Simplicity is not always simple.
I had a bright idea…well, it seemed bright at the time…I’m not so sure now.
Preface:
There is one small change to make in this space, as I realized during my mini-break. A simpler way to life places different emphasis on crafting, fitting it into the bigger picture of life. So, what used to be ‘Craft on Thursday’ is now broader in scope as ‘Simplify on Thursday’. But that wasn’t my ‘bright idea’…
Hang On…A Regression Digression Before We Begin:
Avoca Café do lovely scones. My favourite…sun-dried tomato and cheddar cheese. Add a bit of cream cheese and a dollop of tomato chutney…yum! Was thrilled to find the recipe in one of their tasty cookbooks. (You realize I understand that it is not the actual cookbook that is tasty, but rather the outcome of the recipes, right?) Of late, or at least I should say toward the end of our time in Dublin, Avoca had also started to add heaps of healthiness to these scones…poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. And so the (ahem) ‘seed of an idea’ began to germinate in my head.
During jack-o-lantern-carving time, I was inspired to save the pumpkin seeds. To be honest, I do this every year. I muck out the pumpkins, decide I will be frightfully frugal and save the seeds for a bit of healthy snacking. A splash of oil, a pinch of salt, a bit of baking and presto, nutritious nibbles, right? Except, no one eats them. Not even me. You see, the thought of savory pumpkin seeds sounds better than they actually taste.
However, I vowed to overcome the let’s-just-chuck-‘em-in-the-compost-bin inevitability. This year would be different. After mucking and sorting the slippery little devils, I dried them in a warm oven sans oil and salt. This year (heh, heh) I would use them in a recipe that I already love…those Avoca savory scones. How simple! How economical! How prudent!
Hmm…I gotta confess what I didn’t count on was the time it would take to shell those pesky pips. So what’s the outcome for me? What might cost $3.99/pound will at this rate cost—taking into consideration the state minimum wage of about US$7.00/hour—about US$75.00 for approximately 7 ounces of seeds.
Sigh…frugality doesn’t always come cheap now, does it?
lol, i was going to ask if you discovered an easier way to husk them! i also gave up on the shucking and eat them hulls and all. (think more fiber!) smile
13 Nov 2008 at 1:35 am
Give yourself permission to just chuck the seeds. There is no law that you have to like everything. It is very freeing to just say no to somethings.
13 Nov 2008 at 2:35 am
Last year I discovered M&S were selling sweet pumpkin seeds! So we did a taste test in our Rainbows unit–but surprisingly they voted for the salted ones…
And I agree Avoca does do the best scones! It’s always our first stop when we arrive in Dublin for in-law visiting (which is usually a crazy hour of the early morning, so we skulk outside until they open the doors).
K x
13 Nov 2008 at 3:50 am
I actually did roast the seeds this year for the first time. I knew up front I’d be the only one to eat them, so I wasn’t disappointed. But I had only the best intentions and no intention of shelling the lot of them for a recipe.
No — I figured it takes me just as much time, if not longer, to coax a pumpkin seed out of its shell as it does to unwrap a mini-Snickers bar from the leftover Halloween candy. This worked until PMS hit, at which point spending 30 seconds cracking a pumpkin seed hull was making me homicidal and I learned that once you unwrap one Snickers, you can unwrap the 50 others while your mouth is still full.
13 Nov 2008 at 9:19 am
I think of myself as being pretty frugal too – but I do chuck the pumpkin seeds:)) there is only so much time every day and I am not going to waste it on stuff like that anymore! I read in a seymour book that you can pickle ash keys! off I went to do the picking! it took me hours on end to scrape off the papery wings, then I pickled the measly amounts – only to find out after a few months that the pickled ash keys tasted worse than any pumpkin seed I’d ever tried:)) result: no pickled ash keys for me anymore…. I know they’re edible if you’re close to starvation but I figure until then I rather try something tastier!
13 Nov 2008 at 9:52 am
I’m glad I’m not the only one who tries these kinds of things, only to realize why most people don’t do it regularly …
Oh, Avoca! When we were in Ireland, we visited the town, the mill, the cafe. I was in love!
13 Nov 2008 at 9:53 am
yer killin’ me! [giggle. . . . giggle. . . . giggle. . . .]
No. Frugality doesn’t come cheap.
sorry.
13 Nov 2008 at 10:18 pm
Those tomato and cheese scones sound yummy,especially with cream cheese and tomato chutney!! I do wish we lived nearer I’m sure we’d enjoy a coffee together, whenever you write about food it makes my mouth water, and of course i’d love to feel one of your beautiful scarves!!
14 Nov 2008 at 9:45 am
If you ever decide to go back to roasting the seeds for snacking, my favorite way is with olive oil, curry powder and seasoned salt.
The seasoned salt is the secret ingredient b/c its salt and sugar. That combination with the curry powder solved our “roasting but not eating the seeds” problem.
It only took my 5 years of toasting the seeds to figure it out!
15 Nov 2008 at 10:26 am
LOL, I did the same thing too, I was the only one to eat them (Shells and all!!)
17 Nov 2008 at 1:42 pm