Stormtroopers and Pumpkin Seeds

Hello Sweets,


Happy Monday! I know what you're thinking "happy Monday? not quite!" lol  Well I had a good day today (not health wise but I made the best of it), and I did some activities today that made me reminisce back to when I was little.

Now I know I always seem to be talking about what a great man Nathan is, but he really is different from any guy I've ever met, and I hope all the ladies out there find a man that treats you exactly like you should be treated....like a queen!  But really, he does anything to make me smile, especially if I am having a bad health day like today.  Of course he knows I love Halloween, and I had been telling him all about how I love carving pumpkins, and how white ones are my absolute favorite!  So today he surprised me with a trip out to Hall's Pumpkin Farm in Grapevine, where we picked up the VERY LAST carvable white pumpkin!!!

 

Isn't she beautiful? :p 

Needless to say, I was one very happy girl, smiling from ear to ear just like I have every year since I can remember. :D  Now I was in complete and utter shock when Nathan told me had NEVER carved a pumpkin.  I honestly thought that was a right of passage as a child.  So of course I decided to carve a pumpkin that he could be as excited about as I always am lol, and Nathan being the Star Wars fan that he is, I decided on an Imperial Stormtrooper.

Not an easy stencil

Since my shoulders always hurt as it is, and Nathan has never carved a pumpkin before, he helped me with all the difficult carving (le sigh :( ).  So I got him to cut the top open, then I cleaned out all the pumpkin gunk (he had absolutely NO desire to touch the stuff), stenciled it for him, and started the operation!

Be careful when cutting as the pumpkins are thick, and kids always use parental help :)

Now the more detailed the stencil, the more careful you have to be with your cuts as to not leave any weak spots in the structure, or you'll end up with a sad droopy pumpkin, and no one wants that!  After a couple of hours of strategic cuts, and a few more shaves to allow light, our master piece was complete, and might I say "out of this world" lol!

Isn't it great!!

Now as I am sure you are all aware, I do not like to waste anything when baking/cooking, and pumpkin carving is no different!  You can make a deliciously healthy snack from the pumpkin seeds themselves, and it is all very simple and easy.  Actually the hardest part is digging through the squishy innards of the pumpkin.

Healthy Flavorful Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

 Fresh pumpkin seeds, from your freshly carved pumpkin

Seasonings of your choice, I opted for;

Sea salt

Garlic and pepper seasoning

Seasoning salt

Crushed red peppers

Directions:

1)  Preheat your oven to 275F.  Wash the pumpkin seeds free of all pumpkin goop, and towel dry as best you can, and place in a single layer on a baking sheet.

2)  Add your seasonings on top before placing into the oven, so the flavors absorb during the baking process (I had an after thought when they were baking in the oven that you could season them in a bowl to ensure they are completely covered).

Yum!

3)  Bake in the oven for at least 20 minutes.  Periodically shuffle them around with a spatula to ensure all the liquid is evaporating ,and they will all be crunchy.  Enjoy this tasty health snack on the go, or instead of popcorn, munch on these!

So we were a little late in getting up this morning.  Well, just me, since I had a really bad sleep :(, and I had promised Nathan I would make him pumpkin pancakes.  What do you do when you miss the best meal of the day?  Have breakfast for dinner!  I always love making him breakfast, and since discovering pumpkin pancakes, which he happens to now love, that's what we were going to have.  Now I had leftover batter from the last breakfast I had made(Pumpkin Pancakes), which keeps very well in the fridge.  All it took was a couple of stirs, and it was ready to go!  Now the original plan was to serve maple bacon with the pancakes, but Nathan had some maple breakfast sausage so our side dish changed.  This was my first time cooking the round breakfast sausage, so I had Nathan take the reigns on this venture.

Maple Breakfast Sausage 

Ingredients

1 package of round breakfast sausage

5Tbs of maple syrup

Directions:

1)  Cut up the sausage into 1/2" slices, place onto a cold skillet, top with a dollop of maple syrup and cook over medium heat.

Nathan was surprised when he turned around and saw my addition, but liked the final product ;)

2)  Flip continually to brown evenly on each side, cook for about 20 minutes or until there is no pink in the center and the center is 160F.

Yum!

Serve in addition to some of your delicious pumpkin pancakes with butter and syrup, and you've just made yourself the best breakfast supper around lol :)

I crowded the frying pan just a little lol.  Still turned out great!

Needless to say I think Nathan and I had a wonderful Monday, low key, but full of smiles and laughs.  Do you like carving pumpkins?  What is your favorite/hardest stencil you've created?  Better yet, have any of you NOT carved a pumpkin before?  Do you eat the seeds?  If so what seasonings did you use?  Until next time.......

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo

Journey into the unknown....Kale!

Hello Sweets,


Well I'm settled in Texas now which means Nathan and I did our first trip to the grocery store (I love having fruit to snack on).  Nathan always makes me smile and giggle a little in the produce section because he claims that I "pick the best cantaloupe and honey dew".  I'm always a little modest when he says this, because I always feel that when picking a melon it can be a little like Russian roulette.  Now I have my little tricks of course; knocking and listening to the sound, smell, and of course the general look always plays into it as well.  Well tonight was no different, a melon success lol!  As soon as we get home, I immediately start cutting up both the cantaloupe and the honey dew so the household can snack at will, yet another reason why Nathan loves when we buy them :)

Melon prepped and ready to eat

While in Tom Thumb, a light went off in my head.  My girly Sarah (www.mymostlyhealthylife.com), had tried Kale chips, and I thought since I like salty potato chips, this would be a great healthy substitute.  So I went online to search out some general guidelines.  I came across the website www.keeperofthehome.org, and got myself familiar with the basic premise.  Knowledge in hand, I forged forward on the kale chip journey, and since it was a success, I am passing my adapted recipe on to you!

Kale Chips (guided by www.keeperofthehome.org)
Ingredients:

1-2 bunches of kale

extra virgin olive oil

sea salt

chopped dry onions

cayenne pepper

garlic powder

red pepper flakes

Directions:

1)  Wash the kale and dry it, a salad spinner works great if you have one but I just patted mine with paper towel. 

 Looks like garnish leaf but smells like broccoli, weird lol

2)  Pull or cut the leaves off of the stalks.  Cut into chip sizes and place in a large bowl.

the darker green the veggie the healthier it is!

3)  Get your oil and all the spices together, and either shake or pour in the bowl and mix well with your hands.  Depending on your pallet, you can use more, or less spices, and even different ones if you're feeling adventurous.

4)  Place on a baking sheet and place in the oven at 350F for 15-25 minutes.

All spiced up and ready to go :p

5)  Shake the baking sheet while in the oven, and if the kale is crisp place in a bowl and enjoy!

Final product, YUM!

Now I was a little weary as this was my first time making it, and being in the great state of Texas (land of meat), I was nervous to say the least!  When the timer went off, I pulled them out of the oven, they smelled great but looked.....lets say interesting lol.  I tried one before venturing out of the kitchen with them and, surprise surprise they satisfied that salty chip craving.  So I bravely brought them out to the living room for Nathan, and his brother Mark to try (the real test).  Even my meat loving Texan, and Mark enjoyed them!  Now if that isn't a milestone to be proud of, then I don't know what is, and Nathan even ate them steadily and not to appease me :)  Now his dad, who always says to me, "why don't you make anything healthy?  Always with the sweets canuckette" (yes Nathan's dad calls me that regularly), did not like them, and not because they tasted bad, but because he said they wadded up in your mouth.  Lol.  Now Nathan and I didn't experience this problem, I just think his father couldn't get past the look of the kale chips.

Have any of you tried making kale chips?  Maybe with different spices/seasonings?  Or even some other delicious kale recipes?  Send me your comments of what you've done, and if you try the recipe let me know how it turns out :)  Until next time.

Stay sweet,

Jennifer xoxoxo