Good Gourds

Notice the controversial gourd photo above?

Pumpkin carving went on last night at my house.  We had all sorts of lovely pumpkin guts strewn all over the bridge, but 4 pumpkins were made into pleasant little Jack-O-Lanterns.  The red head begged for some roasted pumpkin seeds and being the wonderful mother I am, I indulged him.  Truth be told.......I love pumpkin seeds.  My mom used to make them all the time when I was a kid.  More times than not it wasn't actually pumpkin seeds, but Sweet Meat Squash seeds.  Same difference.  They are both just dang tasty.

Gourds this time of year brings up a little story that may be shocking to some.  It was a scandal around our neck of the woods a few years back.  6 years ago our family won the Cooking With Your Kids contest with the Food Network and a few weeks after the trip the local newspaper printed a story about us.  (Here is a link to the article.)   It was a full page article with a huge picture of our fam posing in our kitchen.  The kids loved it!  We didn't realize though what was hanging on our fridge in the background of the newspaper photo.  It was a picture from 14 years ago.  The one to the right with Jimmy holding the gourds.   Here it is.  If it's offensive.........I am sorry, but we've always thought it was dang funny as you can tell by the look on our faces. Therefore we hung it on our fridge.  It wasn't front and center by any means, but it was visible up in the corner of the newspaper photo.  Well a day after the Clawson family story ran, a call was made to the newspaper about the pornographic picture in the background of our story.  The caller was disturbed that this kind of material was available for her/his children to view.  It was in fact her/his 10 year old son who picked the picture out she/he said.  The photographer called James laughing his guts out.  He thought it was hilarious.  We grabbed the article and low and behold there it was.  The infamous picture of James holding my gourds.  It was about the size of half a postage stamp, but someone was offended.  The newspaper thought it was hilarious and ran quite a few editorial articles about the anonymous comment over the next couple of weeks.   I wanted to stick my head in a hole and hide.   It generated a lot of jokes, and customers thought it was great.  The one thing that made me feel bad though was the fact that I didn't know who thought the image was disturbing.  Had it been someone who'd been in my home and seen the picture in person, or just a random newspaper reader.  I have a feeling that it was someone we knew and that's what stung.  So I hope I don't offend anyone with posting the disturbing photo.   Still to this day, I get a little giggle every time I see it though.  The picture no longer hangs on my fridge, but it has a special place in my home.  So I guess James won't be running for President of the United States.  I just don't think I could handle the press digging through my dirty laundry or squash patch,  and finding this photo for the world to see.  It would be a scandalous scandal if you know what I mean. So just enjoy the pumpkins seeds, and all the lovely gourds this season and don't tell me if you hate the pic:)  We'll stay friends that way.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Seeds from as many pumpkins as you'd like washed and as clean as you can get them.

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Smoked Paprika

Drizzle a little oil on the seeds, and sprinkle with all the other good stuff.  Place on a cookie sheet and roast in a 375'F oven for about 20-25 mins or until the seeds have dried out.  Serve on top of salad or soup, or enjoy by themselves.