Best Roasted Pumpkin Seeds & Carved Pumpkins
Pumpkins by Ray Villafane
It’s become a tradition around here for me to post a few Halloween treats the last week of October. For the past two years, it’s been pictures of the best pumpkin carvings, and best roasted seeds recipe I could find. And guess what? This year it’s the same! (Sorry, old readers, but for you new subscribers, welcome!) So technically, this might be a re-post, but I have added new pumpkin images, a few more words in honor of the roasted seeds which I could eat until I explode, and a bonus: a picture of the costume that made me laugh the loudest in my haunts through the early Fall blogosphere. And let’s not forget, the festivities actually began last post, with a nightmarish tale dug up from the troves of my personal middle school horrors.
So first, the seeds. To enhance your (my) gorging euphoria, I’ll mention that they are nutritional powerhouses, packed with quality protein and minerals (zinc, iron, magnesium, manganese, calcium), believed to assist with bone, muscle, and prostate health, as well as the production of serotonin which will keep you smiling as widely as your jack-o-lanterns. The fact that they are roasted in butter only adds to the perfection. Close your eyes and they almost taste like Cheetos.
I would happily eat roasted pumpkin seeds every day in huge and shameless quantities, but considerations of weight, variety, and basic human decency force me to maintain something resembling balance and composure. Behold, the recipe:
The key to this recipe is to NOT wash the seeds after you’ve scooped them out. Just separate the larger wads of flesh and toss them out or compost. The slimy goo and bits of stringy stuff combined with butter form a delicious, crispy coating on the seeds.
In a 10- by 15- inch baking pan, mix 2 cups unwashed pumpkin seeds, 1 1/2 Tbs. melted butter, 1 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire. Spread seeds out in pan. Bake in a 250° oven, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp, about 2 hrs. Serve warm or cool. You can store the seeds in a baggie or container for as long as you can stand it before breaking in, like Frog & Toad with that box of cookies.
And now, the visual feast: disturbing pumpkins by artist and master carver, Ray Villafane, who has truly elevated the carving of squash sculpture into a fine art. You can learn more about Villafane Studios on his website, where you’ll find more ghoulish pumpkins as well as some of his amazing sand sculptures. Or become a “Villa-fan” on Facebook and see what’s brand new. Enjoy!
BONUS costume: Ukrainian rhythmic gymnastic team (submitted by Chris to Regretsy).
Live Clay 
Dear Laura, I am Ginger’s dad and I really enjoy your posts. The pumkins are a screech. Thanks. Chuck Creswell
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Hi Chuck! Nice to see you here again. I’m so glad you enjoyed this post, and the others. Thanks so much for reading! Give Ging a hug for me….
that’s Gabe and Cameron, right? I love the pumpkin art…amazing. Thanks for the nutritional information for the fabulous roasted seeds. Now I can gorge myself with good conscience. Will you come over and make pumpkins seeds and homemade yogurt. Maybe it will help me stop snoring.
I’ll pass your comment on to the
girlsboys. And for someone who doesn’t want to publicize her snoring, this is pretty public!It’s not just the carving that’s amazing. It’s that his creativity can come up with those ideas!
And that recipe looks like it would go well for all sorts of small seeds. And other things. Croutons perhaps…
Happy Belated Halloween!
You’re alive! And thinking about croutons! I am so happy to see you here, Guapola, confirming that you and your computer are still among the dry there in your neck of the watery woods. Glad you like those pumpkins–he’s definitely got a special talent. My whole house smells like pumpkin seeds right now… eating them off the trays before they’re finished. 🙂
Ahahah!
I liked that!
They are beautiful, no?
Yes! 😀
Reblogged this on Paranóias and commented:
Ahaha!
Thank you! Welcome to Live Clay….
😀