Heyyyy guys!! Today I asked my awesome friend and Nourish Your Lifestyle tech-genius, DeAnna, to do a guest post for the site. Check out what she had to say on one of my favorite subjects: pumpkin seeds! Then there’s the recipe and video from me below, just like always!!
DeAnna’s Pumpkin Story:
Hi new friends! I’m here to talk about pumpkin seeds, but I have to make a confession first. When Cheri and I talked about having me do a little guest post, we talked about a few different recipes I might want to try. I wanted to do a post on these roasted pumpkin seeds only because…I accidentally grew a pumpkin in my back yard this year. :)
I have a very small little back yard garden – a couple cherry tomato plants, some chard and kale, sweet peas, that sort of thing. Earlier this year, a mystery plant came up.
The Volunteer Squash
After extensive research (i.e. I posted this picture on Facebook and asked what everyone thought it was), consensus was that it was some kind of volunteer squash, probably from a seed in the compost.
But apparently even people who are more garden-savvy than me can’t tell what kind of squash it is just by looking at the plant.
But then as time went along, and I posted a few more pictures, people on my friends’ list became more and more certain that it was a pumpkin.
“Just wait for it to turn orange, and then eat it!” they said.
So when the chance to make a post on Nourish Your Lifestyle came up, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to make something delicious out of this “volunteer pumpkin” in my very own yard.
But then I went and picked it and brought it into the kitchen table, where I really looked at it and…
Y’all. I do not think this is a pumpkin.
BUT WHAT IS IT?!
It might be some kind of pumpkin hybrid. Garden-savvy people on the internet assure me that it’s still edible, and my best bet for having it taste good is to leave it curing at room temperature for a month or two. Which I shall. :)
So, I caved and bought a pumpkin from the grocery store. It is a delightfully round and uniformly orange sugar pumpkin. Getting the seeds out was easier than I expected.
I had good luck leaving all the stringy parts attached to the pumpkin, removing the seeds, and then later taking the stringy stuff out of the pumpkin in order to turn it into pumpkin-carrot soup (with carrots from my garden!). I think it would have been harder to separate the seeds if I had scooped all the innards out first.
Cooking the pumpkin seeds just about couldn’t be easier. I spread them on a sheet pan, seasoned with Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute, and roasted them at 350 for about 25 minutes, stirring them at about 15 minutes.
Seriously, that’s it.
A Pumpkin Seed Success
Not only do I think they are delicious, but my brother and husband both ate more than their fair share while we played a round of cards, so I’m going to call that a win.
***
Hey, it’s Cheri again! See, me and DeAnna have a lot in common when it comes to eating, gardening and our love for natural foods, so be sure to look out for more from her coming up in the future; she’s got some great stories!
As for me, I remember the first time I learned to make my own pumpkin seeds…which is when I was a preschool teacher in Phoenix. :) Find out more about the pumpkin seed chronicles here in this post about Roasted Cantaloupe Seeds.
But DeAnna is right: this recipe couldn’t be easier. I find that non-Nutritarians are usually stuck in their oil and salt ways, so you always find the same recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds every year…but over here at TWM, I love to simplify and make cooking as easy as possible, while still retaining as many nutrients as possible.
So here you have it! No salt, no oil and it just couldn’t be easier.
Check out the quick video and full recipe for how to make them, and then get cooking!
Nutritarian Roasted Pumpkin Seeds Recipe Video
- Whole Seeds from 1 Pumpkin, separated from strings and rinsed clean
- Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- After your seeds have been scooped out of the pumpkin, all the strings and pumpkin have been washed off and the seeds have drained, leave the seeds in the colander and sprinkle the seasoning liberally onto the seeds. Shake them around a bit to evenly distribute. The amount used will vary depending on how many seeds you got from your pumpkin and your tastes!
- On an aluminum foil lined baking sheet, sprinkle the seasoned seeds in an even layer, making sure they don't overlap so they will cook evenly. Roast for 15 minutes and stir them. Roast for another 10 minutes or until seeds are golden brown, making sure that the seasoning does not burn or they will taste bitter. Eat the seeds whole, with the husk and all for extra fiber and crunch!
I got some raw, shelled, non-GMO seeds and want to roast ‘em. Use them in my breakfast cereal, so thinking about the nutmeg/cinnamon flavoring…
Need to wash?
Roast faster (no shells)?
I wouldn’t wash them myself, but if you ARE trying to get nutmeg/cinnamon to stick without oil, I’d rinse them. And then roast faster yes, keep a good eye on them…they’ll only need like 5 minutes or so. Maybe less!
These are absolutely fabulous! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
Big Y has organic, raw, shelled pumpkin seeds which I’d like to roast. But they are green and look much smaller than your illustration