How to Roast Fresh Pumpkin Seeds!

First things first: pick out some good pumpkins for carving!

Have fun and take goofy pictures while carving said pumpkins!

Pick through the fun gooey mess of insides and get the seeds out.

It's a messy job, but someone's got to do it!

It helps to have several bowls and containers for plopping this mess of pumpkin guts and seeds into. Boy oh boy did we have a ton of seeds! 

Be sure to clean as much of the stringy goo off of the seeds as possible. We soaked our seeds in cold tap water with salt. We used 3 Tbsp. salt to 6 cups of pumpkin seeds. We let them soak for about 8 hours. You can soak them for up to 24 hours if you want. 

After soaking, we laid our seeds out on clean kitchen towels to dry for about an hour. While waiting for the seeds to dry, we dug out every cake pan, cookie sheet, or flat cooking pan we could find. Make sure to have your seeds as flat and uncrowded as you can. This ensures they will roast evenly!

We set our oven to 250 degrees and slow roast for approximately two hours. We got four pans in the oven at once, and after an hour we rotated our top pans to the bottom rack, and the bottom ones to the top rack for even roasting. 

We needed another pan emptied for the next batch, so we dumped one pan of seeds into another, these were perfectly done! Crispy and perfectly salted on the outside, and pure deliciousness on the inside!

 All that's left to do now is enjoy the tasty goodness!

We hope you'll try it!

Crockpot Pork Roast!

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I would normally rub a small amount of olive oil on the roast before putting my seasonings on; but since this roast has a good amount of fat on it, I let it render as it cooked. I used the rendered fats and juices to baste the meat.

Use the seasonings of your choice. I kept this simple and used garlic powder, salt, pepper, and parsley flakes.

I added two small quartered onions. I usually use celery, but I wanted some cabbage, and decided that would be just as flavorful. At this point, I have the crockpot on high, and put the lid on. 

I went ahead and prepared my potatoes and carrots, leaving them in a bowl of cold tap water until I was ready to put them in the pot.

Once the roast has cooked on high for a couple hours, I added my potatoes and carrots. 

I left everything alone for another two hours. Then I basted the meat and vegetables. I basted them again about 45 minutes later. I did this again before the roast was done.

Total time in the crockpot was just over 6 hours. Mmm, I think Mister is going to be happy.

Just before it's time to serve this delicious medley of goodness, I took everything out of the pot, and poured the juices into a sauce pan and made a simple gravy. 

Mister gave it a two thumbs up!

Delicious!

It even looks yummy when Jake puts it all together in a heap. I spared you the picture after he smothered it with ranch dressing and hot sauce. 

We hope you'll give it a try!