Pumpkin Seeds

Scratch your head and get it over with. I know. October and November have come and passed and all things pumpkin should no longer be a novelty in the house. I had a pumpkin sitting in my window for over a month and it was time to use it up. I turned it into Mesa Grill's Pumpkin Soup and saved the seeds.

When it came time to roasting the seeds I opened my spice cabinet up to draw some inspiration for a flavor combination I have never tried before. What was staring right at me were the spices I used from the pumpkin soup and thought why not give it a shot? If they tasted great in the soup they will taste great flavoring the pumpkin seeds.

No exact amounts. I grabbed my spices along with some honey, maple syrup, and vegetable oil and put a little of this and a dash of that into a mixing bowl. I added my pumpkin seeds and gave them a toss in the sweetened mixture and laid them in a single layer on the baking sheet.

They only took 20 minutes to roast. The dogs were going pumpkin seeds nuts over the sound of the pumpkin seeds cracking open and popping about in the oven. I knew it was time to pull them out. The smell from the cinnamon and maple syrup was so aromatic that I couldn't wait to pull the baking sheet out of the oven and get my hands all over these.

I have never had pumpkin seeds on the sweet side. I was sure missing out! Let me tell you... these were the most incredibly tasty pumpkin seeds ever! I never eat the shells but these were so perfectly roasted and flavored that I just popped them in my mouth and ate the shells as well. FAN-FREAKIN'-TASTIC! My entire batch was gone in the blink of an eye. It was a small pumpkin and gave me about a 1/2 cup of the pumpkin seeds.

Saving this "recipe" in my safe spot, here on my blog, for a reminder to make pumpkin seeds the same way next year... is it October yet? Sigh. They were here and now they are gone like the novelty of the pumpkin until next season.

Pumpkin Pie Pumpkin Seeds

Stars of the Show:

*Make the mixture to your tastes. I added a dash of each seasoning until the spice was just to my liking. Do the same! You'll be glad you gave this a try!*

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• ground cinnamon
• ground ginger
• allspice
• nutmeg
• honey
• maple syrup
• pumpkin seeds

And Action:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. In a bowl combine the vegetable oil through maple syrup and whisk to combine. Add the pumpkin seeds to the bowl and toss to coat the seeds. Lay the pumpkin seeds on a single layer on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the oven and stir every 10 minutes until the pumpkin seeds are toasted to your heart's desire.