it’s been fall for a few days now, but today was the first day you’d ever know it. no, not cold (this is, after all, Florida), but that there’s a certain life in the air that signals something new is coming. i like to call it the “welcome to fall” — nature’s own prompting for people like you, and i, and everyone else to start over and keep starting over. i’d also like to think the feel-good humid-free breezes serve other purposes too, like, for example, maybe not starting over but maybe continuing those good things in our life that we already have going on. 

this is a long and round about way of saying i’ve been in the mood for squash lately.  well, not just squash but gourds, of different varieties, i guess you could say. it’s fall now and they call to me. i found two cute little organic pumpkins the other day at the store and couldn’t pass them up.  i’m roasting one tonight for a pumpkin soup. i was so in love with the roasted cauliflower, butternut squash, and onion soup i made the other day that pumpkin seemed like another good idea. 

aside from the soup, my other favorite part of these squash and pumpkins are the seeds. i think i learned it from my mother (who never throws anything away, just like her mother never throws anything away and still has tinfoil relics circa 1975 because “they are just fine to reuse”) — the way you ought to never discard those seeds inside the gourd.  after all, they are good for eating and happen to be one of my most favorite snacks (also really high in nutrients and protein). it’s especially a good idea for those of us with mold sensitivies. nuts and seeds that are pre-shelled usually contain high levels of certain molds or yeasts called aflatoxins. you can avoid those immune-suppressing bitches by bypassing pre-bagged nuts/seeds altogether and make your own like i am tonight. simply remove any extra pumpkin/squash flesh from the seeds, coat them in oil (i’m using coconut oil, of course; my fav) and sea salt or whatever other spices strike your fancy. roast for god knows how long at god knows what temp. use your good judgement.  :)