Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere!

With another pumpkin at every turn, it is definitely fall in Alabama. Halloween to be exact, though I enjoy keeping my pumpkins around as long as possible. If you and your children are not keen on scary pumpkins, there are lots of Christian poems about pumpkins you can google that basically involve preparing and carving Christian symbols into your pumpkin and talking about those with your children.    My very creative daughter shared this picture of a pumpkin she and her husband carved with their children after receiving the instructions. This could certainly allow you as a family to reiterate some of the great tenets of our faith:
Hearts for eyes symbolize God's love for us, the cross as a nose reminds us of Christ being sent to save us, and the fish mouth, which I love, reminds us all to be fishers of men and spread the Good Word. If you put a candle in yours, talk about God being the light of the world. This may be familiar to your children since as we leave chapel each week, we talk about taking God's light out of the chapel and sharing it with our friends and family. Happy carving!

Since we are trying to focus on healthy recipes at the Day School, I also wanted to share a recipe for roasting those pumpkin seeds left after cleaning out your pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - makes 1 1/2 Cups

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees

1 1/2 Cups raw, whole pumpkin seeds

1 pinch of salt (and garlic or another spice if your family prefers)

2 tsp. butter, melted

Toss seeds in a bowl with salt and melted butter. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet or two. Bake 45 minutes until golden brown, stirring occasionally.  Serve warm or cool. Enjoy!

Blessings, Kathy