How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds

This will be my last post this week, but I'm leaving you with a quick lesson on toasting your pumpkin seeds. Because you've already baked your pumpkin and you're going to make that pie, right? Right. Roasting the seeds is very simple, and hardly a recipe.

I hope you have a good Thanksgiving with friends and family. If you're still looking for inspiration, try here or here or maybe here. And, if I do say so myself, these cinnamon buns and chocolate cake would also be lovely.

How To Roast Pumpkin Seeds 

Once you've scooped out the seeds and goop from your pumpkin, separate the seeds from the strings.

Preheat your oven to 325F. In a small pot, bring a few cups of water to a boil. Add the seeds and boil for about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, drain off the water, and pat the seeds dry with a towel. Toss the seeds with a tablespoon or two of your favorite vegetable oil and spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 25ish minutes, or until they look slightly toasted. Allow them to cool and store in an airtight container. Use them for garnishing salads or just for snacking.

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free

Since it's Thanksgiving this week, I thought, for once, I'd get up an appropriate recipe ahead of time. Not the day of or the week after, which is less than helpful.

Yesterday I showed you how I cooked my pumpkin, and today I'll tell you how I made it into delicious, delicious pie. If you try to eat vegan or dairy free, you may have noticed that pumpkin pie is tough. Almost all "regular" recipes I've seen use condensed milk or evaporated milk, and there's not an intuitive substitute that I can think of. However, in Devil's Food Cake Murder, I found a substitution recipe. The book itself is not good, but the recipes are mouthwatering. Anyway, thanks to this book, I was able to make a dairy free pumpkin pie without using tofu. and it was DELICIOUS. Seriously.

go forth and make pie.

Substitute for Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs
1 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Beat the eggs together until they are a uniform color. Add the brown sugar and mix in well. Add vanilla and beat in. Add the flour and beat for another minute and make sure it's well mixed. Add the baking powder and salt and mix in.

This makes enough to substitute or one 14-oz can of sweetened condensed milk.

Pumpkin Pie - dairy free
1 1/3 C smooth pumpkin
1 batch substitute for sweet condensed milk
1 egg
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cloves
1 C hot water

one 9 inch pie crust- vegan, gluten free, homemade, store bought, etc.

Preheat oven to 375F. Beat all ingredients together until just smooth. Pour into a prepared 9 inch crust and bake for 50-60 minutes. It's normal if the center is still somewhat jiggly, as it will set as it cools.