Food, Family & Fun: Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds

Recipe

Food, Family & Fun

A Seasonal Guide to Healthy Eating
Commemorating 50 years of School Lunch

Crunchy Pumpkin Seeds

About 20 Minutes
Serves: Depends on how big a pumpkin you have!

It's fun to make a scary Halloween pumpkin, and it's fun to toast the seeds and eat them. Seeds contain everything needed to grow a new pumpkin, and are a tasty snack, too!

Ingredients

Seeds from 1 Halloween Pumpkin
1 tsp per 1 cup of seeds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Have the kids help carve the Halloween pumpkin. When they scoop out the inside pulp that contains the seeds, reserve.

2. Have kids stand at the sink (use a stool if they are too low). Put pulp in a colander. Have kids wash pulp and stringy matter off seeds under cold running water. Blot seeds dry with a clean cloth or paper towel

3. Have kids spread seeds out on a cookie sheet. The seeds should be in a single layer, and they shouldn't touch each other!

4. Sprinkle the seeds with just a little salt. An adult puts the tray in the oven.

5. Check the seeds after 12 minutes. They are done when they are dry and light brown. How long this will take depends on how many there are, and how dry they are when they go in the oven.

6. Let cool before eating!

Nutrients per serving
2 Tbsp

Calories 148
Saturated fat 2.3 g
Iron 4.2 mg
Protein 9 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Calcium 12 mg
Carbohydrate 4 g
Vitamin A 10 RE
Sodium 295 mg
Total Fat 12.0 g
Vitamin C 1 mg
Dietary Fiber 1 g

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Spruce up old favorites by adding new ingredients. Include fruits, vetgetables or extra grains in recipes that may not call for them. Add diced carrots to rice. Add fruit to meat dishes, like sliced apples to pork dishes. Sliced bananas and shredded carrots on sandwiches make a tasty difference. Try a meatless dinner once or twice a week. Beans, dry or canned, provide plenty of protein for a family, as well as vitamins and minerals.

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Create a meal based on the ethnic heritage of grandparents; ask for recipes. Shop with an older family member or neighbor to buy the ingredients; prepare the foods your grandparent fixed for your parents. Make a cookbook of family recipes.

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This page originally published as part of the electronic Gourmet Guide between 1995 and 1999.