Monday, October 25, 2010

6 days til Halloween!

Boyfriend and I carved our pumpkins Wednesday night. Is it too early? Ah, oh well, too late now. It's cold enough here that I think we'll be alright. It was 32 degrees when I got in my car Friday morning. That's cold enough to snow! And that's too cold for me.

Anyways, it was Boyfriend's first time using a template to carve a pumpkin, and I'm not sure if he liked it. He pretty much complained the whole time. "This takes forever." "My hand hurts." "Switch me tools."  But in the end, he was pretty excited how they turned out.

My pumpkin before going under the knife

Boyfriend's pumpkin

I stabbed it in the head.

Boyfriend all focused and shit.


After! That's Donnie Darko's bunny pal, Frank. (Boyfriend's pumpkin)
 
Here's mine. It's supposed to be Jack from Nightmare Before Christmas. He's a little lopsided. But let's just all pretend it looks like him, k? Thanks.

I asked you all, my lovely readers, to send me in some photos of your own and I am embarrassed to have my pumpkins on the same page as these. Now mine look like a child's work.

AMCHornetGirl sent me these two. And I'm pretty sure they are freehand.


Incredible, right?
TeamJazz1 carved these two...

Ooooh...pretty :)


I also found this awesome recipe for roasting pumpkin seeds. I love me some pumpkin seeds and they are actually really good for you. (Before you add all this extra crap)

Preheat oven to 350.

You need 2 cups of pumpkin seeds. (Boyfriend and I doubled everything, because, well we love pumpkin seeds)

2 Tablespoons of cooking oil

1 Teaspoon of Salt

1 Teaspoon of Sugar

1 Teaspoon of Cinnamon

Wash the pumpkin seeds first to get all the pulp off. Then dry them between two towels. (Don't use paper towels. We found out that hard way that pumpkin seeds will stick to paper towels)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, making sure the pumpkin seeds get covered.

Spread pumpkin seeds onto a baking sheet.

Cook for 30 minutes, tossing occasionally.

These are very very yummy and make the whole house smell amazing!

You can also substitute the cinnamon with any of your favorite spice (garlic powder, cayenne, curry, etc) just leave the sugar out if you opt to do so.

15 comments:

Jon Hanson said...

I am sooo pumped for pumpkin carving later this week. Not because I like to do it, or have a great creative idea. But for the SEEDS! that sounds like a good recipe - i'm excited to try it!

SD
simpledudecomplexworld.blogspot.com

BB said...

These pumpkins are freakin' works of art. Wow, long way from the days of a simple jack o' lantern. I don't bother so I have enjoyed all of these pics.

Snow already? That's why I left New England!!

Rebecca said...

awesome pumpkins and thanks for the recipe :)

Canadianbloggergirl said...

We're trying the whole pattern template thing this year for the first time...i have a feeling we're gonna need a pumpkin patch to get one to work out....but it's all for fun right?

mmmmmm pumpkin seeds!

CBG
canadianbloggergirl.blogspot.com

Leigh said...

Great pumpkins!

amchornetgirl said...

Yep, mine are freehand. I'm old school! I use linoleum carving tools--they work great on pumpkins, but be careful 'cause you can really gouge yourself good if the tool slips (and it will). I thought all the pumpkins looked great! I also LOVE roasted pumpkin seeds. Thanks for the recipe! We are going to wait until Thursday or Friday to carve ours since we're experiencing some freak Indian summer weather here (it was in the 80s yesterday).

Amy said...

I love carving pumpkins... but even more I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE pumpkin seeds LOVE. I am buying 2 pumpkins tonight just for this :D

Nicki said...

I LOVE YOUR JACK PUMPKIN.

I think I'm going to go geometric-art and just carve a huge square.

That's code for I am really, really artistically challenged.

Tress said...

Thanks everyone!!! It was much fun! Let me know if you guys try the pumpkin seeds and tell me what you think!!!

Miss Vicki said...

Great work on the pumpkin Tress!! I'm thinking I'm going to go get some pumpkin seeds to try your recipe :)

not displayed said...

Starting to feel like we are missing out here "downunder" although not sure if I would be rave enough to try to carve a pumpkin. Have enough trouble just cutting one up for roasting

HennyPenny said...

It's not too early!
Both pumpkins are awesome, btw :)

Aimee said...

I dont carve pumpkins ecaus I hate the mess and I suck at it. But if I did trust me your pumpkin would look like it belonged in an art museum. I like your pumpkins:) The other ones are amazing too. Wow!

Roberta said...

gah! im so jealous! i wish i had time to do this! looks like you and Boyfriend had a great time! Great pumpkins everyone!

Unknown said...

thank you for reminding me to go get a pumpkin! my carving would suck (unlike yours) but i love to bake...pumpkin seeds are next on the list : )