Willow in Winter

We’re only a week away from Halloween which means it’s time to carve some pumpkins! I went all out this year and bought a carving kit from Lidl, and it made the whole process so much easier! I decided to try a new carving technique. I cut the bottom lid instead of the top and emptied the pumpkin from the bottom, which helped make the pumpkin more sturdy.

I used one of the designs included in the kit because I’m too lazy to create my own. After that, I cut the top lid so I could leave it open to avoid setting my apartment on fire once I added the candle.

I bought a pack of orange tea light candles from Yankee Candle that smell like pumpkin pie to go with the theme.

I painted my small pumpkins instead of carving them because I don’t think I’d be able to do it without destroying them. I used a permanent black marker to paint their faces.

Right now there are more pumpkins than people in this flat, not that I’m complaining.

3 ways to reuse pumpkin guts

I love carving pumpkins, even though I’m not that good at it, but I’m always left with tons of pumpkin guts, and I never know what to do with them, but not this year! I tried to reuse as much as possible of the leftovers with these recipes:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are the perfect healthy snack, and they’re super easy to make. After rinsing the seeds, I boiled them for about 8 minutes so they would soften a bit. Then in a bowl, I added two tablespoons of melted butter and a bit of salt and mixed it with the seeds. After that, I roasted the seeds for 10 minutes or until golden brown at 180°C.

Pumpkin Seed Cookies

I found this cookie recipe that added pumpkin seeds to the mixture, so I decided to try it. I’m not a 100% into it, the seeds add some salty bits to the cookies which is nice, but at the same time, the seed texture clashes with the cookie, and it doesn’t work. I don’t think I’ll make them again.

Pumpkin Pie Bites

I used the pumpkin guts to create pumpkin puree. I added two sweet potatoes and boiled everything for around 15 minutes until they were all soft. Then I used a blender to turn them into a puree and added them to the pie mixture I was making following this pumpkin pie bites recipe. 

Carving a pumpkin and making a pumpkin pie for the first time were both on my Autumn Bucket List, so that’s two more things I can tick off my list.

I’m very excited about Halloween, although my plans aren’t that different from a regular Saturday night. On October 31st you’ll find me eating my weight in popcorn and nachos while watching a scary movie with my boyfriend. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a pandemic going on!