Happy Halloween

I am a total holiday nut. I can't help it. I just enjoy all the preparation, along with the food.
I've always considered myself a pumpkin artiste. I love carving pumpkins and when the girls were younger, I used to spend hours making cat pumpkins, scary monster pumpkins and clown pumpkins. Now I do the scary monster, but Tom Sawyer-like, this year I convinced others to carve their own pumpkins. We had a blast.
I'll probably carve pumpkins as long as I can hold a knife, if only for the pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are an annual treat that I thoroughly enjoy, despite the fact that my jaw aches for days after because of chewing the tough seed hulls.
I created this recipe years ago. I like to soak the seeds in water as they cook to make the hulls a little crisper. I think it works. Another tip: the seeds from the popular white pumpkins taste "off" to me so I don't use them.

Roasted pumpkin seeds
Seeds from two pumpkins, separated from the orange, slimy stuff, and cleaned
5 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place pumpkins seeds, butter and water in a deep-sided high quality baking pan. Cook for about an hour, stirring regularly until water boils off and seeds are nice and brown.

Another Halloween tip:
I like to sprinkle the insides of my Jack O Lanterns with spices (cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, this year) so they will smell good for trick or treaters.