Fall favorites - Squash seeds and cranberry sauce

Roasted Squash or Pumpkin Seeds

Clean pumpkin or squash seeds with warm water. Cover with fresh water and 1 t. pickling salt (the flavor clings better than table salt and you can use less of it). Soak overnight. Drain water and lay seeds out on a flat cooking sheet (jelly role pans make it too hard to drain off excess water). Heat at the the lowest oven temperature (200 or so) until dry, checking every 15 to 20 minutes. (For smaller squash seeds it may be done in as little as 20 or 40 minutes. Pumpkin seeds, which are larger, may take up to 2 hrs.

Cool and store in a sealed bag. Make a good addition to GORP, nut mixes, and other munchies or can be eaten whole by themselves. (Pumpkin seed with thick shells may need to be peeled).


Fresh Cranberry Sauce

1 lb fresh cranberries (rinse all and toss away the soft ones)

2 oranges with peels (grate the peels and save the orange/green part prior to peeling or peel and trim out the white part; discard the white part and finely chop the peels)

1 to 1 1/2 c. sugar

Put cranberries and orange innards into a blender until they reach desired consistency (we like ours about the consistency of oatmeal). Stir in grated orange peel. Add sugar to taste.

Makes a nice side dish for accompanying fatty meat dishes (aides in digestion) or can be used to finish off a meal as a healthy dessert.