With Halloween upon us and jack-o-lanterns on our doorsteps, it’s time of year for one of my favorite snacks! No, I don’t mean seasonally festive candy (although that’s a plus too). I’m talking about delicious home-cooked pumpkin seeds!

When I was little, I dreamed of planting the seeds I’d cleaned out of my jack-o-lantern. I imagined planting them and growing pumpkins as big as me right there in my backyard. It never really occurred to me that the Southern California desert isn’t the best pumpkin-growing environment. My mom very gently turned my excitement over the seeds to other ventures, like baking them with salt or cinnamon. My friend Lynn told me she had never cooked pumpkin seeds before last year at our JOOI club’s carving party.

Stay JOOIful CCA!

If you’ve ever watched Scary Godmother (a Halloween must), you’ll remember the monsters teaching Hannah Marie how to create her very own Halloween candy and snacks. I’ve decided to take on the role of your Scary Godmother, and share my family pumpkin seed recipe with you!

1. Carve a pumpkin! Clean it out well, and separate the guts from the seeds

2. Wash the seeds in a bowl, in water, and pick out as much of the stringy bits as you can

3.Put the seeds in a bowl of salted water and boil 10 minutes

4. Drain in a sieve and spread the pumpkin seeds out on cloth to dry (not paper towels-- they'll stick)

Action shot!

5. Spread the dry seeds on a cookie sheet. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and salt, and stir till all seeds are coated. Spread them out on the sheet

6. Bake at 300 degrees for 10 min, take out and stir seeds around, then put back in until they just start to brown

7. Cool and eat!

Pumpkin seeds are a delicious fall snack, and a fun way to make use of every part of the pumpkins you carve this Halloween season. According to the internet, there are plenty of uses for all the leftover pumpkin guts too. I’m going to have to try and make some of these recipes for future Halloween How-To articles.

Happy Halloween everyone! Keep it spooky!