate as much of the goop from the seeds as you can.  Put some water in the bowl to help rinse more goo off the seeds, then drain them through a colander.  You'll have to wiggle the colander around a bit to shake the water from the seeds.  Next, line a few baking trays with paper towels and spread your seeds out in even, thin layers on each sheet.  Top with another layer of paper towel, patting to absorb as much moisture as you can.  Allow the seeds to dry over night.  I know this means a sad, long wait for your tasty, toasty seeds, but trust me, it's worth it.  Any time you want to roast a seed/nut/legume like product (peanuts, for example), you need to dry them out before roasting, or you can cook them for days and they will still be mushy and decidedly not delicious.  Thankfully, pumpkin seeds are thin and dry out pretty quickly.

That's a jar full of delicious, my friends!

The next day, all you need to do is remove the seeds from the paper towels (they have a tendency to adhere to the paper a bit).  Spray the seeds heavily with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt, tossing to coat thoroughly.  Bake at 350 degrees in ten minute intervals, stirring to encourage even toasting, until seeds are crispy and lightly golden (usually about 30 minutes).  Store them in something like a Mason jar and enjoy their salty, crunchy goodness at will!  Just be careful eating too many; they have crispy, crunchy edges that don't digest softly, if you catch my drift.

Happy hauntings, my friends!