Pumpkins

just wanted to share with you guys.... we cheated and used a pattern... but I like them anyway

skull

ghost

reaper

Great job. Even with a pattern you can make a mistake and ruin the whole pumpkin. I think they look fantastic!!

Debby

Thanks.... they were fun to make

Allison

Very cool Allison. I did one too - a drippy face. I'll have to post a pic. What kind of knife did you use?

They look great Allison!

Victor we picked up a kit that has little carving saws

Yes we bought a simular kit about 12 years ago in Kamloops BC - makes carving pumpkins a work of art :-)

Thanks Allison - I'll have to look for that.

Onewish - love the pumpkins!! You are good with that knife!! Eleanor

This is the one Victor

http://www.pumpkinmasters.com/default.asp

Simple question: After they get slaughtered what do you do with their guts.

dry the seeds.... bake em..... salt em.... EAT EM

:)

Nothing good like eatin some good innerds (sp) ;-)

Allison - thanks for the info on the carving set. With that I may even be able to carve a pumpkin!! Eleanor

Thanks Allison.

I think we should all post pics of our pumpkins. We did the haunted house. Will try to get a pic tonight.

Love the pumpkins, great work. Haven't had the oven baked pumpkin seeds since the kids where still at home, yum.

I like the oven baked seeds rather than store bought ..... can't beat em

I have two words for the Jack o'lantern. terra cotta. I have a terra cotta Jack o'lantern that holds a candle. It is spooky looking when I put it in the window. If I put it outside, I use a glow stick in it. eerie light, no problem with the wind blowing it out and best of all, no rotting pumpkin hulk a few days from now. One of our Saugus neighbors grows giant pumpkins to compete at the weigh in at the fair. He donates the 2nd and 3rd backup pumpkins he grows to the town. One goes in front of town hall and the other into the yard of our friend the sand/ice/wood/pumpkin sculptor. I didn't see what he carved on this years since I wasn't by his house today. but I will take my camera out and catch a photo.
Martha

This message was edited Oct 31, 2007 11:05 PM

the pros are amazing.... very cool how they make the shadows and highlights on the skin

Great idea Martha! I'll have to look for that. A lot less work and no mess. One state was about to tax pumpkins and the people went crazy. Plan now dead.

I got carried away. :) 500 + lbs. Carved by a high school senior entering arts field next year. I grew the sucker.

Wow - very impressive! Who carried it??

that is very cool.... good for you guys!

Very Cool!!

When you bake the seeds, how do you do it? Do you take off the shells or eat the whole thing?

When you bake the seeds, how do you do it? Do you take off the shells or eat the whole thing?

It depends on you to stand by and watch the 350 degree oven as they bake. Your experience will tell you as no one else can because:
1. Different moisture content
2. Different size seed
So do a dozen or so and watch your batches. When begining do not do a whole bunch. When removing seed keep them seperated. This is very important if you have different sized seed.

Teasing you into more experimentation: substitute pumpkin seeds for peanuts anytime. Makes great pumpkin brittle if you can make peanut brittle. :)

To tease you a bit further hunt up a peanut brittle candy and substitute pumpkin seeds. Yum Yum

I bake them dry or fry them in olive oil while still in the seed coat. Sprinkle with salt, lick your fingers while hulling and drinking your favorite beverage.

After you burn or over brown a few you will get the hang of it. I like them unsalted so that I may use them in baking without factoring salt on the seed.

If this sounds like to much baloney to mess with go to your local health store and buy pumpkin seed as per the label instructions. That's what I do unless I just want to show off for my friends.

Whew.........where's my geek to show me how I messed up the pumpkin seed RE? Sorry. At least I did not say two different things in two minutes. :)

Here was mine - painstakingly cut with an Exacto-knife. Managed to cut a slice of my finger as well.

Maybe I'm being dense, but:
The pumkin seeds in my local health food store have had their hulls already removed.
It sounds like you bake them in the hulls but you remove the hulls before you eat them. Right?
I tried baking pumpkin seed years ago and followed the directions I found, none of which said anything about taking the hulls off. I tried eating them with the hulls which seemed to provide lots of fibre but not a particularly pleasant eating experience although they were nice and salty. I can't imagine putting them in brittle insted of peanuts. Then i tried hulling them, which was very tedious. So I gave up, but I've always wondered what other people did. I hate to throw away something that can be turned into good food.
Do people eat the hulls? If not, how do you get them off?
I have rescued a few pumpkin seeds from the compost pile and have a bunch from a squash I just cut up, so I am waiting for your replies so i can try them!

I bake my seeds in worcestershire sauce, butter and lightly salted.
I cook them until they are fat and just about to burst and eat them hulls and all. Kids LOVE them. We always have to buy extra pumpkins when they go on sale JUST for the seeds. Ridiculous *lol*

love the pumpkin Victor... sorry to hear about the finger

Thanks - minor flesh wound.