Pumpkins, seeds, and cookies

Chasel, the girl I mentor, and I hung out today and wanted to do some fun activities to prepare for Halloween. We started by making vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies (see recipe below). I added some pumpkin seeds and oats to 1/2 the batch, a great addition if I do say so myself. Then Oma had sent me a bunch of great seasonal ideas, so we picked our favorite and recreated it. See pictures:

Day of the Dead jack o lantern, picture from magazine

Our re-creation of the jack-o-lantern. We didn't have white paint, so ours is purple. We used jelly beans and Cheerios for the decorations around the eyes. Since Dusty, my past supervisor and the Dreamer teacher that Chasel has known since third grade, loves Day of the Dead and her birthday is November 2nd, we are going to gift her this marvelous pumpkin as part 1 of her birthday gift!

It was really hard to keep the candy from falling off so we used my blow dryer to help dry the Modge Podge (glue) faster.

We also made two other jack o lanterns. Chasel's is the happy pumpkin on the left. Mine is the goofy smiling spider on the right.

Here is a side shot of the spider's legs on my pumpkin.

My pumpkin is crafted after this goofy Halloween hat, which is a crucial part of my costume as a Halloween Decoration!

Pumpkin chocolate-chip cookies

http://veganfling.blogspot.com/2012/08/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

1.5 C all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 C packed brown sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1.5 C pumpkin puree
1/4 C applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 C vegan chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together the oil and the brown sugar. Add in the pumpkin, applesauce, and vanilla and combine. In another bowl mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well. Stir in your chocolate chips.

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop the cookie batter onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Spicy Pumpkin Seeds

http://www.elanaspantry.com/chili-roasted-pumpkin-seeds/

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chili powder, and cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper

1. Place pumpkin seeds in a bowl and mix with ingredients. 
2. Place on baking sheet at 350F and bake for about 15 minutes, stir and bake another 5. 

Sweet, cinnamony Pumpkin Seeds

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?recipeID=55393&origin=detail&servings=12&metric=false

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried 1/2 cup margarine, melted 2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Combine the pumpkin seeds, margarine, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; stir to coat the seeds. Spread the seeds in a single layer in a 10x15 inch jelly roll pan.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes; stir and return to oven for 15 minutes more; remove from oven and sprinkle 2 tablespoons sugar over the seeds; stir to coat. Return to oven and bake another 15 minutes before removing again to sprinkle with remaining sugar and stirring. Bake another 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. Store leftover seeds in an airtight container.