Now that you have baked, skinned,and pureed your pumpkin AND it is tucked away in your freezer for awaiting to be made into something delicious what can you do with those leftover seeds and goop?

Well, take the goop and gross out your kids for a moment. 🙂
Then, compost it so that it can help make rich soil for your garden.

Here is a simple treat you can make with the seeds: Pepitas!

Step One: Rinse the seeds and get as much goop off of them as you can. I use a strainer, my fingers and some water. It is pretty easy to do.

Step Two: Lay the seeds out on a baking sheet and let them dry OVERNIGHT. They need to be dried out.

Step Three: Sprinkle them with olive oil and some seasoning. I use a bit of salt and pepper, but people use all sorts of things. I have a friend that makes them spicy with cayanne pepper.

Step Four: Bake the seasoned seeds at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, or until crispy and beautifully tanned.

If you don’t want to make pepitas you can always plant your pumpkin. Last year my mother planted her pumpkin and it began to grow as it should come spring time. My sister (a full grown adult!) came running into the house announcing that she had just picked a watermelon from the garden. She was proud, ecstatic, eager to dig into her freshly harvested watermelon. Yea~ it was the pumpkin. 🙂