What to do with Halloween Pumpkins

With Halloween a few weeks past and Thanksgiving quickly approaching it's probably time to get rid of those decorative pumpkins sitting on the doorstep. This year, instead sticking to tradition by carving Jack o' Lanterns, Ryan suggested we paint our pumpkins.

I have to say, this was a lot more fun and much less messy than carving Jack o' Lanterns. However, unlike Jack o' Lanterns, which wither and rot, these pumpkins are not going anywhere. Most pumpkins remain fresh and healthy for up to 8-12 weeks. So what to do with them? My first idea was to make pumpkin pie, however, as I quickly learned, this is the wrong type of pumpkins for pie. For that you need the sweet baby type. As an alternative, I decided to turn the seeds from these pumpkins into a delicious snack by toasting them in the oven.

I laid down newspaper to avoid mess and cut the top off the first pumpkin. I checked the inside to ensure it was still in good shape, which it was.

 Next came the icky part of scooping out the seeds. This was one of the reasons I avoided Jack o' Lanterns in the first place, and here I am 2 weeks after Halloween scooping out pumpkin guts. After the second pumpkin, it looked like I had more than enough seeds to toast so I didn't cut up the other two.

Now that I had my seeds, what to do with the remainder of the pumpkins. As I recently read, deer love the taste of pumpkin. Given the recent deer activity in my backyard I thought it would be a great idea to cut out the inner flesh of the pumpkins and leave them out as a treat for the deer.

 

I obviously took great care to only use the flesh from the inside of the pumpkin and not any of the outer flesh that had been painted. I chopped two of the pumpkins and put them in a small plastic bag and took it outside to an area where I've seen deer roaming. After placing the treat for the deer outside I returned to the seeds. First I made sure to rinse them thoroughly and then laid them out on a paper bag.

I sifted through the seeds and removed any pieces of pumpkin flesh stuck to the seeds. I washed them again and set them back in the bowl.

Next, I scooped out some butter and put it in the microwave for about a minute until it was almost thoroughly melted. I put the seeds in a clean bowl and mixed in the melted butter and a bit of salt.

After tossing the seeds with the melted butter and salt I laid them out in a large cookie sheet making sure to spread them into a single layer.

Next, I placed the cookie sheet in the oven, which had been preheated to 300 degrees and set the timer for 25 minutes. After the initial 25 minutes I took the cookie sheet out and tossed the seeds and added some more salt.

I set the timer another 15 minutes at which point I repeated the step above and then set the timer another 10 minutes. After a total of 50 minutes in the oven the seeds were crispy and brown which indicated they were done. I put the seeds in a plastic container, added a bit more salt and tossed. Voila a tasty treat for all to enjoy.