While Mr. Crunchy was undergoing his endoscopy today I had some extra time to make apple pie filling from the apples given to me by my super-cool friend from work who has an orchard on the east side of the Cascades. (He also provided me with a handsome allotment of peaches a few weeks ago wherein I made peach pie filling and lots o' jam.)Anyway, I managed to make enough apple pie filling for three pies, with some left over for ice cream topping. When Mr. Crunchy is home, I'll be cooking up plenty of pies to fatten him up.
On another note, I have about five or so sugar pie pumpkins ready for plucking off the vine. I'm planning on canning some pumpkin puree and also want to do something with the pumpkin seeds. Do any of you have a favorite pumpkin seed roasting recipe? Also, how and how long can you store pumpkin seeds? I'm sure I'll have quite a few and I know we won't be able to eat them right away.
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15 Crunchy Thoughts:
Hey Crunchy--
So glad to hear that your hubby may be coming home soon. Like many of your reader-posters, I've been thinking a lot about you & your family and wishing that things will turn out OK for you all! Cooking can be good therapy, hope it's working for you. In the meantime, here's my recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds-- it might look a little more labor-intensive than some others, but it's always worked well for me. It's from Sunset Magazine prob. about 20 years ago.
--Bring to a boil 1-1/3 cups water and 3 Tblsp salt and stir till salt is completely dissolved. Pour over 1-1/2 to 2 cups of raw pumpkin seeds, placed in bowl. Cover and let stand at room temp. for 12-24 hrs.
Drain liquid from the seeds, and spread them evenly over a 10x15 in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes (seeds that soak 24 hrs will need the max. time), or until seeds and dry and puffed. Stir frequently. Let cool; stir occasionally while cooling. Store airtight. Roasted seeds should stay fresh up to 10 days (but mine have never lasted that long).
If you want flavored seeds, omit the 3 Tblsp. salt from the boiling water, but soak the seeds as above. Drain, and sprinkle seeds with: 2 tsp. either onion salt, garlic salt, or 3/4 tsp. each chile powder & salt, mix until well distributed, and bake as directed.
Good luck!
and Best wishes for a happy homecoming for Mr. Crunchy REAL SOON.
YUM! I love me some apple pie! I do not have a pumpkin seed recipe to share, but I would think after roasting you could store them in the freezer? That is what I do with all my extra nuts for baking so they don't go bad and they freeze well.
Sending the Mr. healing vibes...
Hey Crunchy, I've heard that you should not can pureed pumpkin or pumpkin butter. The National Center for Food Preservation concurs. It is okay to can the pumpkin if cubed.
I freeze my pumpkin puree in 3 cup lots - that's how much I use in my pumpkin pie recipe.
I do my seeds more simply. I remove all the membrane from the seeds, rinse them well, drain in a colander for a couple of minutes, then spread out in a jelly roll pan (cookie sheet with edges). I give the pan a good shake to make a single layer of seeds. I then sprinkle them with a little salt and put them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 mins. I give them a stir every now and then. Watch that they don't scorch. If at 10 mins, they aren't dry enough or you want them more toasted, do it by 5 min increments. Stir and then shake pan so you have a flat layer.
They never last more than a few days around here, but I concur with freezing them for a longer term.
You could also use your food dehydrator to dry them out. It will take longer, but you wouldn't need to stand around and watch them.
Native Americans, who invented pumpkins in the first place, used to dry them (besides just caching them somewhere to keep) I've done it once- cut the pumpkin across the hollow so you've got a big ring, about an inch wide; and hang in the sun to dry. Oh. Yeah. Seattle. :-) Maybe not. If you CAN dry it; it works pretty nice crumbled into soup; you can sort the peel out at that point. Maybe the fact that I only did it once, years ago, is an indication... Tasted fine; excellent food. Keeping it dry; and clean, was work. You MIGHT be able to conjure a pie out of the dried pumpkin; but I'd expect the flavor to be pretty different.
We do soak our pumpkin seeds in salt water overnight before toasting; low moderate oven until just starting to brown, very slightly. Garlic!!?? ew, what next, cilantro?? :-) don't know why, but I don't like the idea, though I totally love garlic in other places. Don't mess with my pumpkin seeds- they're great just salty toasty.
Pulling for you.
I concur with the salt soaking of the seeds, and then toast in oven until just slighty browned.
Pumpkin freezes well...I would grind your pie spices and mix it with the pumpkin to let them permeate the filling...then freeze. Yummy!!!
Pumpkin also stores well... no need to can it at all! Just keep it in a cool room, and you'll have "fresh" pumpkin for months.
Glad to hear Mr. Crunchy is coming home soon.
Pumpkin stores well in a cool semi dry place until you cut it open. Even in the tropics that is so.
Just clean off the seeds, sprinkle with Tamari or Shoyu and roast. You can store in a glass bottle in the fridge, but they are so good they will not last long.
Don't forget how great the pumpkins are in soup with the skin left on, where all the minerals are.
I also highly recommend pumpkin puree soup {cook to soften, then put in blender, cook a little more} with added fresh ginger root flavored AFTER serving with unpasteurized miso. Never cook the miso, it gets bitter and the bacteria that forms the B-12 dies too. The Pumpkin puree soups are the ultimate comfort food, after eating them you feel extremely content. You probably should not drive or engage in world conquest or nuclear reactor operation after eating. Lie down and have a good snore, really make good use of the sensation. Perhaps this would be a good soup for Mr. Crunchy. Easy to eat and digest.
Get well and go home and pig out on pumpkins all you Crunchies.
Now I'm hungry.
I have no practical advice, but I do love pumpkin seeds on salads and encourage you to discover that delight, too! We have always bought them in the past: they are dehydrated, and the white shells taken off, so it's just the green inside. We roast them briefly before putting them on the salad.
p.s. Did you know that we have to allow cookies to be set in order post? I usually don't like accepting them... but have to get my two cents in.
Ms. Crunchy Cousin (and others)--
For use of your pumpkin puree, you might care to try these muffins. I made them this afternoon and they are diggity delightful!
Much love,
~Laura
http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=5635.0
Glad you had time to make apple pie filling!
I put hulled pumpkin seeds that I've bought in the freezer and they keep very well. My next experiment with pumpkin seeds is going to be to use home toasted pumpkin seeds from local pumpkins in a mole recipe I have. They need to be ground before they are added to the mole so I'm not sure how this is really going to work with hulls....
All the best!
Try salt and lime juice on roasted punkin' seeds!
It's great your husband is coming home!
I've kept raw pumpkin seeds, washed and soaked overnight in salt water then dried in the dehydrator for a while (like, an hour or two on low heat), in a glass jar for the whole winter. Some of the fat squashes - hubbards and butternuts and acorns if they've been on the vine too long - have good seeds for eating, too. I like to roast them the day we're going to eat them so they don't taste stale. Good luck getting together enough that you even need to store them, though.
I have no advice to offer, but just send my continued well wishes to you and Mr. Crunchy. I hope he is able to come home soon to some of your delicious cooking.
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