Halloween. 2006.
I was a junior in college at good ole’ Indiana University of Pennsylvania. My girls got together to celebrate, but we’re not you’re typical college girls. There were no nurses or schoolgirls or [enter stereotypical skimpy costume here] among us. Our typical Friday night included a Beauty + the Beast followed by an interpretive dance of “Baby” by Justin Bieber and some hot chocolate. Don’t get me wrong – there were a few rare occasions that we could be found dancing on a table, but 90% of the time, we were sober while doing it. No judgment! It’s just who we were/are!
Most of these gals were a year ahead of me, so I was a h o t m e s s this Halloween – crying, red-eyed, and just generally not cute. I already had separation anxiety already creeping in, because I knew these girls wouldn’t be around anymore come May. They were like 100% of the reason I had any fun in college with my workaholic tendencies in full force. {[1] music major in the [2] honors college with a [3] catering job and a [4] cymbal tech position} So I had to figure out fun without their guidance, which was oddly scary for me as they just were so effortlessly social!
Take this night for example. We covered the floor in black trash bags and went to TOWN on some pumpkins. I was on seed duty (picking the seeds out of the pulp to be roasted) probably because it helped me avoid my drummer ex-boyfriends who were on carving duty. As we passed around the warm pumpkin seeds, I was hooked. Ermahgerd, y’all. Maybe it was just the crappy college food I had been eating, but they tasted so crunchy, earthy that my hippie heart just felt fulfilled!
So I dedicate these lil recipes right here to my girls. Sweet like Sarah. Warm like Kerry. Fun like Ashlee. Salty like Megan. [This is a reference to your sarcasm, but also a sexual reference that I thought you might enjoy.] Happy Fall, girls. Miss you.
Girl Power Pumpkin : Oats + Seeds
ingredients – 1 sugar pumpkin, oats, honey, cinnamon, fruit of choice
instructions
- P U M P K I N – cut the top off, as if you were making a jack-o-lantern. cut the remainder in two. hull out the seeds. place on aluminum-lined pan. drizzle with evoo, s+p. roast at 450 degrees for 80-90 min.
- S E E D S – rinse seeds through a mesh colander. spread on paper towel to dry. toss with evoo, honey, and cinnamon [be generous] in a bowl. spread on aluminum-lined pan. roast at 300 degrees for 45 min.
- O A T S – make oats on stove or microwave as per directions. mix in roasted pumpkin. top with seeds, honey, and fruit of choice. if i did this again, i’d make a blueberry compote by heating up frozen blueberries in a saucepan.
note – this is super flexie. here are some ideas to make it more beaYOUtiful.
- use as much or as little of any ingredient you like. make it your own! have fun with it!
- you could use canned pumpkin puree if you didn’t want to roast the pumpkin!
- you’re going to have leftover pumpkin if you choose to roast a whole pumpkin. i recommend baking the leftover in dog biscuits, adding to a salad, or creating a pumpkin risotto! it’s beautiful plain too. and hey… it’s a veggie! yay!
do you take your pumpkin with a side of girl power?
mad love,
j
