The Only Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe You Will Ever Need

Last week I started a new part-time job. It's exactly the type of malleable job that I was hoping to get, that would allow me the flexibility to work on my creative pursuits, while still learning and growing in the food industry. I was so happy when I was offered the position, feeling like my steel-toe-shoe-covered-foot was finally in the door! That feeling lasted...hmmm...all of maybe three days before my self-doubts began to set in. It's so hard to get excited about starting a new experience when you're a natural self-doubter, never trusting yourself and your abilities. 

"What the hell am I doing here?"

I have to be honest, I feel totally out of my element. It feels just like the first few weeks of culinary school, where I kept asking myself "what the hell am I doing here?" telling myself that I didn't belong and I was going to fail. Culinary school was definitely a humbling experience for me, but also an incredibly rewarding one. When I look at how much I grew in just the several select courses that I attended, and more than that, how much my confidence blossomed, I can't help but feel proud of myself. 

As much as I know there will be a light at the end of the tunnel, and that it's going to take time to find my groove and get comfortable, this beginning stage is absolutely excruciating to get through. I'm clumsy, I'm slow, I'm messy, I second guess myself, I can be forgetful, and my anxiety can get the best of me and I can slip into panic mode. 

It was the same when I first started serving - clumsy, slow, messy, second guessing myself, being forgetful, and I most definitely slipped into panic mode more times than I care to recall. I remember the look on my managers face when I would mess up an order. The nicest guy would suddenly look terrifying. That look would be burned into my soul as I saw it again and again as I helplessly tried to find my feet. 

"It's so easy to be comfortable and stay in a safe space where you know you can't fail, but if you can't fail then you can't grow."

I saw that same look on our head chefs face at my new job when we thought I almost used up all the chives that were meant for another recipe...and then again when we thought I almost broke the $1000 Vitamix, because I forgot to tell my group to remove the sachet before blending the soup...and oh, so much more. So, so, so much more! It's so horrible, and challenging, and stressful right now, and I want to cry just thinking about it, but it's always the most difficult and challenging experiences that end up being the most rewarding for me. Though I was a horrible, spastic server at first, I eventually became one of our most reliable and respected in the restaurant, a place I never thought I would get to. It's so easy to be comfortable and stay in a safe space where you know you can't fail, but if you can't fail then you can't grow. 

I'm so damn scared of embarking on this new endeavour, but I'm also so insanely eager to meet the Danielle that comes out of this experience. I know she will come out stronger, tougher, wiser, faster, and so much more confident than the Danielle that walked in. 

"The spicy makes the sweet all the sweeter, and so is the same in life."

Without the spicy and bitter life experiences, we would never have the sweet, which brings me to one of my favourite autumn recipes, my take on Martha Stewart's Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds (recipe here!). As I mentioned in the title, this will be the only roasted pumpkin seed recipe you will ever need, because no other recipe will ever come close to being this delicious! This will be the fourth or fifth mention of this recipe on my blog, because it's just that good! I can't get away from it! What makes these seeds so addictive is the contrast between the sweet and spicy seasonings. The sweetness of the sugar is brought to life thanks to the addition of fragrant sesame oil, and spicy cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper. If these were only seasoned with sweet flavours, they would fall flat. The sweet needs the spicy to keep everything in balance. The spicy makes the sweet all the sweeter, and so is the same in life. 

Check out my slightly adapted version of Martha's Sweet & Spicy Pumpkin Seeds here! And if you haven't started watching Martha & Snoop's Potluck Dinner Party, you need to start RIGHT NOW because it is amazing!!! 

Listening To:

Tycho - Daydream

Happy Halloween 2016 - Another Owl Pumpkin Carving

Happy Halloween from me and my owl pumpkin to you and your family! I eagerly wait all year to be able to carve my Halloween pumpkin, and after having so much fun carving  my owl pumpkin last year, well I just had to do it all over again with a new wild-eyed owl. This is one of my favourite traditions all year! What's your favourite Halloween tradition that you've kept up?

Listening To:

The Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett

Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Seeds

Holiday traditions have always been a big deal in my family. Every year during Christmastime we always spend a day making Christmas cookies with my Oma, we always open presents from "Santa" on Christmas morning, we still do a gift hunt each Easter, and ever since I was old enough to hold an exacto knife in my hand my family has always taken the time to carve intricate pumpkins each Halloween. 

My 2015 Halloween Pumpkin Carving

Though busy schedules and different living arrangements has meant that we don't get to carve pumpkins all together as a family anymore, my sister and I have still carried on the tradition on our own, taking great care to carve our own pumpkins inspired by the ones our dad taught us to make growing up. Though the greatest delight for my sister and I was getting to spend hours dedicated to focusing on a craft (yes, carving pumpkins is the ultimate craft!), we also found joy in utilizing the slimy pumpkin seeds scraped out of the innards of the pumpkin by making Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Seeds. 

I can't even remember when I first came across Martha Stewart's recipe for Sweet and Spicy Pumpkin Seeds, but that too has now become an annual Halloween tradition thanks to its wonderful contrast of flavours and addictive appeal. I make these every single year a few days before Halloween, and even though I use sesame oil all year round, that smell of the sesame oil hitting the pan will always remind me of Halloween thanks to these delicious seeds. While Halloween brings out the worst sweet tooth in me as I find myself craving all of my favourite Halloween chocolates and candy, my Sugar & Spice Pumpkin Seeds are, dare I say, my favourite of all the Halloween treats! 

Recipe slightly adapted from Martha Stewart. 

Ingredients:

1 cup pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
4 Tbsp. white sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch of cayenne pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp. sesame oil

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. On a rimmed baking sheet, evenly spread pumpkin seeds. Bake for 1-hour or until seeds are golden-brown and crisp. Stir several times during baking.
2. In a medium bowl combine 2 Tbsp sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper.
3. In a medium non-stick skillet heat sesame oil over medium-high heat. Add pumpkin seeds and remaining 2 Tbsp. sugar. Cook while stirring until all seeds are coated in caramelized sugar. 
4. Immediately transfer seeds into bowl of spices and toss to coat. Let cool. Store in an airtight container for about 1-week.

Listening To:

Mater of None Playlist on Spotify

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Last week, when reading over my entry on my Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce, I couldn't help but wonder why I chose to go the savory route when I was hit with pumpkin inspiration due to the constant flow of comments on the now extremely popular Pumpkin Spice Latte. I know I didn't want to make a drink (I retract my statement in that last entry about me being horrible at making coffee, I used to work at a café and pastry shop and I can make one mean cappuccino, latte, and macchiato using an espresso machine) but how come I didn't choose to make a pumpkin spice dessert to go along with a warm drink? The truth is, my taste buds like to go back and forth between craving sweet and savory all the time. Just a few weeks ago all I could think about was herbs, spices, meats, etc. choosing chips and dip as my after-dinner snack as opposed to a baked good. And yet here I am now, finding myself scouring the cupboards, fridge, and freezer for any hint of a dessert after each and every meal, choosing pancakes and waffles for breakfast rather than my old standby toast and a fried egg. So sure enough, being in my sugar and spice and everything nice mode while reading the pumpkin ravioli entry, I was struck again with seasonal pumpkin inspiration. I imagined the perfect little dessert that I could take with me to work to snack on that would epitomize all of my favourite things about Fall, just as I had with my Pumpkin Ravioli entree.

After spending more time than necessary looking at an abundance of pumpkin spice food porn, searching all the many pumpkin spice recipes that are available on the internet, I decided to make Pumpkin Spice Cookies. I found a simple recipe for Pumpkin Spice cookies on allrecipes.com that sounded promising, so out came the leftover pumpkin in the fridge, the sugar, flour, KitchenAid, and even a mortar and pestle for hand grinding my spices! I was all set and ready for pumpkin spice heaven! Other than grinding my own spices, this recipe was incredibly fast and quick to follow, and truly the only reason why I hand-ground some of my spices was because I only had whole cloves and nutmeg in my cupboard, so I had to make due. The cookies turned out really yummy, but of course I always have my revisions. This brings up a whole new topic that I feel the need to discuss.

It's tricky when you still consider yourself to still be a fairly new cook (I know I've been cooking for as long as I can remember, but I still have SO much to learn!) and want to try out all the fantastic sounding recipes that you come across online, in magazines and books, etc. You want to share a delicious recipe with everyone, but do you really have the right to when the recipe is not your own? I consider my blog a resource that people can use to obtain tasty and simple recipes that they can feel confident has been tested in a home kitchen. And true, I always cite where I have gotten the recipes that are not my own, but I still feel strange about publishing a recipe that people, if they do not read the entry in full, may assume to be my own. After much thought, I decided that the only way that i can feel confident delivering these recipes to you is if I offer something valuable that the recipe and website is not already offering such as special tips, tricks, and revisions that I feel allow you to take the recipe a little bit closer to perfection. So although allrecipes.com's recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cookies was great, I feel that my recipe, complete with my own revisions, will be your new Fall favourite! With a texture soft like cake with a crunch and nuttiness from chopped walnuts, the sweetness of the pumpkin, and the kick from the spice, these cookies truly succeed in epitomizing Fall!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup lightly toasted walnuts, chopped

1/3 cup golden raisins (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt, and set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter with the white and brown sugar. Add the pumpkin, egg, and 1 tsp vanilla and beat until creamy. Mix in the dry ingredients, walnuts, and raisins, making sure to not over-mix.

3. Drop onto a lined cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls, flattening slightly. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Best eaten warm out of the oven, but cookies can be stored in an airtight container for 1 week.

Listening To:

	M83 - Midnight City .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Simple Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I guess it doesn't come as a shock by now that my family is really big on holidays. Whenever there is any type of holiday my family goes all out to create a fun and festive occasion. Out of all the holidays, Halloween has always been one of our favourite traditions. Every year my dad, my sister, and I carve out our own pumpkins, which are always the most talked out pumpkins in our neighborhood. We then have a warm comforting meal that my mom has prepared, while sneaking candy for myself and opening the door for trick or treaters. This tradition has changed over the years due to busy schedules and social lives, but this year I was able to take the time to carve out my own pumpkin. Unfortunately, I didn't have as much time as I would have liked (trick or treaters were ringing the bell before I was even finished!), it turned out pretty good and I think the neighborhood kids really liked it.

Another tradition that I have is saving all the pumpkin seeds to roast off as a snack for the rest of the week. I always make Spiced Pumpkin Seeds so this year I thought I would switch it up and just make very basic roasted pumpkin seeds so they could be tossed into salads and other dishes. Crisp, salty, and nutty, these seeds are going to taste great dressing up dishes all week long!

Ingredients:

seeds from 1 medium pumpkin, washed and dried

2 tsp butter, melted

2 tbsp sesame oil

generous pinch sea salt or kosher salt

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 300º. Pour pumpkin seeds into a medium baking pan and drizzle with butter and sesame oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir until seeds are evenly coated and in a single layer.

2. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour, or until golden brown. Stir twice during baking. Store in an airtight container for about 2 weeks.

Listening To:

Neil Young - Cowgirl in the Sand

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Happy Halloween 2009

My Dad's Amazing Pumpkin

My Pumpkin

My friends (Chloe, Rommi, and Robin) and Me (Danielle Rose)

 

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Hope you had a fun and safe evening! What did you dress as?