Making pumpkin seeds, learn how to make a great healthy snack using pumpkin seeds.

Its Halloween again, and your carving pumpkins with the family. Its about that time to scoop out the slimy guts and throw them in the trash. But just hold on! Before you toss out those guts, did you know that you can actually use the seeds to eat? Pumpkin seeds actually make a great healthy snack. They are extremely versatile when it comes to eating too. Meaning you can prepare and eat them so many unique ways. On top of that, pumpkin seeds are actually really healthy for you too. Here are some common things that you can do with pumpkin seeds:

• Roast or spice them
• Add them to salads
• Garnish baked goods (adding them to muffins, etc)
• Use them in soups and stews
• Make a pumpkin seed pesto

These are some of the more common ways that people use pumpkin seeds. Next year don't throw away your pumpkin seeds. Your pumpkin and mother earth will thank you. All of the innocent pumpkin seeds getting thrown away is simply wasteful! When you really think about how many people just buy pumpkins for one day to put outside and then throw away. That's a lot of pumpkins, and valuable nutrient packed seeds going in the trash!

Getting those seeds out of your pumpkin and cleaning them is actually pretty easy. Really easy actually, because you already do most of the work. Because to carve a pumpkin you have to scoop out the guts anyways; which is where the seeds are. This next part of the reading will be an easy step by step process on how to clean off the seeds and prepare them to eat.

• Scoop all of the pumpkin guts out, and put them into a bowl.

• Separate the seeds from the slimy guts, and pesky strings. This may take a little bit of time, you can try if you'd like to speed up the process by putting the seeds into a strainer. Run some water on them while "feeling them up" which will help separate those guts.

• When your done with getting all the guts and strings off, you next want to put all the seeds into a strainer. Something similar will work also.

• Now rinse those seeds under some cold water. You also want to double check that ALL of the guts and debris have been removed from the seeds. The reason its so important is because the guts will burn in the oven if left on the seeds.

• Step five is optional. Soak the seeds in salt water. You don't have to, the reason most people soak the seeds in salt water is because the seeds contain enzyme inhibitors. Which can possibly upset your stomach. Soaking the seeds in salt water deactivates the enzyme inhibitors, and also allows the seeds to produce more vitamins. So if your going to soak the seeds all you need to do is get a container and fill it with water. Add some salt to the water until it is saturated. Then place the seeds in, and let them soak for 10 hours to 2 days.

• Dry the seeds off, using paper towels or whatever suits you best.

• Now you want to season the seeds. With so many different spices out there, you can get creative as you want when doing this. For some ideas you could sprinkle the seeds with some salt. Toss the seeds with some olive oil, a good measurement would be to use 1 tbsp for every cup of seeds. Canola or coconut oil would also work. You can also season the seeds with nutmeg, sugar, and cinnamon for a more sweet snack. If you like things that pack a little kick to them try tossing the seeds in your favorite hot sauce. Another way to give them some flavor is by using other powder seasonings, like onion powder, chili powder, cumin powder, etc.

• When your done seasoning the seeds spread them on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Make sure there spread out enough giving you a single layer of seeds.

• Now its time to roast the seeds. There's several different ways you can do this. The easiest method would be to bake them. Preheat the oven to about 300º F or 150º C. Leave the pumpkin seeds in there until they are browned, which would be roughly 45-55 minutes. Make sure to shake them around every 10 minutes or so to prevent them from getting burned. If you don't want to use the bake method you can also roast them by broiling, or stirring them around in a hot pan.

• Put them aside to cool

Now you've got some tasty pumpkin seeds that are ready to be eaten. I hope you enjoyed learning how to make pumpkin seeds into a healthy snack. Next time Halloween rolls around don't let those seeds go to waste. If you really are itching to try this out sooner you don't have to wait until Halloween! Or if you simply don't want to go through the hassle of gutting a pumpkin for its seeds. You can buy raw pumpkin seeds from tons of different sources. Try a local coop or grocery store.