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Happy Fall GIS Parents and Students!

Did you know pumpkin seeds are a delicious and healthy fall treat? The pumpkin plant goes to great effort in producing and protecting its seed, filling each packet with high concentrations of vitamins, minerals, proteins and essential oils.

As part of our NYS standard based health curriculum followed at GIS , the students will be learning about nutrition this month. Carving pumpkins and toasting the seeds are a great family activity as well as a health lesson in itself that can be taught at home!

Since I was a little girl, my family and I would always toast our pumpkin seeds after we carved our jack-a-lanterns. I didn’t know what a great source of vitamins and other nutrients I was eating; I just thought I was eating a tasty treat (I had a very tricky Mom)! I found this great recipe that I thought our GIS  community might like to try. Toast or roast pumpkin seeds in your oven in no time at all. They can be salted or spiced to suit your palate. The shells are edible and are a good source of fiber. Use this method with other seeds such as acorn squash and butternut squash.

INGREDIENTS:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Cooking spray, olive oil, or butter
• Optional: Salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, or other seasoning of choice

PREPARATION:

Rinse pumpkin seeds. Use your fingers to remove all the pulp. Drain pumpkin seeds and discard pulp. Spread out on paper towels on a cookie sheet to dry overnight.

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Line a baking sheet with non-stick foil.

Toss pumpkin seeds in olive oil, butter, or spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, cayenne pepper, or your choice of seasonings. Toss to coat.

Bake about 1 hour, tossing every 15 to 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool pumpkin seeds before eating. Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 months or refrigerate up to 1 year.

The bottom line: Pumpkin seeds are also known as pepitas.

Recipes found at About.com.