Apparently Jack-o-lanterns are not for eating

This summer, my father decided he wanted to grow pumpkins in his garden. And, despite the in-land hurricane and all the bad weather, the pumpkins grew like weeds. When I was home last weekend for my niece's bat mitzvah, there were many rather huge pumpkins.

I decided to take one home with me and figure out something to do with it. Unfortunately, all of my internet research has indicated that jack-o-lantern pumpkins are, well, just for show. I am certain my father was unaware, or else he would have picked a different variety. Never the less, I'm making a go of it.

And so far, I have discovered at least one part of the halloween pumpkin variety tastes delicious ... the seeds.



As for the recipe, there's really nothing to it. I found that one average size halloween pumpkin gave me about 2 cups of seeds. I wanted them salty and spicy, so I coated them with just a tiny bit of olive oil plus 2 tsp of garlic powder, 1tsp of salt, and 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, and 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes. I roasted them for about half an hour, stirring after half an hour. I am now resisting the urge to eat them all at once.