It’s autumn time once again, and everything is changing, even our snacks! I know I missed this post for Canadian Thanksgiving on October 8th, but there’s still Halloween and American Thanksgiving coming up which will see many a pumpkin be hollowed out.
Making a Jack-O-Lantern is lots of fun, of course, but after all the work and mess of taking out the seeds, there surely must be something you can do with them to make your efforts worth while?! Of course…you can make your own roasted pumpkin seeds!
These particular photos are actually the seeds from the inside of a butternut squash we used for making Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato soup. A recipe I’ll be sure to share in the future.
How to make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:
First, remove the seeds from your squash or pumpkin
Rinse them well to remove all the stringy bits
Toss them in a pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper. For additional flavour, you may add any herb or spice of your liking. Tristan enjoys cayenne pepper on his!
Put them into an oven at about 140C and keep an eye on them, mixing and turning occasionally. Remove them from the oven when they are toasted and crispy, but not over-done. Wait until they are cool before eating, being patient with the children who always want to eat them immediately.
Yes, I think these were a success by the looks on their wee faces!
This is a good way to segway into helping your children learn more about plant life-cycles. Recently we’ve been learning a song about apples and it includes apple seeds. Since then Kallista has been calling ALL seeds apple seeds. Now she is beginning to understand that apples have apple seeds, oranges have orange seeds, pumpkins have pumpkin seeds, cucumbers have cucumber seeds, etc. She gets excited when she learns a new ‘seed’ name!
As Tristan is older and already knows about these things, he is expanding his learning by examining different kinds of seeds and comparing them to the plants they come from. For some; like those mentioned above, he can do with the real thing, but others he is doing with pictures for the moment. He’s learning about cumin, flax, mustard, sunflower, etc. Things we may have in the cupboard but to which he hadn’t previously associated as a seed or a plant. We do a little bit more every now and then to keep his interest up and expand both children’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
What is your favourite seed, and why?
For more autumn recipes, try these:
Or have a peek at our Fall Activities, Halloween ideas or fun snacks pages.
