Easy Pumpkin Seeds

Each year at Halloween, we set out with the goal of finding the perfect pumpkin for each of the family members.  After the toils of selection, (see ShermanFarms U-Pick) the fun begins with the pumpkin carving!  

With a little help with sharp knives for the little ones, we carve a pumpkin for each family member. 

And of course, we save the seeds!  Pumpkin seeds are a nice fall treat after the rigors of tromping around getting candy from neighbor’s houses.  To me, and to my kids, the homemade ones have a taste reminiscent of popcorn, but much more filling.

It is pretty simple really, save the seeds after carving your Halloween pumpkins, or save the seeds after cutting up your Hubbard Squash or pumpkins for pie or any other winter squash. 

·         Clean off all the slime, stringers, and goopers. 

·         Place in a bowl and add two tablespoons of olive oil. Stir them around and make sure all are oiled, add more oil if needed.

·         Spread on a cookie sheet evenly

·         Sprinkle with salt to your liking – we salt liberally

·         Bake in oven for approximately 45 minutes at 250 degrees

·         Eat right away, save for later, enjoy!

I store my roasted pumpkin seeds in ziplock bags on the pantry shelf.  The keep well for several months, at least, that is the longest I have kept any around.

Easy Essentials: Blackberry Jam

I make a lot of different jams, I think over the last couple of years I made 20 different types and by now they have all disappeared except the sour plum jam, so I think they are pretty good.  But the staple for my boys is Blackberry Jam. Blackberries are everywhere in abundance, and they are relatively easy to pick.  Back when we lived in California, we would go down on the levees and pick buckets full of berries.  Walkers and joggers would wander by and look at us like we were crazy or comment on the novelty of someone picking the berries.  If we did not get to a patch of berries, they would dry on the vines, too many for even the birds to eat!

Now that we live in the Pacific Northwest, there is a lot more competition for natures bounty.  I would go to the end of our driveway where the main road is lined with eight foot tall blackberry brambles on one side before work.  At 5-6 AM in the morning, there would be several other people out in the pre-dawn light filling buckets and trying not to tangle themselves in the thorns.


With my fresh picked berries, I follow these steps to produce a consistently perfect jam:

Prepare jars, rings, and lids - each batch will make 4-5 pints of jam.  I usually prepare 6 jars in case I miraculously have more than I thought.

Ingredients:

6 cups crushed blackberries
5 cups sugar
1 package pectin (usually SureJell)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Crush berries - I usually pour berries into a measuring cup then mash them until juicy.

In a large pot, a tall stockpot is best, bring the berries to a boil, stirring constantly

Add sugar and keep stirring until all is melted, bring back to a boil.

Add lemon juice.

Add pectin, keep stirring and bring to a rolling boil.

Boil for 2-4 minutes, this is where a long handled spoon can come in handy!

Done!  Ladle into jars, cap, and put into a boiling water canner for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

Easy Essentials: Homemade Applesauce

Homemade applesauce is one of the easy things to make that can save you money and give you a healthier food for your family.  I make the applesauce with skins and all by using a grinder after cooking the apples.

I have planted 10 apple trees on my property, but in the meantime, I have to make do with buying what we need each year.  After a trip to Montana, the family stopped at the fruit stand in Thorpe, Washington and I bought a box of Honeycrisp Apples and a box of Granny Smith apples.  The Honeycrisp's looked delicious, and the Granny Smiths were on sale!

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Unfortunately, my cheapness got the better of me on this occasion.  The Honeycrisp's were an excellent apple and sweet, but the Granny Smith apples were too sour and resulted in me having to add sugar to the applesauce.  Definitely I will use only sweet apples in the future for making applesauce.

My basic recipe:

Wash the apples.

Slice and core the apples.

Place in a large pot - I use my 30QT stockpot so that I can make a large batch.  Add about 1.5 inches of water to the bottom of the pot.

Bring the pot to a boil and let the apples cook until soft - skins and all.

I then use my kitchenaid grinder attachment and put all the apples and sauce through this to grind up the skins.

Add sugar if needed.

Can in a pressure canner at 10 psi for 20 minutes.

I used 30 apples and made 7 quart jars of applesauce.  A case of apples resulted in two batches.

starting to cook the apples

Cooking apples until mushy.

Kitchenaid grinder.

Grinding the Applesauce through the kitchenaid grinder.

Finished Applesauce!

What do do with the apples cores?  Make apple jelly!

Something to write about another time.