It’s been years since I’ve made roasted pumpkin seeds, but I thought my girls would enjoy it.  So I bought a “pie” pumpkin and cut it open.

Turns out, both my girls thought the innards were pretty “icky.”  I thought they’d have a blast getting their hands into the pumpkin and helping me separate the seeds from the pulp.

I was wrong.

Many “oh gross!” facial expressions and “ickyness” comments later, I wound up doing it myself.

It was just one small pumpkin, so there weren’t a lot of seeds.

Enough for us, tho.

Once you get the seeds separated from the pulp, rinse them off, and let them dry.  You can stick them in a salad spinner or something, but I just patted them dry.

Then, toss them in a bowl with some olive oil and spices.  I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, and ancho chile pepper.  But we like spicy food in our home.  If you don’t, just use salt.

And I didn’t measure.  I’m not the measuring type when it comes to spices.  Just make sure all the seeds have something stuck to them.

Spread them out on a baking sheet that’s covered with parchment paper and bake them at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-45 minutes, stirring them about halfway through.

I did mine 45 minutes, but I like them crunchy.  You could test them after 30 minutes if you’re not sure.

Store them in an airtight container.

My girls only ate a few, but I mostly blame that on the fact that we also made chocolate-covered football pretzels that day.  And they devoured the chocolate pretzels.  :)