Roasted Pumpkin and Squash Seeds a la Pumpkin Girl

There's a few things I love about Fall, and one of them is being able to turn on the oven again. In fact, it's so cold now that I can't wait for an excuse to turn it on and take the chill off the house. Breads, treats, pumpkin seeds...they've all been cranking out of my kitchen lately.

Most of you probaby already know that my nickname, Pumpkin Girl, comes from the fact that growing up my family ran a small pumpkin farm. We had somewhere around an acre of pumpkins that we hauled up to our driveway every October and organized into nice piles according to size. The money we made helped both my sister and I through college. We also got pretty good at carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds. My sister definitely excels at the carving, me at the roasting.

Here's my favorite way to make pumpkin or squash seeds. First, you need to clean them up. Make sure you get all the stringy stuff off and give them a good bath. Then, set them out on some aluminum foil to dry out for a day or so. When they're ready, mix up your "secret sauce." Now that I'm revealing the secret recipe, I guess I'll have to rename the sauce. Okay, let's call it the "super sauce." This should work for a fairly well covered cookie sheet.

2 T. butter, melted in the microwave
2 T. worchestershire sauce
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. garlic powder

Mix up your sauce and pour it over the seeds. Bake at 350 for 10 - 15 minutes. If you start to hear a popping sound coming from your oven, it's time to take the seeds out. These will keep okay in a bowl at room temperature for a few days if you don't eat them all (yeah, right). Cover them with plastic wrap.

What other treats are you enjoying this Halloween?