Pumpkin Carving and Pumpkin Seed Recipes!

Last night for Family Home Evening we decorated PUMPKINS for our front porch! 

 We started out the night by getting the girls all geared up for some painting. They loved swirling colors all over their little orange friends... and then their hands, faces, and chairs! :) And while they were painting the town, Kevin and I started carving our own pumpkins.

Kevin carved this fantastic Cannibal Pumpkin (complements of Pinterest) and its accompanying victim. Lily had unfortunately become very attached to the little pumpkin and was very upset when she saw it being eaten!

I also stole some inspiration from Pinterest and carved this fun little Puking Pumpkin. Brooklyn and Lily both worked VERY hard with me to separate the seeds from the pumpkin puke so we could bake them today.

The girls' pumpkins both came out resembling "modern art" and they are both very proud of their creative efforts!

Side by side our pumpkins make a pretty fun scene. Our neighbor even took a moment to stop and complement them (which made me feel good since his porch is TOTALLY decked out for Halloween!)

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Anyway, this is what our porch looks like right now. Not much when it comes to decorating, but it is enough to make my girls happy and to leave me with a little less stress and a little extra spending money!

As for those seeds... Brooklyn and I got them all seasoned up and baked today and they turned out great! In fact, I offered Brooklyn some cookie dough after lunch and she turned it down with a request for seeds instead! I didn't think that was possible.

When the seeds were all done, we sat down together on the couch and munched on them whilst reading Halloween books under a blanket. It was AWESOME!

If you are looking for some good Pumpkin Seed Recipes, we borrowed THIS ONE from 100Cookbooks.com:

Curried Pumpkin Seeds

1 egg white
2 teaspoon curry powder
scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grained sea salt
1 cup fresh pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 375.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the egg white, curry powder and salt. Add the pumpkin seeds and toss well. Drain off any excess egg white (using a strainer) and place seeds in a single layer across a baking sheet. Bake for about 12 minutes or until seeds are golden. Sprinkle with a bit more curry powder when they come out of the oven. Taste and season with more salt if needed.

Makes one cup.

And then we made our own by mixing 1 Cup of seeds with 2 Tablespoons of melted garlic butter, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, spreading it out on a pan, and baking at 375 for 14 minutes. YUMMO!