Healthy Halloween

Oxymoron, right? I was assigned the task of bringing healthy snacks fro the kids school's Halloween party. Samples listed were, cheese, crackers, fruit, vegg etc.
Doesn't sound like alot of fun, so I put my thinking cap on and came up with the following:

Clementine Pumpkins

And, the one that required a Costco trip; Cantaloupe Pumpkins.
Found a great pumpkin cookie cutter, at ACE hardware of all places!! Next, I went to get the melons- and to get enough flat, cuttable surface, I needed quite a bit. Luckily Costco had the Tuscan Cantaloupe in store, and they are about twice the size of regular ones- hooray!
I still used 3 of these giants..
The first step was to really, really clean the melons on the outside. With all the listeria outbreaks related to melons lately, I take no chances. So, I filled the sink with warm water (not hot! don't want to cook the melons!). I added 1 tsp of Shaklee's Basic G, and a few drops of Basic H. The G is a germicide, and the H will clean any surface! I rolled the melons around in the solution and scrubbed them with my dish brush. The rinsed with cold water. I also made sure the knife, and cutting board were equally clean. I peeled the pumpkins with my filet knife, and voila!

Another Fall Fave

My hubby requests these bad boys every fall. Especially once the kids and I have brought home the pumpkins from the farm. Thank you Miller Farm- what an amazing place to be. Way more than pumpkins, this farm also offers huge selection of seasonal vegetables, and they are a very popular CSA around here.
So, we brought home the pumpkins on Monday, carved them yesterday (and of course saved the seeds). Today My dear husband came home "did you roast the seeds yet!?" He gets childishly excited about these, so whom am I to dissapoint!

The hardest part of roasting pumpkin seeds, is the separation of the seeds from everything else. I put the kids to work scooping out the pumpkins yesterday. I put all the pumpkin innards in a large bowl and filled with water. The seeds float to the top, and it makes the process alittle easier.
Once you have all the seeds separated, dry them off with paper towels. They will still feel "slimy" after they've been dried, but remove as much of that as possible.
Turn on the oven to 350 degrees.
The rest is depending on taste. I've done these with olive oil and sea salt, I've done them with a touch of salt, brown sugar and cinnamon too.. This is my hubby's favorite:
Melt butter (about 1/2 stick), mix in the seeds. Add salt to taste.
Spread evenly over cookie sheet, pop in the oven, and stir every 5 minutes until crispy and golden brown. Devour.

Happy Halloween and Yummy Pumpkin Seeds

 Yet another one of those fabulous American holidays- Halloween! After all the farm visits and pumpkin patches you can rest assured we had enough pumpkins for carving, cooking etc, etc. This year we decided to try one of them new fancy patterned pumpkin carvings. The result, in my opinion, cute but a little boring. Next year we will make a traditional jack-o-lantern.

The best part about carving pumpkins is the seeds! It's alot of work, but well worth the effort to remove, clean, dry and roast these little gems.

I put the kids on sorting seeds from "anything orange", they managed to extract about 4-5 seeds each, then got tired of it. So, it was all on me.
So, extract seeds and separate from all things orange. I find that it is easier in a bowl of cold water. Then pour into a colander, and rinse really well. They will continue to feel slippery, that's ok, and will first disappear when you dry them.
Let them sit in the colander to dry, then take a hair dryer to them, stirring with your hand constantly, until mostly dry. The next step depends much on personal preference, but I am sharing our family favorite.
Melt 2-3 tablespoons of butter, mix in about 2 tsp salt. Mix the seeds in the butter until coated, then pull them out with a slotted spoon, onto an aluminum foil covered cookie sheet. Roast in the oven at 275 degrees for about 30 minutes. Do keep a close eye on them, and stir every 5-10 minutes. Pull out of the oven when they are a deep golden brown and fill your home with a wonderful aroma!
Serve warm for greatest joy :)

Fall Decor..

This was a new concept to me when I moved to the U.S., decorating in fall, celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving. Fall has always been my favorite season, but even more so now, with these awesome holidays to celebrate. And, I get to decorate with cool, natural materials that we collect ourselves!
From the last few farm visits I have a variety of natural decorations, and it was all starting to come together nicely, until the squirrels found the pumpkins...
Well, luckily we went to another farm, and were able to get some new ones, as well as some adorable little gourds. And, I found a way to outsmart the little boogers- Vicks vapor rub! I've tried pepper spray, cayenne pepper, soap and lots of other things before, but this actually seems to work! Hooray! One added bonus of the Vicks, it gives the plump orange goodies a little shine, too!

These are our latest pumpkins, on top of a large hay-bale I picked up at the last farm, sitting to the side of our front door.  Also, my little scarecrows of course ;)

These are a collection of gourds and Indian corn, also collected at various farms in the area. It sits on the hallway table as you enter our home. In the bottom of the basket, to weigh it down, is an acorn squash from our back yard.

Also, I can not forget that in all these projects, are included various leaves and twigs, and sometimes pine cones and rocks from the kids "collection".

Next is the wreath hanging on the front door, it is a pre-made wreath with added personal touches, such as; Indian corn, pine cones, leaves and the kids sparkle glue of course.

Today we are making ghosts to add to the outdoor decorations in preparation for Halloween. Updates to come!

Happy Fall!