Roasted Squash Seeds

Okay, who loves roasted pumpkin seeds? I'm talking out of a fresh pumpkin - not those weird looking white 'pumpkin' seeds in bags at the gas station. Oh yeah. Love them. So if you are digging pumpkin seeds, have you tried to roast seeds from acorn squash, butternut squash, really any winter squash? Hello! If you are just tossing out the innards you are missing out on an absolutely delicious and healthful snack.

Two nights ago, I cooked a small acorn squash (from my local stash in the basement) and scooped the seeds into a bowl which set on the kitchen counter. They were a little dry this morning so I separated the seeds from the dried squash guts (just rubbing them together), put them on a cookie sheet, sprayed on a little olive oil and sprinkled with salt and into in my standard seed popping 450 oven and within 2 minutes I heard the magical popping sound and viola! Sooo delicious. I think acorn squash seeds are the most wonderful of all toasted seeds because they are very small and become very crispy.

Next time you are prepping ANY kind of winter squash, save and roast the seeds. You won't be disappointed.

Roast 'em if you got 'em!

Yes, you can eat that!

Okay, everyone knows that processed foods suck in more ways than one. Not only are most colorfully boxed and shrink wrapped food "stuffs" unhealthy, their existence alone makes people forget what real food really is.

Another take on the value of the veggie in The Atlantic yesterday from Carol Ann Sayle, co-founder and co-owner of Boggy Creek Farm, a five-acre urban, organic farm in Austin, Texas, takes a smart spin on the economic value of buying fresh vegetables and eating the whole thing. I was reminded of this concept this summer as I was in search of beat greens locally for sale. I could find beets but no greens. That was until I was directed to a huge pile behind Gage's Gardens of perfect beet greens destined for some pig (lucky pig!) food. When you consider a simple beet and the deliciously that can come from both the beet (for some) AND the greens, that's money well spent!

Think about this over the winter as you are peeling an orange and the amazing opportunity of making simple candied orange peel.