Now that it’s officially fall weather in Boone and Halloween is fast approaching, it’s time to get creative with the traditional Halloween pumpkin! Pumpkins are extremely versatile and although they’re fun to carve and put on display, there is so much more you can do with these festive fruits.
1. Eat the seeds.
If you’re planning to simply carve your pumpkin and put it on display, make sure to save the seeds on the inside. Scrape out all the seeds from the cavity of the pumpkin using a metal spoon and put the mass into a colander. After running the colander under water to rinse the seeds and separate them from the extra fibrous strands, place the seeds in a saucepan with water and some salt. The trick here is to boil the seeds and let them simmer for a few minutes. Spread out the boiled seeds on a baking sheet with olive oil and bake at 400˚F until the seeds begin to brown. Let them cool and you have the perfect snack for a Halloween party!
2. Bake a pumpkin cake.
This recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cake from Taste of Home is the perfect combination of chocolate and pumpkin flavors. Although it calls for canned pumpkin you can easily roast fresh pumpkin and puree it to substitute for a more authentic taste. The cake is perfectly sweet without being over the top and doesn’t even need a frosting!
3. Make a bird feeder.
Whenever I hear someone talk about bird feeders or even bird feed I always think of stereotypical images of elderly people feeding pigeons in a park… But since living in Boone I’ve thought that backyard bird feeders would be the perfect addition to any collegiette’s house. I mean who doesn’t like seeing colorful little birds hop around outside a kitchen window in the morning, right? Simply cut the top off of your pumpkin and suspend it from a tree using twine and you’ve got the world’s simplest bird feeder!
4. Use pumpkin puree as a facemask.
Every girl loves a good DIY project and when combined with beauty products the pumpkin puree facemask is a complete game changer. Fresh pumpkin is full of antioxidants such as Vitamins A, C, and E and it also contains retinoic acid, which is used to treat acne on the skin. Combine the pureed pumpkin with honey, milk, and cinnamon and you’ve got the perfect facemask after a crazy Halloween night. The full recipe for the facemask can be found here!