Is it just me, or are healthy snacks hard to find nowadays?
It seems like so many “healthy” snacks are full of artificial sugars and chemical preservatives. All of which I really try to stay away from.
Luckily, Traditional Food offers us some real healthy snacks.
I’ve already talked about how nutritious pumpkins are, and now we are going to talk a little bit about the seeds.
Pumpkin seeds, or pepitas if you want to be fancy, are also very nutritious, containing manganese, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, zinc, protein, iron and very high amounts of Vitamin E.
Because of the Vitamin E, they’re high in antioxidants and they also have antimicrobial properties. Cool, huh?
So now that you have made your own pumpkin puree I’m going to show you what to do with all those seeds I had you save.
Roasted pumpkin seeds are really, really good and sadly never seem to last very long.
Which is an indication of their high yum factor. 🙂
Be careful though, you have to watch them in the oven because it seems like they don’t do anything forever and then BAM, they’re done. It’s really easy to over toast.
It’s very difficult to roast pumpkin seeds, so listen closely.
Wash.
Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt.
Put in 325° F oven.
Watch closely.
Take out of oven.
Whoa!
Now take the rest of the day off. And treat yourself to a crunchy, salty, highly nutritious snack. 🙂
But really. Put the seeds in a strainer and run under cold water.
Swish them around and stuff to get the pumpkin stringy stuff off of them.
When they’re clean, dry them off and toss them in a bowl.
And by toss, I mean “put carefully”. Because tossing them doesn’t work well.
They’re kinda like Tiddlywinks.
Do you guys remember those?
If not, don’t tell me. 🙂
Anyway. Put them in the bowl.
Then drizzle them with olive oil.
Then sprinkle them with sea salt.
Now mix them up really well.
After you’ve mixed everything up good, spread them out on a rimmed cookie sheet.
Or maybe just a flat cookie sheet works for you.
I like the security of the rim. Cuz I can be klutzy.
Roast at 325°F.
It shouldn’t take very long. About 5 – 10 minutes.
Let them cool, and put them in a pretty bowl.
If you want to be a little more adventurous, you can always change the toppings.
Plain salt too boring? Use garlic salt instead.
Like a little sweet? Toss them in a cinnamon sugar mixture.
Living life on the spicy side? Add a little chipotle to the mix.
Give them a try and let me know what you think!
Blessings!
More kid approved snacks you should try:
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients
- pumpkin seeds
- olive oil
- sea salt
- other toppings as desired
Instructions
- Wash the seeds well under cold running water.
- Pat them dry and put them in a bowl.
- Drizzle the seeds with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and mix well.
- Spread the the seeds out on a rimmed cookie sheet and roast in preheated 325°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes. WATCH CLOSELY.
Notes
Like a little sweet? Toss them in a cinnamon sugar mixture.
Living life on the spicy side? Add a little chipotle to the mix.
Sarah Koontz {Grounded & Surrounded} says
Cute! I love how you don’t try to over-complicate a simple process. But you are definitely right about watching those little suckers closely! I am excited I found you on Homestead Bloggers Network.
Cery says
LOL Sarah! I try not to do complicated. Glad you joined the network!