Happy Halloween to all you ghouls and goblins and revelers! I am sure you are carving your hearts out on some poor unsuspecting pumpkin right now that never did anything to you except cross your dark doorstep for its ultimate demise. Well, have a little respect for the fallen. Don’t throw away its guts! Roast those seeds!

Here is an easy recipe for roasting seeds that works with any gourd (pumpkin, squash). You will have to modify the recipe for your quantity of seeds. Just have some fun with it.

ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS

1 1⁄2 
cups pumpkin seeds

2 
teaspoons melted butter (olive oil or vegetable oil work well) or 2 teaspoons melted oil (olive oil or vegetable oil work well)

salt

Garlic powder, cayenne pepper, cajun seasoning, curry, chili (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Separate as much of the pulp as you can from the seeds. A little won’t hurt. Toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the melted butter or oil and seasonings of your choice.

Spread pumpkin seeds in a single layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden brown.

Now if a pumpkin is too much for you to wrassle, an acorn squash is small, seasonal and darn good roasted, seeds and all too!

ACORN SQUASH

1 acorn squash, cut in half through the stem, seeds and pulp removed (SCHOP! Tip: You can roast these seeds, too!)

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons honey

Pinch of cinnamon

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Assemble acorn squash halves on a baking sheet. Place 1 tablespoon of butter and honey in each half. Season with cinnamon, salt and pepper. Bake until golden and tender, about 1 hour, basting flesh of squash several times.

Serve hot with some of those roastED seeds and a little finish of honey. It’s the perfect side dish or vessel to stuff with an autumnal wild rice salad for a vegetarian entree.

Happy trick or treating and thanks for reading!

Kysha Harris is a food writer, culinary producer, consultant and owner of SCHOP!, a personalized food service offering weekly and in-home entertaining packages. Questions? Comments? Requests? Feedback? Invitations? Email her at kysha@iSCHOP.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram @SCHOPgirl and on Facebook www.facebook.com/SCHOPnyc. For even more recipes, tips and food musings, subscribe to her blog at www.talkingSCHOP.wordpress.com.