Happy Friday and National Pumpkin Day!! I was planning on writing this post last night but I really needed to get in a workout. I have been doing great with bootcamp this week, but it doesn’t leave time for much else!
This w
eek, swanky boyfriend and I did one of my favorite Halloween activities…carving pumpkins!!
Along with preparing a delicious snack to go with it…
You know my love for all things pumpkin, so carving pumpkins
may not come as much of a surprise. Check out these beauties! Picked out by yours truly.
It seems that long gone are the days where you carve a pumpkin free hand. For as long as I can remember I have been using a stencil to carve my pumpkins. My freehand pumpkins from childhood never turned out all that great if I am being honest.
This year, I found a book of all sorts of cute cutouts. I went with a scary tree while the boy chose a black cat.
Speaking of cats…
The cats weren’t as excited about pumpkin carving as we were.
After taping on my stencil, I got to tracing it. Of course, the pokey tool (yep, that’s what I’m calling it) was nowhere to be found, so we thought wooden skewers would work. (and yes, wine is the perfect accompaniment to adult pumpkin carving 
)
Sheesh, that was hard work! It was about 5 minutes in that I realized I picked a much too elaborate stencil. After an hour few minutes, my outline was complete and was able to start carving.
Oliver did try to help me out towards the end. Actually, that’s a lie. 
He just came to check out the scene.
I was so happy with how mine turned out!
Tony’s also looked great!
Don’t mind my scraggly didn’t-have-time-to-do-it-this-morning hair. Yay for pumpkin carving!
We wanted to make use of all those delicious seeds, so Tony went to it sifting and prepping to roast them up!
Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
Ingredients:
- 3 cups pumpkin seeds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons Garam masala
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper
Directions:
To separate seeds, fill a pot with water and add seeds to pot. This makes it easier to sift through the seeds and pulp.
After soaking the seeds, lay them on a pan to dry. Toss seeds with olive oil and seasonings. Preheat oven to 330 degrees. Bake seeds for 45 minutes, stirring every few minutes to make sure they toast evenly.
The perfect snack for National Pumpkin Day, don’t you think??
These are the perfect snack! They
were really simple to make. It is just the extra work of gathering them out from the pumpkin. But trust me when I say, they are worth it!
YUM!
After a crazy last weekend, I am so happy for a low key one. Bootcamp, girl chat, sister time, and dinner with another couple will make up the bulk of my weekend. It sounds just perfect to me!! Hope you have a fabulous weekend! Be sure to give a big hug and kiss to those you love.
Do you like to carve pumpkins? If so, stencil or freehand?
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What a fun activity!! I don’t think I am carving this season…sad face. BUT when I do I am more of a free hand or decorate with markers/paint…but you don’t get the seeds that way..talking of seeds, your look fabu which is the total pay back of the mess of the carving! I love your with the Garam masala, what a nice ethnic flair, very good! Great fun fall pics!!!
Thanks!! I definitely think that garam masala added a nice flavor to the seeds.
Both of your pumpkins look perfectly Halloween-y! Peter and I plan to do our in a couple of days. I think the stencil is a perfectly fine way to carve — I admit, I still carve my pumpkins with 3 triangles for the eyes and nose, and a jagged line for the mouth (that’s because I’m not good with a knife, lol
).
I’m definitely trying your pumpkin seeds this week!
So informative! I have a pumpkin seed recipe going up on the blog tomorrow, will link over here, your demo pics are great
I always preferred freehand carving, although I’d be interested in seeing how the stencils can workout! Will give a try next year.
So much fun! I haven’t carved pumpkins for a few years – but I always used the pumpkin master kits.
My brother is an awesome pumpkin carver – in this blog post, the second picture down? That’s my pumpkin on the right – it’s my favorite!
http://www.backtothefridge.com/pumpkin-carvings/
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