It's Pumpkin Season and That Means Time for Roasting.

Yes, you can buy them year round that the grocery store but making your own is that much better (if you ask me homemade tastes better and you know they are fresh), and it seems such a shame to just throw them away.  You can make it part of the fun of carving pumpkins. Once you know the basics you can do anything you want, raid your spice cabinet and make your own recipe.

Here are some links to help you get started:

 SimplyRecipes.com has a great how-to article, I had never thought to boil them before roasting until I read this.  I am not sure if boiling does anything more then just getting salt into the seeds but the recipes that say to do that have a lower cook time.

101cookbooks.com has some interesting way to season them,  in two of the three ways they have you coating them in an egg white mixture before roasting. I just might try that this years.

 The FoodNetwork's Hilda's roasted pumpkin seed recipe makes my mouth water just reading it.

A few more links: Food.com, thekitchn.com, ohsheglows.com

Will you be (or already have) roasting your seeds this years?  Have you ever roasted Squash seeds?  What is your favorite way to season them?   I noticed some of the recipes say to coat with butter and some say olive oil. Do you think one tastes better then the other?   Do you use pumpkin seeds in other recipes?

Fun Facts About Fruits and Veggies We Eat!

                By now I would think we have all heard that Tomatoes are a fruit, not a vegetable. Even though they are considered a veggie, they in fact are not. However a ruling by the Supreme Court in 1893 classified them as a veggie for "trade" purposes. (Google it, kind of interesting).

         Most people wrongly classify Bananas as a fruit, when it is a herb. Yes, the plant it grows on looks tree-like but it is not a tree, the so called trunk is made up of many leaves tightly wrapped around a flower stem that sticks out of the top.  And unlike most fruits the banana is sterile and is only able to reproduce by side-shoots the main plant produces (this means that banana you ate months ago and the one you ate today are genetically identical).

 

  The tops of Broccoli (called florets) are closed flower buds.     The picture from ieatfreshfruit.com, they have some good tips on how to pick the best tasting Broccoli.

 It is also a member of the cabbage family,  The Italian name for it means "the flowering top of cabbage".  Who knew, flower buds could be so healthy for you.



Kiwis grow on a vine like grapes, and they contain double the amount of Vitamin C that is in an Orange.



The Rhubarb plant has poisonous leaves (good thing we only use the stalks), they have a potentially fatal amounts of a chemical compound that is found in bleach and other cleaners. 

A single Pomegranate can hold over 1,000 seeds.  If your looking for a fruit high in antioxidants Pomegranates are what you need, it contains more then any other kind of fruit juices.  They make Pomegranate juice by pressing the whole fruit, this is what makes it so high in antioxidants (the good stuff is in the peel and the white pith).


Would it surprise you to know that Peaches, Pears and Plums are in the Rose family?

Now this is just a short list of interesting things you may not know about some of the things we eat, I will have to do some more of these "Fun Facts" posts.